Income related ESA

Thanks Gordon. Admittedly the only people I know who're receiving IR ESA were previously on IS and I only have first-hand experience of being transferred from IB to CB ESA.

OK, I've received the decision but I'm having trouble understanding it as they haven't bothered to explain how they've worked it out. I found the relevant figures online.

For 2013/14, the ESA IR+Support+Enhanced Disability was £71.70+£34.80+£15.15 = £121.65 - £11.08 (pension) = £110.57.

For 2014/15, it was £72.40+£35.75+£15.55 = £123.70 - £11.37 (pension) = £112.33

For 2015/16, it's £73.10+£36.20+£15.75 = £125.05 - £11.51 (pension) = £113.60

However, they've said that for 2013-15, my allowance is £112.05, which is the same as what they've already been paying me as CB ESA and from April 2015 it's £113.63, which is close enough to what I've worked out to probably be correct but appears to be overpaying me for 2013/14 and underpaying me slightly for 2014/15.

I know I got a Top-up to make it up to £112.05, so that I didn't get less after being transferred from IB to ESA but I'm sure that must be before they make the deduction for my pension. Then again, I don't think my small pension is enough to affect CB ESA, so if that comes to £112.05 and is more than my 2013/14 IR ESA allowance would be, I guess I still get the CB ESA rate?

I guess it's not worth worrying about a possible 28p/week underpay for 2014/15 as it won't affect anything else as far as I can tell.

Still seems crazy that someone who's never paid any contributions can get the same amount of ESA as someone's who's paid them and qualifies for CB ESA but the IR ESA claimant also gets other benefits (free prescriptions, SMI) that the person on CB ESA is excluded from. I'm not even clear what proportion of my current allowance is IR and how much my pension would have to increase before I lost any entitlement to IR and the other benefits that come with it. Is the only IR component the Enhanced Disability premium, so if my pension increased from £11.51 to £15.75, thus matching the ED premium, I'd no longer receive any IR ESA?

It does seem that the basic rate for 2013/14 was £71.70 www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...it-rates.csv/preview but it doesn't really matter.

Not sure how I managed to miscalculate the total for 2015/16. I don't know how they calculated it to be £113.63 either, as they haven't explained their calculations.

I haven't got any prescriptions or dental costs to claim back for 2014/15 and it doesn't seem worth the hassle and stress of arguing with them for the sake of £14.56, so I think I'll leave that.

I had to fill in a form today and previously I had to calculate and state my monthly income but I realised it has an alternative option to tick for people receiving IR ESA, which is obviously easier.

So I ticked that and gathered my decision letter to show as evidence, only to realise it doesn't actually say anywhere that I'm receiving IR ESA! Despite the letter being dated June 2015 and it showing this date at the top of each page, at the bottom of the third page it says "these are the amounts you will receive from 27 June 2013 to 27 November 2013".

So it seems to just be a copy of the one I got with the usual April uprating letter when I was only receiving CB ESA, with no mention of IR in the calculations and the total given is what I've been getting since June 2013, which is about £1.60 less than I'm getting since being awarded IR ESA.

After the" Living Expenses" and Extra Money because you are in the Support Group" figures, it does say "Which gives a total income-related amount" but that obviously doesn't mean IR, as I wasn't receiving that when this page was created.

So I guess I'll have to write to them again and ask them to sort this out. I might ask for the £14.56 they owe me seeing as I have to write to them anyway but if they say I've left it too late to ask for that I'm not going to argue.