ESA income related or contribution based

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.

buddy85

Thanks for the reply
Cant work out what the deduction of £90 is for then
So how would she go about gettmoved to income related ESA?

poppy123456

Does she receive a pension? Have savings/capital of more than £6,000? If part of her ESA is contributions based then she should be receiving £117.60/week unless there's a pension over £85.

The Enhanced disability premium is £17.75 per week. Impossible to advise further without all of her details.

She will need to contact ESA to ask what the deductions are for. Telephone: 0800 169 0310

https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus/existing-benefit-claims

buddy85

Thank you

calcotti

buddy85 said:

So how would she go about get moved to income related ESA?

She can't. Old ESA is a mixed award of contribution based and income based - she is already getting paid the outcome of the joint entitlement. If there is entitlement to contribution based ESA that takes priority. If there was no contribution based entitlement the ESA will be paid on an income based assessment only and, based on what you have posted, she would be receiving only £43/week instead of £117.60. Not being eligible for the Cost of Living payment is a small loss compared to the ongoing weekly ESA entitlement she is getting every week.