esa backpayment query

starbuck

probably a weird question this. my husband got the esa backpayment last year and we put it in an isa account so we could keep it seperate from our current bank account. 
we've since used some of the money to pay for some new white goods and furniture so it's gone down a bit. if we had any money in the future would we be able to top that isa account back up to the original amount the dwp paid? eg. if there was 6,000 in the account, we spent 2,000, if we saved any money in the future would we be able to top that isa back up to 6,000 and it would still be disregarded for the lifetime of the award? or would they count the £2,000 as seperate money? 

poppy123456

Hi,

All savings count towards the £6,000 it doesn't matter where the money is. There is an exception to this rule, if the backdated money owed was from a DWP offical error...for EG, the Incapacity benefit to ESA underpayments and the money received was more than £5000 then it's disregarded for the life of the ESA claim but it would state this on the letter that was receive when the money was paid.

starbuck

Yes it was the esa official error. The more I think about it the more it makes sense that once that esa backdated money has been spent then it's gone and can't be topped up and disregarded.
The reason I ask is if we did have any money to save any in the future I wondered whether to put it in the isa account with the backdated payment or keep any other savings in a seperate account the keep things clearer so that we know how much of the backpayment has been spent. 
We've got a lot of things to replace still so I think it will be going down again pretty soon. Some of our furniture has been held together by a wing and a prayer for years ?

woodbine

ISA's are a waste of time now that the first £1,000 of any interest s tax free anyway, not that savings earn much atm, my advice would be to spend any spare money you have keeping a small emergency fund of say £1000

starbuck

Say for example some had £100,000 from the dwp (yes I know it's a ridiculous figure but it's an easy one for me to work out ?) and it was disregarded because it was an error on dwp's part. If the person with the money spent £10,000 on holidays and lending money to friends, can they then put that money back in at a later date to make the £100,000 back up again or would the £10,000 they pay back in be classed as income by the dwp and reduce their benefit accordingly? 
It's amazing the things that puzzle me when I'm trying to distract myself because of toothache! 

poppy123456

starbuck said:

Say for example some had £100,000 from the dwp (yes I know it's a ridiculous figure but it's an easy one for me to work out ?) and it was disregarded because it was an error on dwp's part. If the person with the money spent £10,000 on holidays and lending money to friends, can they then put that money back in at a later date to make the £100,000 back up again or would the £10,000 they pay back in be classed as income by the dwp and reduce their benefit accordingly? 
It's amazing the things that puzzle me when I'm trying to distract myself because of toothache! 

I wpould have thought It would be very difficult for someone claiming benefits to be able to "put back £10,000" into a savings acount.

starbuck

I know it's a silly figure but just using it as an example. Once the dwp overpayment has been spent I presume you can't pay it back into the account. I take it all money you have in savings after that is counted as capital over the £6000 limit? 

poppy123456

Yes, once the backdated money is spent, savings will then be counted as normal.

starbuck

Makes sense. Has everyone had their backpayments or are they still processing them?

poppy123456

I have no idea sorry.