Financial worries

lizzie93

Hi everybody
I am new to this site so please bare with me.
I recently been granted ill health pension tier 3, which isn't alot but have weekly income of £103 which I understand that i can keep £85 - and half the difference of my ESA. I also have £6147.65 in arrears and the tax man has taken a large chunk of that but will ESA take some of that as well, as not gonna have much left by the time they finished. Can someone advise olease

thespiceman

Hello @lizzie93 Pleased to meet you welcome

Please can I advise do not know the answer to your question.

Understand am sure any of our team at SCOPE might know.

Also members' of our community.

Have you seen our posts and threads on benefits, advice and information

Take care


@thespiceman

lizzie93

thank you I will check it out

JennysDad

Hello @lizzie93 and a very warm welcome to the community. See you've met the lovely spiceman already
Like him, I don't have the answers you need, but we do have specialists and experienced members who will be able to offer you good advice. Please bear with us and they will be in touch. In fact I'm going to forward this conversation to them to make sure they get to see it.
Thank you and hubby (?) for the photograph. It gave me a warm smile.
Warmest best wishes to you,
Richard
@JennysDad

BenefitsTrainingCo

lizzie93,

Is it contributory ESA you're getting? If so, yes you are right. The first £85 a week is ignored. The rest is halved, and that half (£22.50) comes off your weekly ESA. 

The arrears are treated differently. You weren't getting them whilst you were getting cont ESA in the past so there is no possibility of an overpayment - you were correctly paid at the time.

The arrears form part of your capital, so if you are also claiming any means-tested (or income-based) benefit, it depends on how much you, and a partner you live with, have altogether in your savings, including the £6147 (or whatever is left after tax). If you are not claiming any means tested benefits (eg income-related ESA, Housing Benefit), then there is nothing to worry about.

If you are claiming a means-tested benefit you must tell the DWP (for income-related ESA) and/or local authority (for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction) how much you now have in joint savings. If you don't have any other savings then any reduction to your means-tested benefits is going to be very small - max £1 a week. But if you do have other savings the reduction could be greater. Your savings don't reduce contributory ESA though.

Will

lizzie93

Thank you very much you have been very helpful