ESA income related or contribution based

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buddy85

Hi , I hope someone can answer this quite complex questions I have
My friend has asked me to ask this on her behalf as she suffers with anxiety,  so here goes

She is claiming ESA,  having been moved over from incapacity about 5 years ago, she also receives high rate mobility and middle daily living. She has a 21 year old daughter living with her who is on a zero hours contract on minimum wage
She was expecting to be paid the cost of living payment for being on ESA but never received it
I've looked at her latest award it is very confusing 

The letter says it gives her an income related payment amount of £133
And then goes on to add support group payment 
It then takes away £90 because of her daughter's wages I think.
But all through the letter it says its income related,  however at the bottom of the letter it then says because after the £90 deduction she is only entitled to £43 then she is entitled to contributions based ESA of £117

Its totally confusing to her and causing her anxiety,  and tbh I can't make head nor tail of it either
I always thought after 12 months you couldn't claim contributions based. 

So question is she she she be receiving ESA income based which would entitle her to cost of living payment 
And also is there any way she could claim severe disability premium?

Thanks for all your help

poppy123456

buddy85 said:

It then takes away £90 because of her daughter's wages I think.

That can't be correct because her daughters earnings will have no relevance to her ESA claim.

ESA letters are extremely difficult to read. There maybe a deduction for other reasons such as living with a working partner, or having savings/capital of more than £16,000. Even a works pension of over £85 per week would reduce any income Related ESA by 50p for every £1 over £85.

ESA Support Group contributions based doesn't have a time limit of 12 months, it continues for as long as you remain in that group and pays £117.60 per week. If this is what she receives then there's no entitlement to the CoL payment.

buddy85 said:

And also is there any way she could claim severe disability premium?

To claim this then her daughter would need to be claiming a qualifying disability benefit such as PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care or be registered blind.