Marriage and esa

Zoeleanne23

Hi, 
Me and my partner are talking about getting married.
We don't live together as we both have parents that have disabilities.

I receive PIP, ESA (contribution support group), child tax credit and child benefit. 

My question is if we were to get married would I lose any of the benefits? I've heard my ESA will be affected. My partner works as a security guard. What could I expect to happen benefit wise? 

Thanks in advance! 

poppy123456

Getting married will not affect any of your benefits. Living together will affect any means tested benefits you're claiming.

Living together will mean your child tax credits will stop because you can't make a new claim as a couple. Any Income Related ESA you maybe claiming will also be affected. Contributions based ESA will not be affected. If your ESA is more than £129.50/week then at least part of it will be Income Related.

You can check entitlement to Universal Credit but as it's means tested you will need to claim as a couple and your joint circumstances will be taken into consideration. As you're in the Support Group for ESA then you'll be entitled to the LCWRA element from the start of your claim. Any contributions based ESA will continue but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. If either yourself or your partner has more than £16,000 in savings/capital then there will be no entitlement to UC.

As you're also claiming Tax credits these are due to end soon and you will at some point in the near future be invited to apply for UC as part of managed migration.

PIP continues as normal.

Zoeleanne23

Hi, unfortunately we can't live together due to disability in one mum and dementia in the other mum. So none of my benefits will be affected. I'm on the esa where I don't have to go to the job centre for interviews etc so not sure which one I'm in. 

Thanks for replying back to me  

poppy123456

poppy123456 said:

Getting married will not affect any of your benefits.

I'm going to correct myself here because i've just realised you're claiming Tax credits, not Universal Credit.  The rules for Tax credits are very different to any other benefits. Apologies for giving incorrect information.  

For Tax credits if you're married then you're treated as living together, therefore your Tax credits will end even though you will not be living together. As you can't start a new claim for Tax credits then you will need to claim UC. See link. https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-do-tax-credits-work/understanding-living-together/#Married couples and Civil Partners

For UC then being married doesn't affect your claim and you can claim as a single person because you won't be living together. Same applies Income Related ESA.

Just to add, you said your ESA is contributions based because you don't have to attend any appointments. This doesn't mean your ESA is contributions based. You said you're in the Support Group, so this will be why you don't need to attend any appointments. 

If your ESA is more than £129.50/week then at least part of it is Income Related. Once you claim UC then any Income Related ESA you're claiming will end 2 weeks after you claim. Any contributions based will continue but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement.