Esa and holiday pay

bremgirl
bremgirl Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
edited September 2023 in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

I was on the sick from work since Nov 22, which I received work sick pay then ssp. I have returned to work for 10 hours per week and put a claim in for esa, which I receive. I am due a work capability assessment this week.
When I was on the sick I still accrued holidays and on return I had 110 hours to take, now working 10 hours a week this will be impossible to facilitate, so my employer wishes to pay me for all the holidays due to me before I returned to work, (so holiday entitlement from Jan - June. I will still have holiday entitlement available from June to still take.) I started receiving new style ESA from 26th June.  How will this effect esa?
I dont really have a option, other than loose the holidays but as these are holidays accrued before I was placed on esa will they take this into account? Do I need to tell them or will they see from my wage slip?
Due to my disability, I won't be able to return to fulltime anytime soon, or even increase my hours.
I'm new to claiming and it's a minefield and the information I found on DWP says - V4075 Any holiday pay that is payable within four weeks of the date employment ended, or was interrupted, should be treated as earnings for ESA. This is not within 4 weeks it was from dates BEFORE I claimed ESA.
Can any one advise?
Thanks

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    As you have now returned to work even though the annual leave is from before you claimed ESA it will classed as earnings. 

    If this takes you over the permitted work earnings of £167/week then you will not be entitled to ESA for those weeks. 

    You will need to make sure you tell ESA that you’ve received it. Although your employer should report your earnings to HMRC and DWP do check. 
  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,717 Championing
    Hi @bremgirl, welcome to our online community :)

    I can see Poppy has already answered your question. I did move this into the ESA category incase there's anything anyone wants to add or if you have further ESA questions.

    Sorry you're in this situation, the system is quite complex with many different variables and it's incredibly stress-inducing not knowing what your entitlement may be. Especially with the way overpayment can sometimes be treated. 

    I hope Poppy has at least made you more certain about what will happen, if not please continue asking for clarification!
  • bremgirl
    bremgirl Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
    Thank you for the replies.
    Can I just ask do you know when they calculate this do they take into account how much you have been paid or how much you could of? For instance you can earn £167 per week, I earn around £130 so that is a difference of £37. If I have been claiming esa for 13 weeks I could f earnt about £485 within that timescale (if i had earnt the max £167) Could I be paid this difference in holiday pay without it effecting my ESA claim?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Unfortunately that’s not how it works they won’t take into consideration the time before you started your claim. Permitted work rules have a maximum earnings limit of £167/week. 

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