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Migrated from Income related ESA to UC, now put on new style ESA and UC?

leahcim

Ive been on income related ESA for over 10 years now due to ill health and not being well enough to work.

I received a migration letter saying i needed to switch to universal credit, i applied, went down the job centre to prove my identity and was told il be moving to UC and start getting monthly payments.

I received some esa payments during this time with different amounts so i assumed this was to prep/square up ready for universal credit, got my first uc payment of £222 last friday, then this friday i got another ESA payment.

Spoke to UC and they said im on both UC and new style ESA now?

I havent worked in over 10 years so why have i been put on new style esa? and UC? im so confused and was told by UC to contact ESA and ask them, but after being on hold for an hour and a half today i gave up

Could this be an error? has this happened to anyone else?

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Comments

Kimi87

This is not an error and is a common question.

Please read through this thread (click on the purple text View Post) for an explanation.

As an update to the information given there, New Style ESA now pays £281.10 a fortnight, with the UC deduction being £609.05.

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/130268/ive-already-moved-to-universal-credit-but-ive-received-a-letter-from-esa

leahcim

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1024266#Comment_1024266

Hello Kimi, thanks for your reply. I was literally just reading that post lol but im still confused. The weird thing is iv always been on income related ESA, even on my migration letter it said "you will soon stop getting the follow benefits" income-related ESA

But isnt new style ESA contribution based? i havent worked in over 10 years so havent contributed to national insurance. Why wouldnt i just be put on only UC?

Kimi87

Yes NS ESA is Contributions Based.

ESA letters are very difficult to understand.

Most people don't know what their award has been until they migrate.

Your award was in fact Contributions Based with an Income Related top up.

ESA CB lasts as long as you are in the Support Group. So you are eligible for New Style ESA now due to your previous NI Contributions from working.

leahcim

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1024269#Comment_1024269

So i was on contribution based even though i haven't worked for (recounted and its actually 14 years now) ?

Why do they make this so confusing lol, why not just give me UC only as it would be the same amount i think?

The lady at the job center where i had to prove my identity said nothing about this at all, advised me to budget plan a bit as il be only getting paid monthly now instead of every two weeks

Kimi87

Yes that's correct, you are still entitled to CB ESA from your previous NI Contributions through working.

You aren't on UC only now because UC replaces IR esa only.

UC will be paid monthly and New Style ESA fortnightly.

leahcim

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1024292#Comment_1024292

Thanks again for your reply Kimi. Why do they make this so confusing lol, why not just put me on UC with the same amount. Do you know if there's any upsides or downsides from being on UC + Newstyle ESA vs just universal credit?

kezwals

I have the same question, I got a letter saying that my contribution based ESA (I was income related ESA) was being replaced with the new style ESA and I have never worked before, it's saying my work coach (I don't even have a work coach) will help me complete the claim which haven't even started. Can someone elaborate please

Kimi87

Answered here:

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/134874/moved-from-income-related-esa-to-uc-but-now-put-now-new-style-esa

jazzy22

I know its couple years away but I wonder why people being migrating over from ir esa to uc are finding out they get ns esa along with uc with the ns esa deducted from your uc is it a sneaky way of in 28/29 when they merge ns esa into jobseekers and people in the ns esa and uc support group start getting money cut or hounded even though they too ill to work its been baffling me as getting both does not benefit the person financially or in any way ican think just was thinking is this another dwp mistake for people to suffer soon like the esa debacle a few years ago when people were put in wrong groups of esa and missed out on thousands until realised and dwp had to pay backdated missing money I myself had 5yrs backdated

Kimi87

There have always been two types of ESA, Income Related and Contributions Based.

The IR has been replaced by UC and the CB replaced by New Style ESA.

It's always been possible to have a dual award and this and UC predate the current Government's planned changes.

jayneml

people are wrongly being put onto New style ESA and UC when migrating over to UC. The lady above said you was getting contributed esa with a top of IR ESA. But your award letter should say that. And if it doesn't and you if you was getting ESA IR, then the you should just be on UC, so please don't take other people word for it. It does seems to be a system error. I see, you wrote this in July and I hope you've you managed to get this this sorted.

Kimi87

The ESA letters are very unclear and confusing, they've always been that way. Meaning people simply didn't know what type of ESA they were getting.

Usually when you go a bit further back into people's circumstances the reason for being on CB ESA is found.

Previous NI Contributions from working prior to claiming ESA.

Previous NI Contributions from working before claiming Incapacity Benefit.

Claiming Incapacity Benefit without working under special youth rules.

Kimi87

As you previously established all of your previous ESA was Income Related.

That means you now get all of your income from UC.

Only CB ESA changes to New Style ESA.

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