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Income related ESA in support group - I want to change to contribution based ESA
cathysclaim
Member Posts: 4 Listener
Hello I am new here and need some advice about ESA - I have been assessed and put on income related ESA in support group - I want to change to contribution based ESA but am worried that I will have to go through the whole distressing / degrading application all over again. Is it possible to simply change to contribution based ? - any advice very much appreciated -thankyou Cathy
Replies
Based on other forums online you are unable to just change and it would require another assessment, however I hope others in the community are able to shed some light on this also as I am not qualified in benefits.
If you need anything else then please do not hesitate to ask!
I do not know the answer to your question. I know a member of our community or team will know.
I wanted to welcome you. We are a friendly supportive community who care and share.
May I suggest having a look for an answer to your question. Have you spoken to CAB . They have a wealth of knowledge and information on benefits.
Also consider looking at our benefit advice ESA could be an answer to what you need to know. Lots of information and advice from our members.
Hope that helps.
Take care
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When claiming ESA, a check will be first done to see what type of ESA a person is entitled to. Contributory based ESA can only be claimed if a person has paid sufficient national insurance contributions. If you have not paid sufficient national ins. contributions the income related ESA is paid. National insurance contributions will be based for example on NI conts. paid via a wage.
As posted above if you are on income related ESA you will not be able to then change onto cont. based ESA.
Is there however any reason as to why you want to change from income related to cont. based ESA?
Maria
As one person has said above you can’t get Contribution based ESA If you haven’t paid enough national insurance contributions but.....
You’re placed on Income based if your current income is too low or you’re not working and don’t have a partner earning enough either. No matter whether or not you have enough national insurance contributions.
Personally I get an amount of both. I get Income based as I can no longer work due to my disabilities but I also receive a small amount of contribution based as I had full national insurance contributions before my disability.
They will have assessed your history and your current status to reach their decision.
It’s NOT a choice you can make, which type you receive. You can’t decide what you want.
What I can say though is if you think they’ve made a mistake then call and let them know. They made a mistake with my claim at first and when I realised, over a year later, I called and asked them what had happened and after a minute checking my details they said that they had made a mistake and four days later a got a very big backdated amount of money into my account and a letter followed stating their mistakes.
It’s been hughly publicised that they’ve made large errors with assessments and have been re paying people thousands in backdated money.
It’s worth asking about. Hope that helps?