Income-Related Employment Support Allowance and House Sale

ACS
ACS Community member Posts: 4 Listener
edited January 2018 in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Good Morning, 

My husband is a recipient of Income-Related ESA, Support Group and Physical Independence Payment, whilst I receive Carer Allowance. My husband is a veteran and we have been undergoing a 2 year campaign to have his Armed Forces pension increased and we are dependent upon state benefits until this is sorted out.....it takes a while with the MOD. 

I have sold our house and moved into rented accommodation while we await the completion of our purchase. I informed the DWP of our change of circumstance and they immediately switched my husband's ESA from Income-Related to Contribution-Based resulting in a significant reduction in weekly payments. 

I was under the impression that I had 26 weeks to complete the sale/purchase before the benefits were reduced but the DWP customer service rep was insistent that proceeds from the house sale constituted funds and thus my husband did not qualify for IR-ESA. 

Our house was sold on 13 December 2017 and I hope to complete the purchase in the coming weeks; the sale price and purchase price are within a couple of thousand pounds and so we have not released any funds from the house sale. 

Is this correct? 

Any advice and guidance would be much appreciated. 

Regards, 

ACS

Comments

  • Pippa_Alumni
    Pippa_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,765 Championing
    Hi @ACS, thanks for sharing this with us and sorry to hear that you're going through this process. I'm unsure of whether this is how the system typically works, so I've moved this post to our ask a benefits advisor category to see if they can clarify this. Hopefully somebody will be in touch soon!
  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Trailblazing
    Hello ACS

    I also have the same understanding that if you are under pension age then when you sell your home and intend to use the proceeds of sale to buy another home then this money/capital is ignored for 26 weeks. 

    The specific regulations are ESA regs 2008, schedule 9 para 3. I have put a link below.

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/794/schedule/9/made

    You can challenge the decision by requesting a Mandatory reconsideration.  It's best to put the request in writing. The request must also be lodged within 1 month of the decision letter refusing ESA (income related). The grounds on which the decision is challenged are as stated in your post, with reference to the relevant law. 

    I wish you luck.

    Maria

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