ESA and Service Invalidity Pension (SIP)- Armed Forces Pension

DM2

In receipt of ESA (CB). Have a SIP payment. This has been taken into account as income and my ESA has been reduced.- This has been like this since 2010. I have now questioned it and they say the SIP is a War Pension and they will disregard £10 per week. My issue are that the SIP is not a War Pension. I know there was a user on here that had a similar issue a few years ago and they had  it disregarded in full. 
Anyone help with this. Thank you.

Cartini

I receive a War Pension, but I`m afraid I can`t answer your question.

Have you tried searching all threads for SIP?

calcotti

For contribution based ESA in general any pension income below £85/week is ignored and there is a deduction of 50% of any amount over £85. I am not aware of any extra rules for a SIP but the advice re a £10 disregard sounds wrong.

Are you sure your ESA is entirely contribution based?

You could try contacting the British Royal Legion who may be able to advise.
https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-support/financial-and-employment-support/finance/help-with-disability-benefits

calcotti

Have now found this but I have no idea whether or not SIP comes under this but it may be
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063461/dmgch51.pdf

51810 Any guaranteed income payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is not to be deducted from ESA(Cont).

calcotti

Have now found that there is a £10 disregard for certain payments from the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme in respect of deductions for income based ESA.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063461/dmgch51.pdf
paragraph 51810
That implies that the rest is therefore deducted and might therefore remove any entitlement to income based ESA which would explain why you are only getting contribution based ESA. 

How much ESA are you getting? Contribution based ESA Support Group entitlement would be £117.60/week.

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An aside:
Despite the apparent deduction from income based ESA (excluding the £10 disregard) the rules for UC appear to be more generous.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1061722/admh5.pdf

Paragraph H5010 Note: A non-taxable attributable Service Invalidity Pension (SIP) or a Service Attributable Pension (SAP) is a pension awarded to members of the armed forces who are discharged on medical grounds as a result of illness or injury attributed to service. SAPs and non-taxable attributable SIPs are not occupational pensions and are not taken into account. 

So, if you are only excluded from any income based ESA because of the pension you might be better off switching to UC depending on your other financial circumstances. Hopefully the Royal Legion will be able to advise.