Esa Upgraded or Downgrade

steve69

Unfortunately due to illness me and my wife are both claiming Contribution based Esa and are both in the support group.Ive been in receipt of pip for over 5 years.
I have read that we might be entitled to add income related esa to our claim.
I know how to this by contacting the Dwp but am unsure if this will end up being a financial disaster in doing so.
We do have a little savings but still under the threshold.
Any info would be greatly received.
 You

poppy123456

Is it the old contributions based or New style that you’re both claiming? 

Is it just you that’s claiming PIP or does your partner claim as well? 

In a previous thread you were asking about a carers allowance claim was this for your partner? Or for someone else? 

steve69

Both on New style Esa and just myself on pip.
Unfortunately due to her earning too much, carers allowance was turned down.
Even though most of it was down to holiday pay.
Thanks

poppy123456

Thanks. Unfortunately New style ESA is a contributions based benefit only and there’s no Income Related top ups possible with this. The top ups are only possible if claiming the old contributions based ESA.

With carers allowance even without the earnings this is treated as an overlapping benefit with New style ESA and both can’t be paid at the same time. You will receive the highest benefit and for your partner that will be the ESA.

You can use a benefits calculator to check entitlement to Universal Credit. Both of your ESAs will continue as normal but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. Your UC will include 1 LCWRA and 1 carers element. Whether there’s any entitlement will depend on your joint circumstances. 

steve69

Thanks.Could I contact DWP and ask for myself to put on income related esa ? 2 x esa support group is not a lot.But would they class pip as an income in their calculations.?
thanks

poppy123456

You won’t be able to claim Income Related because it no longer exists for new claims. 

As I advised your ESA claims are contributions based only, which is what New style ESA is and there’s no income Related top up possible for this.

Your only option will be to claim Universal Credit but whether there’s any entitlement will depend on your joint circumstances. 

Do you own or rent your home? Do you have any dependent children living with you? 

steve69

Got ya!
Had downloaded the esa pdf but it was 2022.
So you make total sense.!
As for universal credit Im giving that a wide birth as It seems we would probably be worse off overall.
Thankyou for you time!

poppy123456

You can't be worse off by claiming UC that just wouldn't be possible!! Both of your ESA claims will continue to be paid as normal but the ESA would be deducted in full from any UC entitlement.

UC is there to top up your income but as I advised, whether there's any entitlement will depend on your joint circumstances. 

You can use a benefits calculator and it will tell you if there's any entitlement. 

worried33

Based on poppys reply I would check if you have to close the ESA claim before claiming UC.

I am not sure if thats the road to go down given the announced changes to UC as well as the upcoming changes for the WCA (as an old claimant you will be treated better than a new claimant).

But if you can open a UC claim without closing the existing ESA claim then thats a different story.

poppy123456

worried33 said:

Based on poppys reply I would check if you have to close the ESA claim before claiming UC.

I have no idea what makes you think that based on my comments. Your thoughts are not correct at all.

New style ESA is not part of UC never has been and never will be. It’s a completely different benefit. 

As I advised a couple of times in the thread the ESA will continue as normal but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. 

Many people claim New style ESA and UC at the same time because UC will top up their income, which is exactly what I advised. 

As for any possible changes, no one knows exactly what may or may not happen yet. At the moment everything is speculation. 

I’m just curious if you read all of my comments? 

worried33

I think you misinterpreted my post, I basically meant that I had no idea if he/she would need to close their claim or not based on your post.  I dont think ESA is part of UC either so we clear on that one as well, sorry if you thought I said otherwise.

Thank you for clearing up that UC can be claimed alongside new style ESA, for me that wasnt clear from your post so its good you have clarified that.

poppy123456

I don’t know why it wasn’t  clear from my comments that ESA wouldn’t continue. I did advise that here.

poppy123456 said:

Both of your ESAs will continue as normal but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. 

Then again here 

poppy123456 said:

You can't be worse off by claiming UC that just wouldn't be possible!! Both of your ESA claims will continue to be paid as normal but the ESA would be deducted in full from any UC entitlement.

Even with the old Income Related ESA you do not need to close this claim before you claim UC. This continues for 2 weeks after you claim UC and will then end.