Doing permitted work on contributions based ESA and taking sick leave.

billybong
billybong Online Community Member Posts: 1 Listener
in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Hello. I have a chronic illness and have been on cb ESA for a few years after having to cut my working hours due to my condition. I have been working and earning well within the hours and wage limits.

The problem is, I had to go on sick leave for several months but having returned and being able to access my payslips I saw my employer has been paying SSP. I told them straight away that I wasn't entitled to SSP, only company pay because I'm on ESA but they won't take it back because they say they have to pay it by law. So I told DWP as advised by employer and now they have closed my ESA claim and want me to pay back the money they say I'm not entitled to - because I got SSP!

What can I do to make work take back the SSP and get my ESA reinstated? I will no longer qualify for a new claim. I can't find any specific answer to this issue on-line, only that I can't claim ESA until I run out of sick pay. I'm going round in circles and don't know how to get this changed or even if it's possible.

Can anyone help? Has it happened to anyone else out there please?

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,467 Championing

    This law has nothing to do with Liz Kendal, it's a law that's always been in place. CB ESA and New Style ESA can't be paid at the same time as SSP.

    Yes you can apply for NsESA 3 months before SSP ends BUT you won't start receiving payments until 7 days after SSP ends.

    The issue here is that your employer must pay SSP if you're entitled to it. There's no easy answer here for that ESA claim because your employer isn't going to just take back the SSP entitlement. Unfortunately, you will still have the overpayment for ESA.

    If you've worked at some point in tax years 2022/23 and 2023/24 and your earnings were at least £123/week you should be able to claim New Style ESA. If your ESA claim continued as NI credits only then this would mean you would be placed back into the Support Group, without the need for another work capability assessment.

    You can see the qualifying conditions for New Style ESA here. It says contributions based, but it's the same. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/employment-and-support-allowance-contribution-based

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