we dont know what to do

doormat wrote: hello everyone i have been a member of b&w for over a year now. and have plucked up the courage finally to ask about something. my partner has been on esa contribution based then she got a letter saying it was going to stop. so we filled in a esa 3 form and sent it back. she has now had a letter saying it will drop to just over 30.oo per week. what we want to know is if we ask for a mandatory reconsideration will it be lowered any more or even worse will they stop it altogether. she is petrified if we ask for one it will stop. many thanks tony.

The first thing you need to do is to understand what reductions to her ESA there are and why, the deductions that can be made are defined in law so it is not usually a question of querying the amounts but whether the deductions apply, for example this will now be a joint claim, so any money you earn will be deducted, pension income disregarded under ESA(CB) will now be deductable under ESA(IR) and savings and capital over £6000 will also result in a deduction.

As a first port of call, feed your information into one of the online benefit calculators, Turn2Us.org has a good reputation, if you still have doubts about the payment being correct then get face to face advice, do an internet search for "welfare advice" with your postcode, town or county.

Gordon

doormat wrote: thankyou gordon would it make any difference to her claim now that while she was on esa cb she was certified severe sight impaired. (she has a certificate ) or would this affect her dla aswell would it be classed as a change of circumstances and start of all the trouble we have had in the past. eg:assesments, appealls etc. tony

It will depend on the degree of sight problem that she has. For ESA Descriptor 7; "Other people communicating with you" and Descriptor 8; "Getting around safely" are relevant to sight problems, the WCA Handbook used by ATOS for assessments has an explanation of the what they are looking for, there is a copy in the ESA section.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa

For DLA it can be relevant for DLA Mobility, the following RNIB page has a good explanation.

www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk/your-com...e-visual-impairment/

For ESA I can't see any issues with reporting it, assuming that she meets the criteria for the Support Group or not, if she does then it would be worth reporting because if she is placed in the SG her ESA(CB) will remain in payment.

For DLA, the primary issue to consider is whether you are in an active PIP area, as reporting a Change of Circumstances if you are, will result in her being invited to claim PIP. See

www.gov.uk/government/publications/pip-postcode-map-uk

Gordon