ESA to Income support..

[thedryad]

Hi all,

 

I'm not new to the forum, I've just had so much trouble logging in and resetting my password etc that I found it easier to just create a new account.

 

To cut a long story short, I'm disabled, and so is our 4 year old son. I was on incapacity benefit since 2007 then switched over to contribution based ESA last year. Our son receives the higher rate of both mobility and care component of DLA. My husband claims carers allowance for him.

 

I received a letter today telling me that my ESA has stopped as it's been 365 days and that now I have to claim income based ESA if I still want to receive it.

 

Last year I became self employed (making cards, working less than a couple of hours a week and making mere pennies, no profit).. DWP are aware of this.

 

I'm wondering if we would be better off claiming income support in my husband's name on the basis that he receives carer's allowance. I currently receive £110 a week ESA untill next week but I'm worried we might be worse off if I stopped my claim for ESA and applied for IS instead.

 

Also, housing benefit has been suspended because the ESA is due to stop. So that's another weight on my mind. I have an illness that means I don't know how I'm going to feel from one minute to the next, so I can't hold down a job, and my self employment is really just a hobby that I felt I had to declare incase I got in trouble for selling my cards.

 

Pleas help!

T-I-A

[flumps1976]

Have you completed form ESA3 to see if you have an entitlement to receive income related ESA as a family?

If you call the Benefit Centre they can send form ESA3 in the post for you to complete and it will be a continuous claim then.

[Nystagmite]

Income support would entitle you to full housing benefit for your situation. It also means that you're not required to attend assessments to see if you can work.

 

http://www.entitledto.co.uk is a calculator to see what you're better off claiming.

[thedryad]

Thanks, yes I've received an ESA3 form, and thank you I'll check that site! What I'm worried about is a gap in payments, in between applications - I can't afford not to receive my regular payments, I'm only just able to make ends meet!

[time4change2]

do you have to apply for income based ESA? the only reason i ask is my sister was automatically placed on income related ESA when she first claimed for it in 2009.

 

but my friend who is currently being migrated over from IB to ESA will she have to apply for it separately? i just thought they did it automatically ?

[Nystagmite]

You have to apply for it. But if you received income support on the basis of incapacity, (given to those who haven't paid enough NI) you get put on to income based automatically.

[time4change2]

thanks Nystagmite for clarification on that much appreciated

 

xx

[thedryad]

How long does an application for income support usually take? I'm just worried about not having enough money.. we already receive housing benefit by the way.

[thedryad]

Also will the fact that I'm self employed affect the claim? I make less than a few quid a week and have no set hours, I never do more than a couple of hours per week. How can I prove this though?

[thedryad]

Are we even eligible for income support if I choose not to apply for income based ESA? Due to hubby receiving carers allowance? I'm just worried that we'll be worse off!

[Nystagmite]

Yes you will be able to claim income support. One of the criteria is a carer.

[ellie12022]

Income Support can come through quite quickly I understand although you would have to close your ESA claim down I think. If you're going to be assessed for income based esa the amount you would get would be the same under either, it's just the claimant will be your husband and not you. Get in touch with the council too, to explain what is happening. Have a look at this http://kickingtoryassonwelfare.wordpress.com/2013/03/

 

quite frankly I am at the moment tempted once my Incap ben stops to just claim carer's allowance, just to have less hassle.

[Nystagmite]

Income Support can come through quite quickly I understand although you would have to close your ESA claim down I think.

 

Yes you have to.

[thedryad]

Hi just a progress report.. I closed down the claim for ESA, husband has now claimed IS. Went for an appointment on Monday as we'd already printed out and filled in the form. In the meantime our housing benefit has been suspended! So How on earth we're going to afford to pay the rent next week, I don't know. I've phoned the council and the lady was really helpful and apologised but said untill I can send them proof of IS entitlement they can't make anymore payments. Also I declared some inheritance and she said that may have complicated things (the inheritance was £7,500 and we used it to pay off all our debts. So I'm a bit miffed now as it's taking so long..

[thedryad]

Husband has just said "I told you this would happen, we might not get income support or housing benefit now as the government have made cut backs and if they see we've had inheritance and used it to pay off debts they might see it as deprivation of capital".... is this true? I'm worried now!

Edited May 23, 2013 by thedryad
sp

[Nystagmite]

That's true. But the first £6000 is ignored.

[thedryad]

So you're saying they might not award us IS or HB because of £1500 that I had and spent on paying off debts?

[thedryad]

I am incredibly anxious person, I get ill worrying about things and this is one of those things, please can someone reassure me? Can someone tell me how long it's likely to be before I hear anything about IS? Because untill I do, I can't sort out the HB situation. Husband phoned IS this morning and they said that the claim hadn't even reached the system yet. We went to the appointment at the JS on Monday 20th.

[thedryad]

I am literally panicking right now, we can't afford to be £700 worse off every month, can they really let that happen? What will we do if they say we're not entitled to IS and HB? We can't live off carers allowance and tax credits alone! Is that something that might happen? Please help..

[thedryad]

Bump......

[antone]

Is the inheritance more than £6000? Is it more than £16,000?

[estellyn]

I am literally panicking right now, we can't afford to be £700 worse off every month, can they really let that happen? What will we do if they say we're not entitled to IS and HB? We can't live off carers allowance and tax credits alone! Is that something that might happen? Please help..

 

If the total savings you had (including the inheritance) at the time of the inheritance is £7500, and you used it to pay off debts, the worst they could do is treat you as still having that amount, which would mean reducing any income based benefit by £6 a week - that is the very worst thing that could happen in that circumstance.

[flumps1976]

A new claim to benefit be it IS, JSA or ESA takes an average of 10 working days following receipt of all information when it is received at the Benefit Centre, (rapid reclaims are usually input from the claim application and payment released if due when the claimant attends the office for JSA), so you attended on 2oth May the claim would have been sent via internal courier to the Benefit Centre either the 20th or 21st depending on what time the courier is collected and if the FA who pushes the claims was able to do so before the post leaving.

based on you assuming the claim was sent on 20th you could realistically expect to hear on or around the 4th June.

[thedryad]

Thank you.

[thedryad]

Hi just to let you all know, that the income support claim was successful and we didn't have to provide any proof of how we spent the inheritance. I'm just waiting for a decision on the housing benefit now Thanks for your help!