Joint claim for ESA, what will happen after pension?

Hello gonetodogs

What happens may not be straightforward as it will depend on whether you receive contributory based ESA and income related ESA or just income related ESA. 

The difference between these 2 types of ESA is:
- contributory based ESA, is paid if a person has paid sufficient national insurance contributions and is a non-means tested benefit, that is your partners income will not effect your entitlement.
- income related ESA, is means tested and thus your partners income will effect your joint couple entitlement. That is, your partners retirement pension will be counted in full as income. So, if she receives for example £63 a week pension then you may find your ESA reduces by £63.

If you are unsure if you receive just one type of ESA or both then you can contact ESA by phone and ask them. 

When you say that your partner will get her retirement pension, do you mean her state pension as she has reached retirement age or do you mean a works pension? I ask as ESA amounts increase if one member of a couple is aged 60 or over.  

In addition, I cannot see any mention of you claiming carers allowance for your partner, and you may be missing out on additional money if your partner receives daily living of PIP.  

I have put a link below to a benefit called carers allowance that although classed as income for ESA purposes may still mean that you are better off (via  a carers premium of ESA).  It maybe worth posting on this issue again if you are unsure. 

https://www.scope.org.uk/support/disabled-people/benefits/carers-allowance 

In addition there are online benefit calculators that maybe able to help you calculate how much your ESA changes once your partner receives her pension.  I have put a link below for the benefit calculators:

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

It is also worth mentioning that ESA may not know that about the payment of any pensions so you will have to notify them of any changes in your household income. 

Maria