Universal Credit from ESA

Lin56

As I will get State Pension at the age of 66 this May and my wife, who is eight years younger, a claim for Universal Credit must be made as a result of her Employment Support Allowance (contributory and means-tested elements) ending, will the following apply to us? Severe Disability Premium is paid with the said ESA. I have read contradictory information concerning transitional protection and wondered if the following is accurate. Many thanks for any advice or comments.

If you were entitled to a Severe Disability Premium on Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), or income-related Jobseeker's Allowance at the time you claimed Universal Credit, you are entitled to transitional protection.

calcotti

No, no, no! Do not claim UC - you will be much worse off if you do.

Her ESA will not end. Because she is the younger partner of what will be a Mixed Age Couple (MAC) her ESA can continue. Her maximum ESA amount will actually increase because a pensioner premium will be added to the calculation. Your State Pension (and any there pension you get) will be deducted in full when calculating the ESA payable.

If you are claiming housing benefit that can continue also (although you might need to argue with your local authority about that because some of them still don't seem to have grasped it even though it's three years since the rules changed).

Additional points to note (if you're interested):

1) In due course your wife will be told her ESA will end as part of the managed migration' exercise and will have to claim UC. When that happens she will get transitional protection (nothing to do with the SDP protection) to ensure that the UC amount is not less than the existing benefit income.

2) If you were the one claiming ESA then the situation would be different because the ESA would end and as a MAC you would need to claim UC, and would be best to claim UC before reaching pension age. You would get less money as a MAC claiming UC than you will with your wife's ongoing ESA claim.

Lin56

Thank you sincerely for your detailed reply.   

calcotti

If you have doubts your wife could ring ESA and ask what will happen when you reach pension age (although the quality of reply she may get is variable and could even be incorrect).

calcotti

May be worth explaining a bit more what is happening in this situation (as I understand it).

In the past
1) If you had a couple with the older person claiming ESA and Housing Benefit when the older person reached pension age the ESA would stop and they could claim Pension Credit and the Housing Benefit would switch to pension age rules.
2) If the younger person was claiming ESA they had a choice of the younger person staying on income based ESA or the older person claiming Pension Credit (the amount of money due being the same) and regardless of the choice the HB would switch to pension age rules.

The change in 2019 means that a claim for Pension Credit cannot be made unless both parts of the couple have reached pension age and Housing Benefit under pension age rules is also only available if both are pension age.

This means that
1) If the older person is the ESA claimant, when that stops due to reaching pension age they cannot claim Pension Credit nor are they able to get pension age HB, which means that they have to claim UC to get any income based benefit. This pays less than under Pension Credit.
2) If the younger person is the ESA claimant their partner reaching pension age does not end the ESA so it continues and the regulations have said that in that circumstance, for HB purposes, the older partner can be treated as if still working age so HB can continue under working age rules.

Lin56

Thank you sincerely.   

Lin56

Having found the following information on a government web page and seeing it was dated July 2019 I wondered if it was up-to-date!

If so, then it would be applicable in my circumstances and would obviate claiming Universal Credit on reaching State Pension age.

Mixed age couple in receipt of HB and other DWP legacy benefit – younger member of the couple is lead claimant of the legacy benefit

Where a working age couple who are in receipt of a DWP legacy benefit and working age HB and the older member of the couple is approaching state pension age but the younger member of the couple is the lead claimant on the DWP legacy benefit claim, the mixed age couple will remain on the legacy benefits that they are currently entitled to. The mixed age couple will continue to receive working age HB until the younger member of the mixed age couple reaches State Pension age or is no longer in receipt of the DWP legacy benefit.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-benefit-adjudication-circulars-2019/a92019-mixed-age-couples-further-guidance

calcotti

That is exactly the situation that applies to you, all as set out in detail in my previous replies.

I didn’t give the reference to the Housing Benefit circular because I didn’t know if you get HB and thought it might be confusing to refer to it if you don’t get It.

Lin56

Cannot thank you enough.   You really have helped me so much.

calcotti

Just to add - the pensioner premium on the ESA will be an extra £113.50/week (at current rates). This will increase the maximum ESA amount, obviously the actual ESA paid may be less than the current amount because your pension income will be deducted.

Do either of you get a disability benefit (DLA or PIP?).

Alex_Alumni

I'm really glad to see calcotti has helped you so much @Lin56

If you do have any other queries please don't hesitate to ask.

calcotti

calcotti said: Do either of you get a disability benefit (DLA or PIP?).

Shouldn't have asked that question. You said in your opening post that your wife gets SDP in her ESA. I infer therefore that you both get a disability benefit. Is it the couple SDP that she currently gets? Do you know how much your State Pension will be?

Lin56

It is the single rate of SDP, which was awarded to my wife's ESA a few weeks ago.   Still awaiting back-payments of SDP.  I will get the maximum State Pension in May.     

calcotti

Lin56 said:

It is the single rate of SDP, which was awarded to my wife's ESA a few weeks ago.   Still awaiting back-payments of SDP.  I will get the maximum State Pension in May.     

So presumably you both get daily Living PIP but one of you (or somebody else) is receiving Carer's Allowance for looking after one of you. If the SDP has just been added is that because one of you has only just had he PIP award made?

I'm just trying to think whether there is a way you can further increase your benefit entitlement when you reach pension age.

Lin56

My wife and I are severely disabled (wife more so than myself) and we both receive PIP. I get Carer's Allowance for caring for my wife. The Severe Disability Premium was only awarded to the Employment Support Allowance, which is in my wife's name, a couple of weeks ago. I was unaware of the SDP until an application form was sent to my wife in December of last year. We were told by the ESA office that back-payments of SDP would be made to my wife from the time she was awarded PIP (about three years ago). Before then she received DLA at the high rate of both components.

calcotti

Thanks Lin, that all makes sense. At the moment your wife is entitled to the SDP for you because you both get PIP and nobody gets Carer’s Allowance or the carer element of UC for looking after you. She doesn’t get SDP for herself because you are receiving Carer’s Allowance. Her ESA includes a carer premium because you get CA.

I would expect her existing award  to look like this:

couple allowance £117.40
support component £39.40
enhanced disability premium £24.60
severe disability premium £67.30
carer premium £37.70

Maximum ESA = £286.40/week. Obviously she is paid less than this because the CA (and any other relevant income) is deducted.

When you reach pension age your wife’s ESA will change in a number of ways. 

She will be entitled to the pensioner premium. 
The enhanced disability premium will stop (because it can’t be paid at the same time as the pensioner premium).
Because you will be getting your State Pension you will no longer be entitled to receive Carer’s Allowance. You will retain an ‘underlying entitlement’ to it which means that she will still get the carer premium. However, because you will no longer be receiving CA for looking after her,  your wife will also be entitled to receive an SDP for herself (you should probably contact ESA after you have reached pension age in order to get this put in place).

The award will then look like this:

couple allowance £117.40
support component £39.40
pensioner premium £113.50
severe disability premium (couple) £134.60
carer premium £37.70

Maximum ESA = £442.60/week. Again she will be paid less than this because your pension income (and any other relevant income) will be deducted.

(Note - If you were instead to claim UC your joint UC entitlement would only be equivalent to £262.45/week (plus help with housing if applicable). Not only would this be a drop on your existing income it would be a huge difference of over £9,000/annum compared to the pensioner ESA entitlement. You can see why I advise not to claim UC in these circumstances if you don’t have to! Also highlights what a minefield the benefits system is.)

Unless she reaches pension age before then, at some time in the next few years your wife will be told that her ESA will end and she needs to claim UC as part of ‘managed migration’. When this happens she will get transitional protection so that the UC is topped up so that she doesn't lose money at the date of transfer.

When your wife reaches pension age make sure you claim Pension Credit to top up your joint pension income. Pension Credit will include carer’s premium and SDPs as part of the calculation.

Above figures are all at today’s rate. Actual amounts in May will be slightly higher following increases due in April.

Lin56

Such a wonderfully detailed and clear reply. I simply cannot thank you enough as the matter has been weighing heavily on my mind. No back-money paid yet concerning the SDP, but it apparently takes some weeks to be forthcoming. Suffice it to say that we will not be claiming Universal Credit! Many others, in the same position as my wife and I, will be extremely grateful to you, as we are, for your posts on this great forum.

calcotti

Do please check that my analysis of your existing ESA matches your wife's current award. 

Lin56

It matches it precisely 

calcotti

That’s reassuring! Good luck with the transition in May.

BrianDavies

Interesting posts but I think in Lin's case the following will apply.  But correct me if I am wrong.    

• If you are the claimant for Housing Benefit and you are about to reach State Pension Age, your entitlement to Housing Benefit will end.  
• You are unable to make a new claim for housing benefit because you are now a mixed-aged couple (ie your partner will still be under state pension age), to receive help towards your rent you will have to claim Universal Credit.