ESA / PIP benefits affected by circumstance changes.

mt86

Hello,

I am raising an enquiry in relation to my mother-in-laws benefits. I'm hoping to find some straight-forward answers which seem impossible to draw from gov.uk or CAB, so thank you in advance to anyone who is able to help.

My in-laws currently live in their own home, my father-in-law recieves carers allowance for looking after my mother-in-law who gets ESA (Support Group) and PIP (Enhanced). We believe the ESA is ‘new style’ but I'm not 100% certain.

However, as my mother-in-laws health is worsening and my wife is having to go there a lot more to help provide additional care as she can't be alone we've taken the decision to move in together. They will be selling their home and moving in to ours.

Basically what we are trying to find out is which, if any, benefits will be affected by them moving in to our house with us and also as they will then have proceeds of their house sale in savings / ISAs.

I assume (possibly naively) that as we are all financially independent of one another, their moving in with us wont have any direct impact on their eligibility.

My understanding / research suggests that PIP isn't means tested so the savings won't affect that, but ESA does seem to have some means testing limitations, though it's unclear exactly what they are, for example, are her husbands assets counted as hers for means testing or is it only things in her name?

Thanks

janer1967

Hi there 

The pip will not be affected as you say it isn't means tested 

I'm not a esa expert but they will be seen as a couple so will fall under a joint claim.  Any means tested benefits usually are not payable if there is 16k or above in savings 

Other members who know more about esa will give advice 

mt86

janer1967 said:

Hi there 

The pip will not be affected as you say it isn't means tested 

I'm not a esa expert but they will be seen as a couple so will fall under a joint claim.  Any means tested benefits usually are not payable if there is 16k or above in savings 

Other members who know more about esa will give advice 

Thank you very much for your help

Ross_Alumni

Hello @mt86 and welcome to the community, I hope you are well.

Is there any way you can find out what kind of ESA it is?  How long has she received it for?

mt86

Ross_Scope said:

Hello @mt86 and welcome to the community, I hope you are well.

Is there any way you can find out what kind of ESA it is?  How long has she received it for?

Hi Ross,

Thank you for your reply, she started receiving benefits in October 2018, following a stroke in April 2018.

Her most recent renewal letter from February this year states:

No income will be taken off your Employment and Support Allowance

Your income-related amount is £114.10 less £0.00 so you would have been entitled to £114.10

However because you are entitled to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance we will pay you £114.10

So I'm really not sure if the ESA is contribution based or income based (or really what the difference is between the two)

calcotti

PIP is not means tested.
Carer's Allowance is not means tested (other than the earnings limit).
New style ESA is an individual claim and is not means tested. If the ESA was only claimed in the last two years it will be new style.
Only the ESA claim is older and is means tested would it be affected as the proceeds of the house sale would likely end the income based entitlement.

mt86

calcotti said:

PIP is not means tested.
Carer's Allowance is not means tested (other than the earnings limit).
New style ESA is an individual claim and is not means tested. If the ESA was only claimed in the last two years it will be new style.
Only the ESA claim is older and is means tested would it be affected as the proceeds of the house sale would likely end the income based entitlement.

Thank you for this information,

As the benefit started in October 2018 I assume it's the older claim and is therefore means tested? I note in your reply you state new style is an individual claim, am I to assume from this that old style is a joint claim for both of them?

calcotti

mt86 said:

calcotti said:

PIP is not means tested.
Carer's Allowance is not means tested (other than the earnings limit).
New style ESA is an individual claim and is not means tested. If the ESA was only claimed in the last two years it will be new style.
Only the ESA claim is older and is means tested would it be affected as the proceeds of the house sale would likely end the income based entitlement.

Thank you for this information,

As the benefit started in October 2018 I assume it's the older claim and is therefore means tested? I note in your reply you state new style is an individual claim, am I to assume from this that old style is a joint claim for both of them?

October 2018 is most probably new style ESA. Full roll out of UC didn't complete until December 2018 (from memory) but by October 2018 there would have been few places where it would have been possible to claim the old type of ESA. Do you know how much she receives?

mt86

calcotti said:

mt86 said:

calcotti said:

PIP is not means tested.
Carer's Allowance is not means tested (other than the earnings limit).
New style ESA is an individual claim and is not means tested. If the ESA was only claimed in the last two years it will be new style.
Only the ESA claim is older and is means tested would it be affected as the proceeds of the house sale would likely end the income based entitlement.

Thank you for this information,

As the benefit started in October 2018 I assume it's the older claim and is therefore means tested? I note in your reply you state new style is an individual claim, am I to assume from this that old style is a joint claim for both of them?

October 2018 is most probably new style ESA. Full roll out of UC didn't complete until December 2018 (from memory) but by October 2018 there would have been few places where it would have been possible to claim the old type of ESA. Do you know how much she receives?

Hello.

Her current amount as part of the support group is £114.10 a week.

calcotti

mt86 said:

calcotti said:

mt86 said:

calcotti said:

PIP is not means tested.
Carer's Allowance is not means tested (other than the earnings limit).
New style ESA is an individual claim and is not means tested. If the ESA was only claimed in the last two years it will be new style.
Only the ESA claim is older and is means tested would it be affected as the proceeds of the house sale would likely end the income based entitlement.

Thank you for this information,

As the benefit started in October 2018 I assume it's the older claim and is therefore means tested? I note in your reply you state new style is an individual claim, am I to assume from this that old style is a joint claim for both of them?

October 2018 is most probably new style ESA. Full roll out of UC didn't complete until December 2018 (from memory) but by October 2018 there would have been few places where it would have been possible to claim the old type of ESA. Do you know how much she receives?

Hello.

Her current amount as part of the support group is £114.10 a week.

That is almost certainly new style ESA. An income based ESA amount for a couple would be a different amount. As advised above, new style ESA is not affected by capital (and the only income that affects the amount payable would be pension income above £85/week). 

mt86

Username_removed said:

@mt86 are you in receipt of benefits (if so which) and do you have a mortgage? 

Yes we have a mortgage, no we don’t get any benefits

mt86

Username_removed said:

Right. Thanks. Just checking that their moving in has no impact on any benefits you receive which was the obvious omission in the above.

As you have a mortgage you need to check in with your provider as to whether you can actually move anyone else in at all if you haven’t already done so. Failure to do so can have some nasty consequences. 

Yes mortgage lender is aware and satisfied, thank you.