Advice about New style ESA

egraham

HI,

I have been off sick from work & returning at the end of the month , after 3 months off.

I am receiving SSP .

I will be returning on a phased return, 12-13 per week , does anyone know if I would be able to Claim ESA whilst on phased return , and when I should claim this ?

I do have a Longterm Condtion.

Any help on this would be really appreciated.

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

It's not possible to claim ESA at the same time as SSP. If your SSP is ending, then you can claim ESA from the end date.

You can apply for NS ESA up to 3 months before the end date to get it ready. You will start on the assessment rate while waiting for a Work Capability Assessment. If you get put in the Support Group from that WCA, then your payment rate will increase.

ESA allows you to do Permitted Work while in the Support Group, as long as you have told them about it first. That needs to be less than 16 hours a week, which yours is. But also needs to be less than £195 a week, so that will depend on your hourly rate.

egraham

Hi,

Thanks for reply,

My ssp will stop when I return to work .

So my question really is should I apply now if I'm returning at the end of the month ?

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1048943#Comment_1048943

Yes, as long as you know the SSP end date, you can apply now. Your employer should provide you with an SSP1 form to help your ESA application.

westpest

new style ESA also allows you to have any amount of savings. However it doesn’t give you access to free dental care or free prescriptions etc. So there are differences between ESA and New Style Esa. You also need to have paid NI for the previous two years.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1051923#Comment_1051923

It's no longer possible to claim IR ESA. So anyone making a new claim now will be for NS ESA.

westpest

Hi Overlyanxious, I didnt realise that. I thought they were moving people over from ESA to Universal Credit? Also if you can only apply for New Style ESA now what happens when people don’t have two years NI contributions.

I apologise for my lack of understanding and appreciate you letting me know. Thank you

Kimi87

Income Related ESA is being replaced by UC.

For a new application if someone doesn't qualify for NS ESA they can apply for UC.

Storm25

Wow, I have just read your comment @Kimi87 . So does this mean that if someone doesn't have the 2 years NI contributions required for NS ESA (maybe because they were only managing to work part time), but have savings over the UC threshold they won't get any financial help if they then are unable to work (unless they are awarded PIP)? I never thought about what happens for people who fall into that group before.

Kimi87

Yes that's true, although they can use their savings/capital to live and claim UC once their capital is under £16k.