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Esa severe disability while sons at university

maxjess71

Hi all, been claiming esa with severe disability since my son went to university 23rd September 2019,
he lives in residential halls.
child benefit and tax credits ended 31st August...in which esa were totally aware of this.

Esa asked for evidence that showed he wasn’t living with me.

however today I received a letter to tell me esa have stopped my severe disability, even though my circumstances haven’t changed, I need to show evidence that I claim single person housing and council tax, in which I do and my sons down as a non dependant.
also explain why my son has his post still coming to my house, in which was told to use the words that it’s his correspondence address.

im pulling my hair out as I’m worried I now owe money to them, but in no circumstances did esa ask me for evidence of where my sons living just to show I’m living alone in which I have done since September.

can anyone advise please

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poppy123456

woodbine said:

Hi hope you are well and staying safe? If I recall rightly then in those circumstances you should be classed as living alone and able to claim SDP, when he is home e.g in the summer recess then he should be classed as a visitor, its quite likely that he will already have fixed up his year 2 accomadation? Just provide the proof they are asking for re:council tax and HB, the postal address i'm not 100% sure about but someone will be along soon who may know that one

This may not be the case here. As advised on the other thread here https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/70014/esa-severe-disability-while-sons-at-university#latest

@maxjess71 rents from social housing and has not been paying the bedroom tax while the son has been at uni. You can't expect to be excluded from the bedroom tax, saying your son needs a room when they are home, then on the other hand state you're living alone for the SDP.

Either way here, there could potentially be an overpayment for either housing benefit or SDP.

maxjess71

thank you for advice.
like other thread, no one explained this to me.

poppy123456

When my daughter was 19 she left home to go to university but she moved 300 miles away from home. I was still able to claim the SDP because she lived so far away and obviously wasn't returning home because of this.

However, i still had to pay the bedroom tax because she was no longer living at home. I couldn't have it both ways.