ESA & Carers Allowence confused

Myfatbum

hi there, I’m new here so I hope I’m posting in the correct place apologies if not.

I usually receive a payment fortnightly into my account for ESA I’m in the support group and it’s contributions related ESA.

I have struggled for along time with my health and also have to take care of my husband as best I can as he has middle stage Parkinson’s Disease.

I was told recently by the benefits enquiry line that I should apply for carers allowence, as although I will not get it there maybe a element that I’m missing out on because of this.

I applied for carers allowence 2 weeks ago, it’s early days and I haven’t heard anything.

My ESA payment which was due over a week ago hasn’t been paid to my account, 
I’m totally baffled now, have I lost my ESA benefit because I applied for carers? just to entitle myself to the element? 

Totally worried about this I would never of applied for carers if I knew this would happen.
Any input would be gratefully received x

poppy123456

To be able to claim Carers Allowance your husband must be in receipt of either DLA mid/high rate care, PIP daily living or Attendance Allowance.

Contirbutions based ESA and Carers allowance are overlapping benefits and you can't receive both payments at the same time.

Are you sure all of your ESA is Contributions based? As you're in the Support Group then if you're receiving more than £114.10 per week then at least part of your ESA is Income Related, which will mean you can claim Carers allowance but it will be deducted in full from your ESA and they will add a carers premium.

This shouldn't have stopped your ESA payments. As you were due your ESA over a week ago, did you ring them to ask why you didn't receive your payment? If you didn't then you will need to do this because only they can tell you why.

calcotti

poppy123456 said:..As you're in the Support Group then if you're receiving more than £114.10 per week then at least part of your ESA is Income Related, which will mean you can claim Carers allowance but it will be deducted in full from your ESA and they will add a carers premium.

The CA will, I think, only be deducted from the ESA if it is completely income based. If it is a mixed award the CA ought not to be paid (the contribution based ESA should, I think, take priority) but, as you say, the carer premium will be added to the income based part of the ESA.

poppy123456

Thanks calcotti, that makes sense.

calcotti

Quite an important (and slightly curious) distinction too.

If somebody claims Carer's Allowance and income based ESA they are paid CA, get the carer premium added to the ESA and the CA is deducted. Because CA is in payment the person cared for cannot get an SDP even if they meet the other qualifying conditions.

If somebody claims Carer's Allowance and has a mixed ESA award they are not paid CA but get the carer premium added to the ESA. The ESA amount is the same as the combined ES and CA above but because CA is not in payment the person cared for can get an SDP if they meet the other qualifying conditions.

Myfatbum

Thank you for your comments wow your all so knowledgeable I find it like a minefield. My ESA is exactly £228.20 a fortnight, which I believe is all contribution related.
I will phone them this morning and query why I haven’t been paid.
I thought it to much of a coincidence that this happened directly after applying for CA.
Like I said I only applied because the benefit enquiry line said it had nothing to lose in applying.
Maybe I’m just not entitled to any carers premium.
thanks everyone for your advice x

calcotti

Myfatbum said:

Thank you for your comments wow your all so knowledgeable I find it like a minefield. My ESA is exactly £228.20 a fortnight, which I believe is all contribution related.

Before you do anything else perhaps we need more information.
What type of ESA is it? If it's new style ESA then that cannot include income based bits and there is no point claiming CA because you can't be paid it.
If it's the old type of ESA then why are you currently not getting any income based top up - other household income, savings etc.

Myfatbum

Hi Calcotti
I receive the old ESA which I think used to be called incapacity benefit.
That is all I get for a number of years now. I don’t get any income based top up, just the £228.20 every 2 weeks.
I haven’t worked for a number of years.
My husband has a occupational pension, along with his state pension.
We have joint savings, but apart from my ESA I don’t have any other income, if that makes sense.

calcotti

Myfatbum said:

My husband has a occupational pension, along with his state pension.

That will be why there is no income based ESA payable.
In that case even though you have claimed CA it will not be paid because the contribution based ESA takes priority and it is still very unlikely there will be any income based ESA payable because the pension income will almost certainly exceed any income based ESA entitlement even with the carer premium added.

Myfatbum

Thanks for explaining that calcotti it’s greatly appreciated. 

I don’t know why I was told to apply!

calcotti

Myfatbum said:

I don’t know why I was told to apply!

As a matter of interest what 'benefits enquiry line' was it that gave you the advice?

Myfatbum

It was an online phone number 08007310297 which was on the Gov.uk

poppy123456

Myfatbum said:

It was an online phone number 08007310297 which was on the Gov.uk

That's the phone number for carers allowance. They are not benefits advisors so you should rely on any advice given when ringing anyone from a call centre.

In the meantime you'll still need to ring ESA to ask why you didn't receive your last payment. Unless you rang them today.

calcotti

As poppy says, the person who answered the Carer's Allowance contact number would not know enough to understand the interaction between different benefits.