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I'm getting married, and my partner will be moving in. I'm on ESA and PIP. Will my ESA stop?

cds234_456

Hi I’m getting married at the end of the year, my partner will move in to my house after we are married, He’s got a full time job, but none of us have any savings at all we live week to week, I’m on esa Income related/ contribution and pip And unable to ever work again, when I get married and my then husband moves in with me, will I lose my ESA, need help as worried sick that all my ESA will stop when it’s not my fault that I’m I’ll and been told I’m unable to work …HELP please to put my mind at rest either way

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poppy123456

PIP isn’t affected. You will need to report the changes to ESA and if part of it is contributions based then this will continue.

Are you or your partner claiming any other benefits such as tax credits? If you are then this will end when you live together.

If you’re claiming single person discount for council tax then this will also end. Council tax reduction will also be affected as they are working.

L_Volunteer

Hi @cds234_456. Welcome to Scope’s forum. It is great to see you have joined us. How are you today?

Good luck with getting married at the end of the year. I can imagine that's a rollercoaster of emotion. How are you feeling about that at the moment? I can hear you are uncertain about what might happen when your future husband moves in with you.

I can see @Poppy123456 has responded to your question and concerns. Do you feel @Poppy123456 has answered your question and concerns? If you need any further clarification or have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

We are all here for you and you don't have to go through this, or anything else, alone if you don't want to

cds234_456

Hi poppy thanks for answering me back… yeah I understand pip will stay and we will have to pay council tax again… we don’t claim any tax’s .. my partner just works full time, and as no savings… Iv been on my own for 15 years and stopped working due to a lot of health issue, Iv been told I’m not fit for work.. it was my ESA I was worried about after having my own finance for so long I’m going to find it hard if I lose this, as I can’t work, and this is not because I don’t want to, but so many issue with health.. just don’t seem fair wen your to I’ll to work, and they could take your ESA away from me.. Iv heard so many different stories on ESA that I just don’t know what’s true, and it’s getting me down the not knowing 😔

poppy123456

If you’re in the Support Group, the first thing you should do is contact ESA and ask them exactly what your ESA claim is made up of.

If part of it is Contributions based then this will continue and the current weekly amount for this is £117.60.

Artful

Sorry to interrupt but what do you mean when you say ‘contributions based’ please?

calcotti

Artful said:

Sorry to interrupt but what do you mean when you say ‘contributions based’ please?

Entitlement to contribution based ESA is based on the NI record of the claimant in the two tax years prior to the calendar year in which the ESA was started. Contribution based ESA is not affected by capital nor by income (other than for some pension or health insurance income which can have an affect).

An old ESA award can include both contribution based entitlement and additional income based entitlement. Income based ESA is full means tested.

It is not possible to understand the impact of changes on an ESA claimant without knowing whether or not their ESA includes some contribution based entitlement.

Sue_Alumni

When your partner moves in with you you will need to report the change of circumstances to the DWP and also the Local Authority if you are on Housing Benefit and HMRC if your partner was claiming Working Tax Credits. As a couple your joint income and savings are taken into account for calculating your means tested benefits. As you know, your PIP is ignored. Your income related ESA will stop as will his tax credit claim (if he has one) when your partner moves in with you but your contribution based ESA will continue.

Once your partner moves in, you may be better off claiming new style ESA and UC as if you have Support Group entitlement the Limited capability for work related activity element is higher under the UC system. Under the UC system new style ESA replaces contribution based ESA. In the same way that your ir ESA "tops up" your cbESA, UC will top up the your new-style ESA. If you claim new style ESA and UC you should automatically receive the LCWRA element in your new style ESA without a further health assessment. As a couple your maximum UC is reduced by a proportion of your joint earnings. As you have been assessed as having limited capability for work, a work allowance is deducted from your and your partner's combined earnings before your UC starts to be reduced. The amount of the work allowance depends on whether you have a housing cost element included in your UC.
I would suggest you do a benefits calculation to check how your circumstances will be affected by your partner moving in with you. I attach a link to an on line benefits calculator
https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

poppy123456

Sue_Scope said:

You may be better off claiming new style ESA as if you have Support Group entitlement the Limited capability for work related activity element is higher under the UC system.

I think that's misleading. If part of their ESA is Contributions based, then this will continue. There's no need to actually claim New style ESA. New style ESA isn't part of UC either. Whether there's entitlement to UC will totally depend on thier joint circumstances.

poppy123456

Your advice is still misleading, i'm sorry. There would be no need to "claim" New style ESA if part of their ESA is contributions based because this part of it will just continue. (£117.60 per week)

Jo_2022

Hi @cds234_456, a heartfelt Congratulations to you both on your upcoming wedding!! 😁 I wish this new chapter brings you happiness.

I really feel for you, and it is a shame that you are having to worry about losing your ESA, once you get married. Hopefully if you talk with your work coach, and the DWP about this change of circumstances, then you won’t lose out. Best wishes 😊

calcotti

Sue_Scope said:

I agree with what you say and having reread my post feel that the points made are clear. Entitlement to cbESA continues when the OP and her partner move in together as stated in the first paragraph. The OP has a choice whether to claim new style ESA. She may be better off.

That is completely wrong. New style ESA is exactly the same as contribution based ESA (other than the requirement to complete a claimant commitment).

Sue_Alumni

Ok - I agree The support group element is the same in amount in cb and new style ESA and is called the same. so there is no benefit to claiming nsESA on its own but will come in to play if the couple are entitled to claim UC which is the point I was trying to make but may have been unclear. I think my error was contained here.

If you claim new style ESA you should automatically receive the LCWRA element in your new style ESA whilst I made this comment in the context of making a UC claim this comment was unclear However, if after having carrying out a benefits calculation the couple are find out they are entitled to UC they will be better of with the more generous LCWRA element in their UC. I will edit/ correct the post as appropriate At the end of the day I feel that the advice that the OP should check her benefits entitlement in light of the forthcoming change in circumstances was correct and important.

calcotti

Sue_Scope said:..However, if after having carrying out a benefits calculation the couple are find out they are entitled to UC they will be better of with the more generous LCWRA element in their UC.

Yes. That may well be true, also because partner will be able to claim carer element of UC. OP hasn't mentioned renting and if atet is the case the higher Work Allowance will apply. However without a housing element there may be no UC entitlement after the earnings are taken into account.

Sue_Alumni

Again that is correct but we don't know - again a benefits calculator will be a useful prompt to help the OP look at all eventualities. Strictly speaking we don't know that the partner will be able to claim a carer's element as the OP has mentioned that he works full time. In replying to the OP my intention was to add to the comments already made and to suggest that whilst the OP's means tested benefits were likely to be impacted by her fiancé moving in with her, the couple might want to explore whether they had any UC entitlement.

poppy123456

Sue_Scope said:

Strictly speaking we don't know that the partner will be able to claim a carer's element as the OP has mentioned that he works full time.

If there's any entitlement to UC then providing the partner looks after her for at least 35 hours per week they will be able to claim carers element. The earnings limit applies to Carers allowance, not to carers element. Which is why calcotti advised about carers element.

See link. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit/Additional-Elements-of-Universal-Credit

calcotti

Sue_Scope said: Strictly speaking we don't know that the partner will be able to claim a carer's element as the OP has mentioned that he works full time.

That's irrelevant. Assuming that OP gets the Daily Living component of PIP, we do know taht they can claim the carer element of UC. There is no earnings limit.

Adrian_Scope

calcotti said:

Sue_Scope said: Strictly speaking we don't know that the partner will be able to claim a carer's element as the OP has mentioned that he works full time.

That's irrelevant. Assuming that OP gets the Daily Living component of PIP, we do know taht they can claim the carer element of UC. There is no earnings limit.

I don't think Sue has made any mention of earnings limit and I believe she was pointing out that we don't know for certain if they can claim the carer element as there is limited information available and no indication that the member's partner is caring for them for 35+ hours a week in addition to their fulltime job.

I feel this discussion has gone a little awry and the meaning of Sue's advice may have been misunderstood.

Sue was pointing out that once living together, they may be better off under UC, something that hadn't yet been mentioned. If they do claim UC then their ESA would change to New Style ESA, so they would then be claiming New Style ESA.

@cds234_456, congratulations on your engagement and best of luck for the wedding.
If you know your fiancé's earnings, doing a benefit calculation would be a good idea in order for you to see if you'd be entitled to Universal Credit once they move in.

poppy123456

I'm sorry but i'm going to stand by what i said and Sue's advice was very misleading. She advised that the OP should claim New style ESA, which isn't correct.

Sue_Scope said:

Once your partner moves in, you may be better off claiming new style ESA

Yes, the CB ESA would change to New style but that wasn't the advice she gave.

As for the carers element, it was mentioned they work full time, very easy to think that what was meant was working full time would mean that someone wouldn't be entitled to claim this.

calcotti

Adrian_Scope said: I don't think Sue has made any mention of earnings limit and I believe she was pointing out that we don't know for certain if they can claim the carer element as there is limited information available and no indication that the member's partner is caring for them for 35+ hours a week in addition to their fulltime job.

I read her comment as indicating that somebody working full time not being entitled to claim carer element - but I can see that that may not be what was intended.

cds234_456

Hi guys thanks for all of you to respond to me… it’s so confusing for me to understand all this, I may have to keep reading all your comments to see if I can get my head around this all lol..
ok so when I contact DWP will they suggest that I go for the new style ESA ? Or tell me which is best to do, I’m just more bother that DWP mite say it all stops all together now my partner/ husband is living with me now… at the moment my daughter comes in every day to help me with things I can’t do ( she doesn’t claim carers allowance ) she just looks after me because she wants to .. when Iv looked on other sites people have said for every one there ESA stops altogether wen some one moves in with you, so it’s a bit confusing to what’s right and what’s wrong …
And thank you for your wishes on me getting married, I’m looking forward to November yet also worried of the out come on this all 🥺