Income related ESA

One more question comes to mind. Is it possible for someone to choose to claim IR ESA instead of CB ESA if that is more beneficial for them?

Considering the problems someone could face if they are only entitled to a small amount of IR ESA on top of CB ESA (if any) and thus could lose the IR element if their income or circumstances change even slightly, thus losing access to free prescriptions, dental treatment, etc, it seems for some people it might make life easier to forgo the CB element and just claim IR ESA.

This probably wouldn't be practical for people with partners, whose income is taken into account and which may result in them losing any IR ESA that might otherwise be entitled to but for single people perhaps it might be the better option?

David Jones wrote: One more question comes to mind. Is it possible for someone to choose to claim IR ESA instead of CB ESA if that is more beneficial for them?

Considering the problems someone could face if they are only entitled to a small amount of IR ESA on top of CB ESA (if any) and thus could lose the IR element if their income or circumstances change even slightly, thus losing access to free prescriptions, dental treatment, etc, it seems for some people it might make life easier to forgo the CB element and just claim IR ESA.

This probably wouldn't be practical for people with partners, whose income is taken into account and which may result in them losing any IR ESA that might otherwise be entitled to but for single people perhaps it might be the better option?

Hi DJ,

"One more question comes to mind. Is it possible for someone to choose to claim IR ESA instead of CB ESA if that is more beneficial for them?"

No, it is not a matter of choice.

Any entitlement to payment of CB ESA will always take precedence, so if entitled to CB ESA and IR ESA, you would only receive the IR ESA as top ups to the CB ESA.

bro58

I'm just completing the ESA3 but I'm afraid I'm still confused about what date I'm supposed to put in Part 1 for "What date do you want us to re-assess your ESA claim from?".

I'm not sure of the date I was transferred from IB to ESA, as it was around mid-2013 and the earliest letter I can find on my computer is from Feb 2014, advising me of the increased rate from April 2014. I expect I kept the decision letter but I don't know where it is.

I guess I could write "Please assess my entitlement to IR ESA from the date I was transferred from IB to CB ESA in 2013" in Part 21: Further Information but they'll still expect a date in Part 1 and I wouldn't be surprised if they reject the form if I leave that blank.

David Jones wrote: I'm just completing the ESA3 but I'm afraid I'm still confused about what date I'm supposed to put in Part 1 for "What date do you want us to re-assess your ESA claim from?".

I'm not sure of the date I was transferred from IB to ESA, as it was around mid-2013 and the earliest letter I can find on my computer is from Feb 2014, advising me of the increased rate from April 2014. I expect I kept the decision letter but I don't know where it is.

I guess I could write "Please assess my entitlement to IR ESA from the date I was transferred from IB to CB ESA in 2013" in Part 21: Further Information but they'll still expect a date in Part 1 and I wouldn't be surprised if they reject the form if I leave that blank.

Hi DJ,

If you don't know the exact date that your ESA Award started you could write "circa January 2014" and add from the earliest date of my entitlement to IR ESA, i.e. the start adte of my ESA entitlement.

bro58

Hi bro58,

OK, I'll just put 2013 in Part 1 and refer to Part 21, where I'll explain further.

It strikes me as strange that people can be awarded awarded IR ESA if they're not entitled to CB ESA on the basis of the ESA50, which doesn't really ask anything about income, household, education, etc, when being transferred from IS or IB but in order to claim IR ESA in addition to CB ESA we have to fill in the ESA 3.

New claimants would have filled in a ESA1 of course, which asks for the same information as the ESA3 but those being transferred don't have to as far as I'm aware. I guess in the case of IS, it can be assumed that the circumstances are the same as those that entitled the claimant to IS but IB wasn't affected by income or savings I don't think, so the DWP wouldn't necessarily have any such information for claimants transferring from IB.