Some advice please

I am in receipt of Employment & Support Allowance. I am in the Support Group with a lifetime award. I also received the higher rate Disability Living Allowance.

For over 40 Years I paid into the system and also had a private pension. I was forced to buy an Annuity and now as a result I receive £180 a month as a pension. Unbelievably this amount is taken penny for penny from my Benefit. So much for saving for my future!

I understand as of April 2016 existing Annuity holders will be able to cash in their Pension pots. and take the cash. This seems common sense to me as my monthly pension payments will stop and as I am no longer in receipt of this, THE DWP will pay the full amount.
Is this correct? If so it seems I can have my cake and eat it! Advice please.

Hi TVX and welcome to the forum. On the assumption that you are also new to the site this link should help you find your way around.

Welcome to Benefits and Work

If you worked right up until you claimed ESA you should be on Contributory ESA. In this case the first £85 of your pension, per week, would be disregarded and then 50p of ESA removed for every £1 of your pension above that.

If you were not entitled to Contributory ESA, for whatever reason, and you are receiving Income Related ESA this will be why your pension is deducted £ for £.

You would need to take specialist advice before deciding to cash in your pension pot. You could be found to have deliberately deprived yourself of income with the purpose of gaining benefits and thus treated as if you still have the pension in payment - effectively leaving you with nothing. Make sure you see someone who has a thorough knowledge of benefit law.

As an aside - all ESA awards are theoretically open ended but you should expect to be reassessed periodically. No-one has a 'lifetime' award of ESA or PIP these days.

How often will I be reviewed

If you have any further questions please reply to this post and we will do our best to help