ESA and pensions .

tanis1809

hi people .ok hoping someone can help me regarding ESA rules and pensions .
i am 62 not working due to 10 years ago i was a suicide risk so mental issues and trusting people a problem.
i been told i am on a support group on ESA but appreently my pension would effect my ESA I read somewhere that ESA  with group is not income related so surely my pension should not effect my ESA ,
so very confused ...
please help ..
example i found out one option was a yearly pension of 4851.83 which works out at 52 weeks as 83.68 per week so would i be ok .also i noticed that if not means tested i could get a £18.000 one off payment ..again confused ..
anyway please help .
tanis1809 

Albus_Scope

Hey there @tanis1809 and welcome to the community!

I noticed your post may have been missed by our usually eagle eyed regulars, so I just wanted to give your post a little bump so hopefully they'll be able to support you here.  

poppy123456

Being in the Support Group doesn’t mean your ESA isn’t means tested. If your ESA is Income Related then any weekly/monthly pension will reduce your ESA £1 for £1.

If any part of it is Contributions based then a weekly pension of up to £85 will be ignored. For every £1 over that amount there’s a 50p/week deduction. Same rules apply to New style ESA.

If your weekly ESA amount is more than £129.50/week then at least part of it is Income Related. 

You can also ring ESA and ask what your ESA claim is made up of. 

tanis1809

Thank you .