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Moving in with working partner on support ESA

MsMediocreMolly

ello, I am looking for some advice. My name is Molly, I am 24 and I have been in a long term relationship with my boyfriend for almost 8 years. We have been waiting until he finished his education, part-time, before moving in together. I live alone on ESA (support group) and PIP. I have a connective tissue disorder and other issues that made working very very very difficult, and I subsequently lost my job. This was about 5/6 years ago. I have been on esa every since. His degree is on the final stretch and will be completed this summer. We want to move in together, finally, it has only been 8 years. He is talking about buying a house instead of renting (he works full time, as well as uni part-time). Basically, if he and I moved in together, I would lose the ESA because it is the support group, leaving me with just PIP. I am not entirely comfortable being that financially dependent on someone, partly the reason I have lived alone since I was 20. I am just wondering, is there literally anything that can help me out? I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I genuinely believe working full time would kill me off. I don't want to push myself into part-time work then the same thing happens, where my body can't cope and I end up getting let go again. We have no plans to get married, but we are discussing getting a civil partnership in a couple of years if that makes a difference. I don't think I will be eligible for the contributions based ESA.
Also posted this in another category by mistake.

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poppy123456

HI,

I'm one of the community champions here on scope and i'm here to help and advise others.

You say you're in the Support Group but you don't say if you're claim is Contributions based, Income Related or Contributions based with an income related top up. You can either look at a recent ESA award letter and that will tell you what exactly you're claiming BUT they can often be very difficult to understand, if you don't know what to look for. Or you can ring ESA and ask them if part of your claim is Contributions based.

You say you worked about 5/6 years ago and this makes me think that if you paid enough NI contributions in the 2 years previous to your ESA claim then it's possible that part of it is Contributions based. IF it is then moving in with your partner will mean that you will keep £111.65 per week of your ESA payments. Anything more than this and you will lose because your partner works full time.

PIP isn't means tested so this won't be affected.

DWP open at 8am tomorrow, give them a ring to ask and they will tell you exactly what you're claiming.

If all of your ESA is Income related then i'm afraid moving in with your partner that works full time then all of your ESA will stop and you will just receive your NI credits towards your state pension. Unfortunately, you won't be able to claim Contributions based ESA if your claim is all Income related.

Whether you'll be entitled to an Universal Credit as a couple will totally depend on both of your circumstances. Hope this helps.

SADL

Hi @MsMediocreMolly,

I agree with the advisor about finding out if your claim is CB or IR, as he is correct you should not lose CB ESA if a partner moves in.
I think we are both assuming that your partner is a UK or EU national or has recourse to public funds, as that would also complicate matters.

In regards to if your partner does move in, then even if you maintain part of your award the DWP may expect your partner to attend work-focused interviews at the job centre if he is included in your claim, this may persist even if he is in a p/t job or if your claim is contribution based.

Also, be aware that this will be a change of circumstances, so you must inform the DWP, and more importantly it may cause a portal onto the Universal Credit regardless of your desires. Universal Credit gets a bad rap, but I have recently transferred from ESA and legacy benefits to UC and am in receipt of slightly more now than I was.

[Removed by moderator] The DWP has concluded you have no obligation to seek employment and I have heard from too many people who attempted work and lose their ESA Support Group. The DWP will be able to use it as evidence during reassessments to find you able to work.

poppy123456

SADL said:

Hi @MsMediocreMolly,

I agree with the advisor about finding out if your claim is CB or IR, as he is correct you should not lose CB ESA if a partner moves in.
I think we are both assuming that your partner is a UK or EU national or has recourse to public funds, as that would also complicate matters.

In regards to if your partner does move in, then even if you maintain part of your award the DWP may expect your partner to attend work-focused interviews at the job centre if he is included in your claim, this may persist even if he is in a p/t job or if your claim is contribution based.

Also, be aware that this will be a change of circumstances, so you must inform the DWP, and more importantly it may cause a portal onto the Universal Credit regardless of your desires. Universal Credit gets a bad rap, but I have recently transferred from ESA and legacy benefits to UC and am in receipt of slightly more now than I was.

The DWP has concluded you have no obligation to seek employment and I have heard from too many people who attempted work and lose their ESA Support Group. The DWP will be able to use it as evidence during reassessments to find you able to work.

If the claim is all Income related then no entitlement to ESA will remain because the partner is working full time. If the claim is Contributions based then the partner will not be added to the claim, so the partner will not be expected to attend any work focused interviews because they work full time and will have nothing at all to do with DWP.

If no tax credits are being claimed and no help with rent is needed then this will not be a change of circumstances that will prompt a move to UC. They potentially won't be entitled to any UC, if they have no dependent children. Claiming UC will depend on their circumstances and earnings from the partner.

If the ESA is all income related and they are entitled to UC then the ESA award will be honoured in UC. As the partner works full time they will not be expected to attend any work focused interviews either.

chiarieds

Hi @MsMediocreMolly - I'd just like to welcome you to the community. I'm very sorry to read about the health issues you face.

I'm sure poppy123456 's advice will be helpful as she has a great knowledge about benefits, & has helped hundreds of people that have asked about these understand them better in this community.

Please talk here any time; ask any other questions, or say if we can support you further.

@SADL - As someone new here, I'd like to ask you to read the community's guidelines, which say,' Please make sure your messages respect other users’ views and suggestions, even if you do not agree with them.' Sadly your response mentioning @Cressida falls short of this. You are also not supposed to express opinions as fact. Please see: https://www.scope.org.uk/online-community-guidelines Thank you.

Adrian_Scope

Hello @MsMediocreMolly. Have you managed to find out if your ESA is income-related or contribution-based?
I know Universal Credit has been mentioned a few times. It may be worth noting that if you do find you would still be entitled to some UC even with his wages, you would need to move over to UC before your partner moves in / your ESA ends so that your ESA Support Group status can be transferred to UC.

But depending on whether your ESA is income-related on contribution-based makes a huge difference here.