Employment Support Allowance

gjw59help

Why has no one challenged the DWP regarding the "cost of living help" concerning Contribution Based and Means Tested benefits,on my letter it says"Your income related amount is £117.60 less £0.00 so you would be entitled to £117.60 however because you are entitled to Contribution Based ESA we will pay you £117.60.
In other words thousands of people like myself are being conned out of the financial help that others will get whilst being just as poor and by the way I have no savings or other income I wish some lawyer would look at challenging this discrimination.

poppy123456

ESA letters are very poorly written and are so difficult to understand.
The reason the £650 isn’t paid to those on Contributions based benefits is because they are not means tested and savings/capital and other income doesn’t affect them.
In a previous thread a calculation was done and you are better off by about £1,200 a year than you would be if your ESA was Income Related. See thread https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/88566/income-based-versus-contribution-based-benefits/p1
Even if you did qualify for the £650 cost of living payment you would still be significantly worse off. 

calcotti

gjw59help said:

... I have no savings or other income.

Unless you are living with a partner you should therefore be entitled to a means tested benefit to top up your contribution based ESA.

The income based amount of £117.60 doesn't make sense. If you are single and in the Support Group and claiming income based ESA your award should be the standard allowance, the Support Group component and the enhanced disability premium. This would be an additional £17.75/week of income based ESA (which in turn would qualify you for the cost of living support).

If you are claiming the old ESA then your award is incorrect.

Are you possibly claiming new style ESA which is not a means tested benefit. If so you should be claiming UC alongside the ESA and being on UC would qualify you for the cost of living support.

poppy123456

calcotti said:

gjw59help said:

... I have no savings or other income.

Unless you are living with a partner you should therefore be entitled to a means tested benefit to top up your contribution based ESA.

Are you on the old contribution based ESA or are you claiming new style ESA?

I see we posted at the same time. Please see link regarding OP previous thread. Their wife is claiming State pension.

calcotti

poppy123456 said: Please see link regarding OP previous thread. Their wife is claiming State pension. 

I just spotted that after I posted! I can see i gave a fairly full explanation in that previous thread.

OP, the reason you do not get income based ESA is because your entitlement is based on your joint circumstances and your wife receives her State Pension which is taken into account. It is therefore not correct to say you have no other income. You are not just as poor as others getting the help and you are not being 'conned' out of anything.

Because your wife is a pensioner she will get an additional £300 in the this year's Winter Fuel  Payment, this is a payment working age people will not receive.

You will get the £400 towards your electricity bill in the autumn.

Because your wife is a pensioner and receiving Council Tax Reduction she may also get some extra help through the local authority Household Support Fund depending on how your local authority chooses to distribute it.

gjw59help

It is called New Style ESA now,my wife is on state pension but not getting Pension Credit or Warm Home Discount so we are not entitled to the extra help.

janer1967

All those on state pension get the additional payment it's not connected to pension credit or warm home discount it's for those who get winter fuel payment 

calcotti

gjw59help said:

It is called New Style ESA now,my wife is on state pension but not getting Pension Credit or Warm Home Discount so we are not entitled to the extra help.

As advised earlier

calcotti said:
Because your wife is a pensioner she will get an additional £300 in the this year's Winter Fuel  Payment, this is a payment working age people will not receive.

You will get the £400 towards your electricity bill in the autumn.

Because your wife is a pensioner and receiving Council Tax Reduction she may also get some extra help through the local authority Household Support Fund depending on how your local authority chooses to distribute it.

poppy123456

gjw59help said:

It is called New Style ESA now,my wife is on state pension but not getting Pension Credit or Warm Home Discount so we are not entitled to the extra help.

Yes but you're still £1,200 a year better off by claiming New style ESA. Not forgetting the other support that's been mentioned above.

gjw59help

You are mistaken about this not all pensioners are getting it and Tameside Council say they have no money left,it seems to me most people on this site do not know the answers and are guessing.

calcotti

Let's just restate the calculations that were gone through on the previous thread.
If  your ESA was income based

ESA standard couple allowance £121.05
Pensioner premium and Support component £157.65
Maximum ESA £278.70
State Pension £185.15
No other income or savings over £6,000
Maximum Income based ESA payable = £93.55
Your contribution based is ESA £117.60 so you are getting £24.05/week more than you would if your ESA was income based. That is £1,250.60/year more that you are getting every year (until you reach pension age yourself).

Yes, you are missing out on some other support but that support is worth less than the extra ESA you are getting.

poppy123456

gjw59help said:

You are mistaken about this not all pensioners are getting it and Tameside Council say they have no money left,it seems to me most people on this site do not know the answers and are guessing.

No one here is guessing anything. For the cost of living payments your wife will qualify for the extra £300 on top of her winter fuel payment, as well as the £400 for your energy bills. Not forgeting the £150 if you're named on the council tax bill, if your in council tax band A-D. All details for your Local Authority about this are here. https://www.tameside.gov.uk/CouncilTaxAndBenefits/The-Council-Tax-Energy-Rebate-2022

You can see all the information right here in this link. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment

calcotti

gjw59help said:

You are mistaken about this not all pensioners are getting it ..

What is 'it'?

gjw59help

Okay,"it" is the Winter Fuel Payment you have to be getting Pension Credit or Warm Home Discount in order to get the extra money and my initial point has been missed,on my letter it says I would be entitled to the "income related" amount which is the same as my "contribution based" amount and because of the "wording" will not be entitled to the extra help,although I am looking forward to the energy help later in the year.

gjw59help

On a similar note,the DWP say that CB ESA is not means tested but it is when they add in my wife's basic State Pension they have you both ways!

calcotti

gjw59help said:

On a similar note,the DWP say that CB ESA is not means tested but it is when they add in my wife's basic State Pension they have you both ways!

No it's not. You get the full amount of contribution based ESA because it isn't means tested. Your wife's pension affects your entitlement to income based ESA which is why you don't get any. It has no impact on your contribution based ESA. If you were on income based ESA with is means tested you would be getting £1250 less per year as set out above.

The only thing that could reduce the contribution based ESA you receive is if you were already receiving a private/occupational pension yourself in which case there would be a 50% deduction for anything over £85/week.

calcotti

gjw59help said:

Okay,"it" is the Winter Fuel Payment you have to be getting Pension Credit or Warm Home Discount in order to get the extra money 

No you don't. Winter Fuel Payment is paid to all pensioners and all pensioners will get an extra £300 this year.
https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/eligibility

gjw59help said:

..on my letter it says I would be entitled to the "income related" amount which is the same as my "contribution based" amount ..

If your wife is getting the full new State Pension then your income based ESA would not be £117.60, as explained above. Unfortunately ESA letters have always been incredibly badly written.

poppy123456

gjw59help said:

Okay,"it" is the Winter Fuel Payment you have to be getting Pension Credit or Warm Home Discount in order to get the extra money

Not correct. Please see link for criteria for winter fuel payment. https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/eligibility

gjw59help

I have to apologise on this,my wife has kept quiet about the Winter Fuel Payment although I pay for Food,Gas and Electricity,it will go into her bank account!

calcotti

And these are the amounts
https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-much-youll-get
This year your wife will be paid £500. Payments are usually made from November onwards.

poppy123456

Seems like you need to have a chat with your wife.