ESA and carers allowance — Scope | Disability forum
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ESA and carers allowance

lisawallace
lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
edited December 2020 in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
can I get full ESA for the period I’ve been getting carers allowance?
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Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Member Posts: 31,383 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi and welcome,

    What ESA are you claiming? Income Related? New style ESA/Contributions based?
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  • woodbine
    woodbine Member, Community Co-Production Group Posts: 7,769 Disability Gamechanger
    hi @lisawallace have you been claiming CA for caring for someone and now want to claim ESA for yourself? a little more detail needed.
    Be extra nice to new members.
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  • lisawallace
    lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
    I’ve been granted £7.10 a week instead of £74.35 because it says I’m entitled to contribution based ESA. They haven’t had my medical assessment form back yet- it’ll arrive with them today. 
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  • lisawallace
    lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
    I care for my disabled son so also get carers allowance.
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  • lisawallace
    lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
    It says it’s based on my contributions history but as I get CA I thought I’d get contributions along with that.
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Member Posts: 31,383 Disability Gamechanger
    Is it New style ESA you're claiming? When did you start your claim for ESA?
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  • lisawallace
    lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
    I’m not sure if it’s new style but I only applied last week - they’re backdating it to July. I could’ve claimed it before but thought it was means tested so didn’t.
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  • lisawallace
    lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
    I mean I could’ve claimed it before but I thought it was means tested so didn’t apply 
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Member Posts: 31,383 Disability Gamechanger
    Thank you for confirming that. This means that it's New style ESA that you've claimed. This is a contributions based only benefit, which means it's based on your NI contributions in tax year April 2017 to March 2019.

    Carers allowance and New style ESA together means they are overlapping benefits. Whilst you can claim them both together  you can't be paid them both together and all you will receive is the difference between the carers allowance and New style ESA which is £7.10 per week. Of course you will still receive the carers allowance separately to the ESA payments.

    You can look at claiming Universal Credit but as this is a means tested benefit then it will depend on your circumstances. If you live with a partner then you claim as a couple. If you have savings/capital of more than £16,000 you're excluded from claiming.

    A claim for UC will end any tax credits you may already be claiming.

    Hope this helps.
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  • lisawallace
    lisawallace Member Posts: 7 Listener
    I’m on the phone to DWP now - well in a Queue 
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Member Posts: 31,383 Disability Gamechanger
    I'm assuming that's to ask why you're only receiving the £7.10 per week? Asking DWP for advice isn't the best people to ask so please be aware of that as they mostly read from a screen.
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Member Posts: 31,383 Disability Gamechanger
    This links confirms the advice i gave regarding the overlapping benefit rules. Please scroll down to page 10 of this link. https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs55_carers_allowance_fcs.pdf

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  • Tori_Scope
    Tori_Scope Posts: 9,682 Scope online community team
    Just to let you know, I've moved your post into our ESA category @lisawallace :) 
    Online Community Coordinator, she/her

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  • Jo00
    Jo00 Member Posts: 2 Listener
    Hi. I'm new so not sure if I've posted in the correct place
    I've had a good look through the discussions and still not sure
    I have a joint claim with my partner who claims income related esa he also receives the disability income guarantee and extra money for the Support group
    And recently was awarded pip. I know he's not entitled to the sdp but if I were to claim carers allowance if and how would any of this be effected?
    Any help would be really appreciated ?
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  • calcotti
    calcotti Member Posts: 6,385 Disability Gamechanger
    edited January 2021
    Jo00 said:
    Hi. I'm new so not sure if I've posted in the correct place
    I've had a good look through the discussions and still not sure
    I have a joint claim with my partner who claims income related esa he also receives the disability income guarantee and extra money for the Support group
    And recently was awarded pip. I know he's not entitled to the sdp but if I were to claim carers allowance if and how would any of this be effected?
    Any help would be really appreciated ?
    If you claim Carer's Allowance his income related ESA will include an additional carer premium worth £37.50/week. The Carer's Allowance you receive of £67.25/week will be deducted from his ESA. This means you get the CA, his ESA payments are reduced but overall you are better off by £37.50/week. Claiming CA will also mean that you get Class 1 NI credits towards your State Pension which is important if you are making contributions through employment and not getting credits any other way.

    Provided you claim within 3 months of the PIP decision you can ask for the CA to be backdated to the start date of the PIP award.

    (Technically the ESA is not a joint claim. The ESA claim is your partner's claim, although you are added to it as a partner for entitlement purposes it is not your claim and you do not get any NI credits from that claim although, as the claimant, he does.)
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Rules may be different in other parts of UK.
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  • Jo00
    Jo00 Member Posts: 2 Listener
    Thank you so much  that's clarified it all for me now the government websites are so confusing. 
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