ESA. / tax credits

Mandy02
Mandy02 Community member Posts: 2 Listener
in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Hi, I'm new to the group and really hoping someone can help. I feel like I'm going round in circles.

my son is 19 (20 in Dec), at the moment I claim child benefit and child tax credits inc disability elements. I know this will all stop when he's 20 so it will definitely be worth claiming  esa then however I am trying to find out how much disability element I will lose if I claim esa now. The problem I have is that I have 2 children that I get disability elements for. 

I phoned tax credits and they could not tell me how much I would lose as the figures are all put together my son gets high care and high mobility pip. How do I find out how much I lose?

Thanks.

Comments

  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Trailblazing
    Hi Mandy02,

    The maximum CTC you will lose if you still have another, younger child you claim for is:

    2780 child element
    3175 disabled child element
    1290 severely disabled child element

    It's about £139 a week. The figures above are for the tax year, but they get rounded up using a daily rate so will look different on your award notice. 

    ESA for someone in the support group (if your son gets put in the group who isnt' expected to do anything whilst getting ESA), plus an enhanced disability premium is £125.50 a week, once the assessment phase has been passed. If he is put into the work-related activity group though, it will be much less at £89 a week, because there is no longer a work-related activity component. So I'd hope he would be put into the support group. However, you can still there is still less money available than on CTC.

    Tax credits are reduced by your income which is perhaps why it was hard for HMRC to say exactly how much you will lose.

    Hope that's what you needed to know.

    Will
  • Mandy02
    Mandy02 Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    Hi Will, 

    Thank you that's a huge help, you have made it very clear. My son would be put in the support group, he has been offered a further 3 years at college so will not be in the workplace.

    It sounds like the best way of going is to wait til nov and then try to claim esa rather than do it now.

    Thank you again.

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