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Universal Credit & ESA

matthewkevin84

My Universal credit is at present is deducted accordingly on account of the ESA that I am currently receiving.

It appears that based on what I am receiving that I would receive more in Universal Credit should I cease claiming ESA than I am receiving at present with combined Universal Credit and ESA.

Presumably I could simply cease claiming ESA by phoning DWP, I thought I had better seek advice on here as I have never ceased claiming any benefits that I have been on so any advice perhaps from individuals who have ceased claiming benefits would be appreciated?

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Comments

poppy123456

Yes you would receive more UC but only because the ESA would no longer be deducted in full from your UIC. Your overall benefits entitlement will remain the same.

There are some advantages to claiming New style ESA as well as UC. The ESA is not means tested so capital/savings do not affect it and no on can predict what the future will be. Also pension income of up to £85/week is ignored. You also receive class 1 NI credits for ESA but for UC it's only class 3.

All those are many reasons why I wouldn't advise you to cancel the ESA claim.

Jimm_Alumni

Can I ask how you calculated that you would earn more claiming full Universal Credit instead of ESA+UC? As Poppy mentions, with new style ESA you would not be gaining anything extra and there are some downsides.

matthewkevin84

Because on my Universal credit monthly statement: £598.87 has been deducted on account of my ESA, but actually my ESA is: £552.80 hence considering to stop claiming ESA.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/873965#Comment_873965

That confuses alot of people. What you need to remember is that ESA is a weekly benefit paid fortnightly. UC is a monthly benefit.

There are 4.3 weeks in a month and not 4 weeks, like so many people think. For this reason to work out the monthly amount of a weekly payment you times the weekly amount by 52 and then divide by 12… so for your ESA then £138.20 x 52 divide by 12 = £598.87/month.

For your ESA there will be 1 month a year when you will receive 3 payments instead of 2 but the same amount will be deducted from your UC as is always deducted.

If you stopped your ESA then you will still be entitled to the same UC elements but it will be without the ESA deduction so your overall monthly entitlement will remain the same.

We've had many members in the past here that had wished they claimed ESA when they could have but didn't know they could and now can't claim it. Some of those people are not entitled to UC because of the circumstances.