Advice on ESA payments with Carers Allowance

Apollo14LMP

Hello All,

Hope this post finds you all well. I need some advice please - I have been on ESA for some time - I have a joint claim with my wife in my name. Im in ESA SG for years .. I recently had to stop claiming the SDP we both received due to child leaving college FT education. Sadly I was unwell and could not get through to the DWP at all.

So I made a claim for carers allowance for both of us to claim for each other - this would stop the SDP entitlement. I get £52.22 work based occ pension which I told the DWP about of course. Today I got paid and only received £91.07 with my s Fund of £22.48 deducted Total £113.55 - with my occ pension included. My wife currently gets £67.25 per week  (Monday) for caring for me .. I dont get anything is this right.

I also think they have possibly overpaid me by around £30 a week possibly since September I cannot work out why ... as I applied for Carers so they should have stopped my SDP when I claimed I did get a letter that as I get ESA CB / IR that I cannot receive Carers .. so what should I be getting ??

I am new to Carers I dont want to claim UC unless my life depends on it  ... still suing the DWP and local council over UC failed claim from three years ago.  My case is due to be heard soon but the DWP are causing chaos for me and my legal team one way and another ... even the best legal minds in the UK are challenged by these people.

As we are both claiming for each other this bit loses me and I have never used Carers allowance so any advice is appreciated.

Take care stay safe folks .... 

poppy123456

HI,

I remember advsing you when your daughter was about to leave education. Based on those figures you've given here i would say that your ESA is just Contributions based, rather than CB with an Income Related top up.

I would also say that your wife is not named on your claim. This is because you are receiving the Occ pension which will reduce any income related top £1 for £1 but because part of your ESA is Contributions based then they can't reduce it any further than £113.55, which is the CB Support Group amount. Any pension that's less than £85 per week is ignored for CB ESA.

Here are my figures that i've worked out to try to help you more with this, just to show what you would be receiving if it wasn't for your pension.

ESA Couples £116.80

Support Group amount £39.20

Enhanced disability premium (couples) £24.50

Total ESA  without the carers allowance deduction = £180.50

Minus the carers allowance of £67.25 = £113.25 + carers premium £37.50 = £150.75 per week payable ESA..

Then you have your pension of £52.22 per week which reduces Income Related ESA £1 for £1, so this wipes out any income related top up and reverts your ESA to a CB only claim, which is £113.55 per week.

The reason why you can't claim carers allowance for looking after your wife is because Contributions based ESA and carers allowance are overlapping benefits and you can't be paid both together at the same time, you will receive the higher benefit, which is ESA.

One other thing to be careful of here is the your ESA no longer entitles you to free NHS treatement, such as dental, prescriptions or eye tests and this includes your wife.

May i ask if you were claiming the pension when you were claiming the SDP? If you were then there should have also been a reduction of your ESA from the time you started receiving the pension.

Hope this helps and sorry if i've caused any confusion. I can't tell you whether you have any overpayment though.

Apollo14LMP

Hi thank you for your help, I was in receipt of ESA IR when I got the pension. This was swiftly reduced penny for penny. Pension is a great bonus to the highly paid .. not so here I think ... 

The sheet I have says - £116.80 + D Inc Guarantee £24.50 + £39.20      = £180.50  then minus £52.22 = £128.28 but states this applies 3/9/20 to 23/9/20 ...

Covering letter says - From 24/9/20 ESA will be £105.80  a week due to change in deductions from ESA (S Fund loan ?)

Then from 5/11/20 ESA will be £91.07  (Plus 22.48 S fund loan)  = £113.55

From 1/4/21 ESA will be £105.39 

From 8/4/21 ESA will be £113.55 per week (Loan finishes  I guess).- 

Makes no reference to CB based ESA at all but I was on ESA CB topped up by IR element I have been in receipt of pension since 2015 and they of course where advised.

I didnt know about the prescription thing ! I will need to see what I am getting very worrying ... 

I do live in an ESA FULL service area - I might be better off on that but not sure. I loath UC ... its a bitter pill ...

But thank you for your help Im grateful it helps so much ! Take care of yourself ... 

poppy123456

Yes the calculations have taken into consideration your wife being named on the claim but because of your pension this compltely reduces any income related top up that you would have been receiving.

The extra deductions for the loan you had makes the calculation correct. The amount from 1/4/21 has been slightly increased because that will be the last loan repayment.

My calculation means that it does seem like you have a small overpayment from 3/09/20.

All areas are now UC and have been since Decemeber 2018. No new claims of the old benefits are no longer possible.

If you claimed UC your ESA would not be part of this and you would remain on it and it will continue to be paid as normal. Your ESA support Group award would be honoured in UC and you will be placed into the LCWRA group and receive the LCWRA element, as well as the couples standard allowance and any other elements like housing (if you claim for help with the rent.

Your ESA will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement and also your pension will be deducted £1 for £1. A benefits calculator will tell you whether you'll be entitled to an UC.

Of course if you do claim UC then you will never be able to claim the old Income Related ESA again in the future.

Depsite the bad stories regarding UC, there are people who are better off claiming this than they were with the legacy benefits. Of course there's some who are worse off. It's not perfect by any means but it's not as bad as some people think.

It's all rather a bitter pill though when you were previously claiming the SDP.

Always happy to help. Take care too and if you need more advice please do ask.