ESA reduced

thedawesgang

I am on ESA and have been for a while,in the support group.I had a call last week saying as my daughter lives with me the severe disablement premium was being removed,my daughter turns 22 next month and has always lived with me..The DWP said I could be liable for repayment since she was 18,yet it is their fault that they paid me this premium.My daughter also cares for me without claiming any benefit whatsoever as she studies at university,She ends her course this july and now with the loss of £81.90 every week we dont know how we will pay our bills

poppy123456

When you stopped claiming child benefit for your daughter did you ring ESA and report the changes?

You would have been entitled to SDP as long as you were claiming child benefit because she would still have been treated as a dependent child. Once that ended then your entitlement to SDP would also have ended.

If you didn’t contact them to report the changes then yes it will need to be repaid back.

thedawesgang

I rang ESA and informed them that my child benefit was stopping so they were aware of her age,as regards Carers Allowance would we be entitled to it as she cares for me daily…I also get PIP standard rate care

poppy123456

As your payments didn’t decrease was there any reason why you didn’t contact them again?

Do you have proof that you rang them? If not then I’d advise you to request all the information they hold on you from the time your child benefit ended and hopefully something will show up in that. https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/personal-information-request/name

For carers allowance she will not be able to claim this is she’s a full time student. Once she leaves Uni then she can claim it. Do also be aware that it does have an earnings limit of £151/week just incase she starts working. https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility