Update is, today 28th June, payment of Income Support has gone into the bank (at the correct lower rate) Other payments have continued at their proper rates too.

Thank You for clarifying Margaret, With the messages you and other helpers have posted. We`ve decided to "sit tight" with fingers crossed that it sorts itself out. We`re not going to change anything and risk upsetting stuff further. I had a phone call from DWP about a month ago and the person on the phone said, "I have a form which has to be filled in, I can do it on the phone, it`s 30+ pages long" Then went on to ask me to confirm bank details etc, I politely responded with "Sorry, I don`t know you are and even if you are genuine with what you say. Could you please send me the forms through the post and I will fill them in and send them back." A few days later the forms came. We filled them in, obviously not hiding anything, and triple checked all the information was correct and complete. A week and a half later we had the "standard" type letter from Income Support. Saying your benefit will not change, then second paragraph said your future payments will be £xx. When I phoned them they said I`d failed to tell them my wife was on ESA, I obviously argued saying, you knew she was on Incapacity Benefit, the government changed the name and I thought DWP also knew about it and would change their computer system accordingly. I was told "NO! We didn`t, it was up to you to tell us!" I also contacted our local Council, as I was worried what else had gone wrong, we pay mortgage but do have council tax paid, when I spoke to them to make sure we had the right information on file - they replied with "your DWP office haven`t updated the system since 2008, they are supposed to contact us every 12 months to confirm that your information is correct, they haven`t done it in the last 5 years!" I`m 45 and the wife is 46 years, we have 15 year old twins. Wife has been on Incapacity benefit since she was 17. I claim IS and Carers Allowance. She claims ESA and DLA high rate both care and Mobility. She also has tax credit and family allowance for the kids. and we get some help towards mortgage payments through Income Support, and council tax paid through local council. My income support payments are paid every other Friday, so Friday 28th will be the day payment is supposed to be made. Thanks again for all your help and replies it is VERY much appreciated.

My wife is in Contribution based ESA Support group, she has been since February 2012 when DWP changed the name from Incapacity benefit to ESA. This caused a problem with my Income Support Payments as my local office apparently didn`t know this was about to happen. I was contacted last week explaining that I should have told them, on the last day of January my wife claimed Incapacity Benefit but on February 1st this changed to ESA. Which is why I`m asking if it would be easier all round to keep the claim to Income Support only.

Two very conflicting messages. Now I`m more confused than ever. As Nystagmite says others have done the claim this way around with no problems. (I thought a person about to claim income support had the choice of claiming for their partner or not) Then as fedupandold says, the choice is taken away from you if your partner is on ESA anyway. I`m thinking it may be different with pension credit, or is it that fedupandold is the person claiming Pension Credit and ESA (due to being sick himself) I don`t claim ESA myself (my wife at the moment does) so I would not be stopping the ESA claim (she would) then I would contact DWP, (once confirmed that the ESA claim had closed) and claim as a couple. After all, don`t people have a choice as to claiming ESA at all, if they decide not to pursue a claim for any benefit is that not their choice?

Thanks Nystagmite, would it be seen, as the other poster said, as failing to claim a benefit one was entitled to, then we`d be questioned because of it. Or even have my Income Support stopped because of doing it this way around. The way I`m looking at it now is, the least offices that deal with claims the less chances there are for things to get mixed up.

Hi, yes she is getting contribution based ESA. I am her carer and receive carers allowance which I was told to claim as she receives DLA high, care and mobility. I was under the impression from other questions on the site, that due to me being her carer I was allowed Income Support too. Others have also said that they have told their partner to give up ESA and they will claim for them on Income Support. I was looking for clarification really from someone who has done this as to if there were any problems with the change over. It`s not due to having ESA assessments (although they are stressing when they come along) but to avoid another recent problem we`ve had having both claims being dealt with by the same office but an overpayment being made. My wife would then have her claim dealt with by DLA only, and I would have mine dealt with by DWP Jobcentre Plus only.

I am a carer for my disabled wife. She receives high DLA for both mobility and care, she also receives ESA in support group. I receive carers allowance(for being her full time carer) and Income Support. My question is simple, would my wife be allowed to cancel her ESA claim,(thereby losing her ESA money) then me contact Income Support and claim this for both of us?(Thereby increasing Income SUpport payment by the same amount she has lost) Would there be any financial loss or gain to do this? Would it be straightforward to do, ie Make phone calls, fill in forms send them back. Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Thanks Margaret, We both managed to get a few hours sleep, as all the replies pointed to no prosecution. We`ve never been in trouble in either of our lives, but the thought of it really hit home hard, and shook us up tremendously. Your help is much appreciated.

I know this is going to sound really silly. To stop this happening again, does anyone know if in my circumstances it would be easier for my wife to not claim ESA and for me to claim for her on my Income Support. AS I`ve said she is in receipt of DLA high for care, high for mobility, I am her full time carer (I get Carers allowance) and I claim income support. If this would be a better way to keep everything on order do I just phone the DWP office and tell them to stop my wife`s ESA then phone them back and talk to Income Support and tell them it has been stopped in order to add her to my IS? Obviously I will also back this up with letters sent by recorded delivery.

Thanks for your replies. I`ve been through all my statements (we`ve kept them for the last few years) and the same office has been dealing with my IS as my wifes IB/ESA. On the last day of January 2012 I had a statement clearly showing my wifes name and Incapacity benefit on my income support. Then on 4th February they are saying we never told them about the government name change from IB to ESA, on all of my wifes papers it says that all change overs will be done by them and she doesn`t need to do anything more. As we are a couple I thought this also meant that my Income Support would also be changed. I`ve had 6 letters throughout 2012 and 2013, first one February 4th last year says due to a change in your partners payment we will pay you £xxx, there was an increase, which we are willing to pay back, in all the other 5 each one saying due to a change in your circumstances there will be no change in your income support payments. Even the one that came yesterday said there will be no change, then on the second line it says your future payments will be£xx(lower payment) on the second page it still says the higher amount. Hopefully they won`t see it as fraud, as it wasn`t done with intent of fraud or to take financial gain. It was purely a case of I thought it would all change when the government changed the name. I`m more bothered about the fact that I didn`t question the higher payments I received, but I honestly thought it was this "extra" payment the wife was told she would receive being in Support Group ESA. Maybe we`ll sleep and eat now that your messages all seem to point to no prosecution, we haven`t done either with worrying about this. I even phoned Debt Management from DWP this morning to put in order a payment plan, they refused as nothing had been logged that the overpayment was even paid. What a mess! All because of a name change, her payment amount didn`t change, but mine did. I`m waffling again, thank you for taking notice and replying, it is much appreciated.

Hopefully someone can help me out. I claim Income Support and Carers allowance. My wife is disabled and claims DLA high rate for care and mobility. My wife also claimed Incapacity benefit. My wife had her Incapacity Benefit changed to ESA February 2012. Prior to this my income support statements always showed she was claiming High DLA and IB. I was last week sent a review form by DWP, I filled it in and yesterday received my Income Support statement showing a reduction in payments. I telephoned DWP who said, due to the governments change from IB to ESA, my income support had been wrongly awarded since February 2012, as I never told them that my wife had changed from IB to ESA. I never knew I had to, as they were fully aware that my wife was on IB, and no change in amounts between the two. I asked why it hadn`t been passed on internally (all claims are made by the same DWP office) she said they don`t have to, and it is my responsibilty to tell them the government changed the name of the benefit. My wife was told she would be getting an extra payment due to her being on support group, she didn`t get an extra payment but my income support went up - which is why I didn`t question the extra amount. After all my waffling-sorry, my question is: Should DWP have passed on the information to each area dealing with Incapacity Benefit changing to ESA? I understand now I have an overpayment on my income support, and although it hasn`t been done intentionally what are the chances I will be prosecuted? The DWP have now lowered my payments and have assured me that I am now getting only what I am entitled to, but I`m scared stiff I`m going to end up with a criminal record as I didn`t tell them my wife had changed from IB to ESA and accepted the overpayment.