At what amount under £16000 do I inform the DWP the amount for related benefits

ocdman

Hi All,

I've been on sickness and disability benefits now since 2009 ive been on income related ESA and then DLA and then PIP and now I'm on contribution related ESA and PIP I believe the income ESA changed to Contribution ESA due to the length of time on it but anyway that's irrelevant as I'm defiantly on the contribution ESA and in the support group and I believe PIP is not means tested so technically not part of my question I just thought I'd add this for a fuller picture . I'm 59 if that makes any difference and I live alone .

so every letter I get from the DWP says about the savings amount and to inform them as soon as it drops below £16000 , I inherited this from my mother when she died three years ago and told the DWP straight away . I pay my full rent to the council from my bank account which the DWP pay my benefits into and because I'm on contrabution ESA and PIP ongoing indefinitely if I'm correct in my thinking it's to do with a possible payment for housing benefit from the DWP but I'm not really sure about that so I'm wondering really at what amount under £16000 should I inform them and for what extra benefit will this give me ? 

calcotti

You were probably originally on ESA which was a mixture of contribution based and income based. When you inherited the money you lost entitlement to income based ESA but retained the contribution based entitlement because that is not means tested. When the savings fall below £16,000 you become eligible for income based ESA again to top up the contribution based ESA. 

if you live alone (or any other adults who live with you also have a disability benefit), receive Daily living PIP and nobody claims Carer's allowance for looking after you the calculation of income based ESA would include the Severe Disability Premium. 

If the SDP applies then you could have income based ESA entitlement as soon as your total capital drops to £16,000. Although any capital over £6,000 reduces your entitlement the deduction would not cancel out the SDP. Without the SDP your capital would need to fall to about £10,000 before there would be any income based ESA entitlement.

However if you want help with rent you would need to claim Universal Credit because new claims for Housing Benefit is not available for new claims. If you claim UC your entitlement to income based ESA will end. If ESA entitlement to SDP is established prior to any claim for UC it will increase your UC entitlement because you will get a transitional element.

Above assumes no income other than ESA and PIP and should be treated as indicative only.

ocdman

Thanks calcotti I'm still a bit confused , I do live alone and I've nobody who claims any sort of benefit for me . The thing that's confusing me is the amounts are the same paid for the income based and contribution based esa so assuming my condition stays the same ( which is likely) and I'll still be entitled to esa at the support group criteria ( which has been ongoing for some years ) if say my savings drop below the £16000 to say £15900 should I notify the DWP or maybe wait till £15000 but then as the amounts are the same paid for the esa group I'm in and as I said I'm likely to be in ongoing what's the point of notifying them ? I've done an online calculation for universal credit ( in not on it yet ) to see if I'd be better off transferring to that and it says I wouldn't be better moving to it . If I'm reading your reply correct you are saying that £10000 is the amount that would be the amount that would be the amount that would be significant to notify them of savings  but only if I get income esa which i won't as they pay my ni contribution from my esa at the moment . Apologies for the long winded reply it's so complicated.

ocdman

And if I could add when would it be the time to claim any housing benefit? At what level of savings and on what qualifying benefit? Thanks in advance it's super complicated so any advice would be so gratefully received 

poppy123456

You would be entitled to some Income Related top up once your savings drop below £16,000 so for example, once your savings reach £15,000 then your Income Related ESA will be reduce by £36 per week. This means that with the SDP (£67.30) and the Enhanced disability (£17.20) premium your total ESA entitlement before deductions will be £198.60 per week. With the reduction of £36 per week because of the savings then your total entitlement will be £162.60 per week.

You won't be able to make a new claim for housing benefit because as advised this has been replaced by Universal Credit so if you need to claim for help with any rent it will be this you will need to claim.

Because part of your ESA is Contributions based (£114.10 per/week) and will continue as normal. It will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement.

UC is means tested so again for every £250 of savings you have over £6,000 your UC will reduce by £4.35 per month.

Before claiming UC you should claim the SDP because then once you transfer accross to UC if you need to claim help with any rent then you'll be entitled to the SDP transitional protection.