ESA ARREARS

Gerrard101379

Hi I’m hoping someone can put me on the right track or help answer this 

iv been claiming ESA since I was 16 due to health reasons never had any problems with anything like this up until now 

I met my partner back in 2012 and when I moved in and rang the ESA up to tell them about it they said it would be changed to income related ESA fair enough. Now as most will aware of how that works any money coming in is taken into account pretty simple or so I thought 

back in 2012 my partner was working 16hours I was still getting full ESA and both were claiming tax credits as we have three children between us no issues at all, fast forward to 2019-2020 this is when things become complicated my partner began working over 16hours as he was a frontline worker so I was told without warning they would change my benefit to contribution ESA. 

I was confused as there was no warning just benefit stopped and a letter through the door saying i will not get anymore money, so I ring the department and was told it was because my partner was working more hours if he drops his hours I will get it back, he drops his hours still no money.

I call again was told it was my partners working tax and if he drops his hours again I will get the money.

still no money so the last time I call they said because it has moved to contributions based we cannot pay you in order for that to happen we have to be paying you in the first place( not due to the fact the I had been but had been getting £20 every 2 weeks or £5 every two weeks to then £0.00) 

then my partner changes jobs and end’s through a computer error no one’s fault a double payment of wages that should not have happened they stopped my ESA altogether even though I rang and explained what had happened and sent a letter they refused me payments. And was told only way to get it back was to claim UC

now fast forward to this week I received two letters from ESA all letters have said INCOME RELATED ESA on them not CONTRIBUTING ESA ? Anyway I open the letter one dated the 14th August and other 15th August.

15th august said I would receive full amount of EAS from the 4th august due to my partner not being in work (he starts a new 15 hour job next week) that one made sense 

14th august now this is one is interesting 

A payment of arrears of income related ESA amount ££££££ has been calculated for the period January 2021 to august 2023 

this arrears payment has not been sent or credited to you as we are holding details of a possible overpayment (how your were not paying me?) they were check if anything needed recovered and it would be paid as soon as possible and they would say why any money had been held back if I had not heard anything in 5 days from the date of the letter ring them 

yours sincerely 

office manager 

so I ring puts me through to ESA there is nothing on the computer so they request a callback for me no callback 

then I rang again today and got told finally what it was about 

the letter for arrears was a COMPUTER ERROR and I should not have received it I was not due any of that money it should not have been sent at all but also they are stopping my ESA again and going back to contributing based ESA so no payments again 

so as you can imagine I’m unsure what to believe the department does not seem to have a clue what is going on it’s certainly not helped my mental health at this time as I’m already struggling with it 

so I’m wondering if anyone can help me understand or has at least any idea what to do at this point as I’m so confused with it 

poppy123456

This is a very complicated situation. If any part of your ESA was contributions based then this would not have been affected by your partner working.

If any part of your ESA was Income Related then your partner could work up to 24 hours/week. However, only the first £20/week of their earnings would be disregarded and after that your ESA would be reduced £1 for £1. 

Sometimes it’s just not possible to give advice in such complicated situations like this in an Internet forum because we can’t see any of your paper work. For this reason I will advise you to get some expert advice from an agency near you. This way you can take all your paperwork to them for them to see and they will be able to give correct advice. 

This link will help you find what advice agency is local to you. https://advicelocal.uk/welfare-benefits

Gerrard101379

Thank you for the advice 

that’s exactly what I thought but they tell me I’m on continuation based esa but the letters say income related esa 

then I get told the contribution based esa means it goes to my pension instead of being paid to my bank 

my partner drops his hours down to 24 hours per week and they said he would have to drop them more if I want payed my esa 

he starts a new job next week doing 15hours a week and they told me it’s gone back to contribution esa 

so I’m confused as I don’t know what I’m receiving is it income related esa or contribution esa there is no letter with a breakdown and the last one I got said about excess income but there was no excess income coming in 

so I’m unsure at this point 

poppy123456

Gerrard101379 said:

that’s exactly what I thought but they tell me I’m on continuation based esa but the letters say income related esa 

ESA letters are well known for being extremely difficult to understand and often make no sense at all. Even for someone like myself who has a vast knowledge of the benefits system.

Gerrard101379 said:

then I get told the contribution based esa means it goes to my pension instead of being paid to my bank 

That's not correct. It's not means tested like Income Related ESA is. You will receive NI credits towards your state pension for both CB and Income Related.

May i ask when did you start claiming ESA?

Gerrard101379

I started claiming esa when I was 16 due to medical issues and then when I moved in with my partner in 2012 they moved me on income related esa then at some point during 2019-2020 they moved me over to contribute based esa as my partner was working more than 24 hours but that was after I rang them to ask why my payments were stopped and now I’m back at square one being told they will not pay the esa as it’s back to contributing esa so it’s been payed to my pension and not me 

poppy123456

Yes I see you mentioned in your first comment you were 16 when you first claimed but that doesn’t help me know what year that was. I need to know what year exactly you first claimed? 

Your ESA payments will not be made to your pension, that’s not what contributions based ESA means. 

If you’re not entitled to any payments then your ESA will be a NI credits only claim. 

Gerrard101379

I I first started claiming back in 2004 so I’m sure I was 16 I’m not really good with maths to be honest but I checked my NI number and from what it says on there I have 18 year’s contribution but I was getting the money in my account so it doesn’t make sense as iv never worked 

poppy123456

ESA wasn't introduced for new claims until 2008 so you couldn't have been claiming ESA as far back as 2004. This means that you must have been claiming another benefit before this, can you remember which one it was? Was it Incapacity Benefit or potentially Income Support?

You are still getting confused between NI credits and the money you were receiving from ESA. NI credits do not always replace the money you were receiving. You can still receive both, if entitled to payments. If you're not entitled to ESA payments then your ESA will be NI credits only and you would not be receiving any money for this. NI credits are for your state pension (some count towards benefits such as New style ESA/JSA)

I think we could be here quite sometime with this because it's not straight forward and i can't see any of your ESA letters. For this reason i'm going to go back to what i advised earlier in the thread and you need to get some expert advice from an agency near you. Please use the link i posted in my first comment to see what's local to you.

Gerrard101379

now that you have explained it that way which is more than I have had from the DWP I must have been claiming income support but received payment every two weeks 

then income support must have continued throughout that time then when I had a child in 2009 I was claiming it as a single parent 

then from what I can remember I continued to receive it up until I moved in with partner in 2012 2013 then received income related esa as he was working 16 hours but I received payments then.

then after he entered a job in 2014 that he was working 16 hours they said my payments would drop 

gradually over the next few years it ended up where I received no payment from 2020 due to his hours/working tax (as I was told)/ until now then I get a payment this week as well as receiving the arrears letter that I have been told it was a error which I am not sure why I would have been sent it if it was an error and been told that I will receive no payment of that money or receive further payments but I still need to update esa about his new job as well as other places this is where I’m confused 

The only thing I am unsure about now is the arrears letter not sure if anything can happen with that as at that time my partner dropped his hours down to 16 

I will in the meantime see if the local advice department can help and see where I go from there 

but thank you so much for your advice that you have given it makes a little more sense 

poppy123456

You're welcome. As you were receiving Income Support before ESA then your ESA will almost definitely be all Income Related. When you moved in with your partner their earnings should have reduced your ESA £1 for £1 after the £20/week earnings disregard. (assuming you've always been the main claimant)

If your partner has been working 16 hours or close to that since you claimed ESA then i wouldn't expect ESA to owe you any money. Infact it maybe the other way around and you may owe them money. However, if it was an official error made by ESA then you shouldn't have to repay anything back.

The only question i can't answer is why the letter was sent in error but sometimes error are made.