Lost in jungle of ESA / CA / Income Support

Firstly many thanks Gordon & bro58 for replying to me so quickly.

@ bro58. Yes it was 'Incapacity Benefit' my wife was getting and not 'Invalidity benefit' as I had said previously. (Sorry for that.)

I have just dug out a letter from JobCentre+ dated 16 January 2014, it says the following:

"Your benefit is changing to Employment and Support Allowance

We will pay Employment and Support Allowance from 11 January 2014. This will replace your Incapacity Benefit, Income Support on the grounds of illness or disability or Severe Disablement Allowance. We will pay your benefit up to the day before your entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance atarts.

You will get £309.05 a week.

You are entitled to both contribution-based and income related Employment and Support Allowance. This assessment is based on how much the law says you need to live on and your National Insurance contribution record.

The contribution-based part of the allowance is taxable. We have advised HMRC of this decision and they may send you a revised tax code as a consequence, deppendent on your circumstances.

Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance can be paid for a maximum of 365 dyas unless you in the support group."

The letter on the final page then says:

"The Employment and Support Allowance Award

Living expences for you and your partner............................ £112.55

Extra money because you are severely disabled .............. £33.30

Limited capability for work addition

Extra money because you are in the Work Related Activity Group .......... £28.45

which gives a total Income-related amount .........................£233.80

Income and Benefits

DLA - Care Comp for you
is not counted as income towards Employment and Support Allowance

DLA - Mobil Comp for you
is not counted as income towards Employment and Support Allowance

DLA - Care Comp for your partner
is not counted as income towards Employment and Support Allowance

No income will be taken off your Employment and Support Allowance

Your income-related amount is £233.80 less £0.00 so you would have been entitled to £233.80

However because you are entitled to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance we will pay you £309.05

Top-up Payment

Included in your Emplyment and Support Allowance entitlement is a top-up £208.90 payment which ensures you won't see a reduction in the level of your beneifit entitlement as a result of the change to Employment and Support Allowance.

The amounts on this page apply from 11 January 2014 yo 4 April 2014."

So the answer is 'yes' our money reduced in January because of the 365 day rule.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry I am going bananas here - something is wrong somewhere but we just cannot seem to get to the bottom of it, and needless to say we never get anywhere by phoning ESA.)

Rclan wrote: Firstly many thanks Gordon & bro58 for replying to me so quickly.

@ bro58. Yes it was 'Incapacity Benefit' my wife was getting and not 'Invalidity benefit' as I had said previously. (Sorry for that.)

I have just dug out a letter from JobCentre+ dated 16 January 2014, it says the following:

"Your benefit is changing to Employment and Support Allowance

We will pay Employment and Support Allowance from 11 January 2014. This will replace your Incapacity Benefit, Income Support on the grounds of illness or disability or Severe Disablement Allowance. We will pay your benefit up to the day before your entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance atarts.

You will get £309.05 a week.

You are entitled to both contribution-based and income related Employment and Support Allowance. This assessment is based on how much the law says you need to live on and your National Insurance contribution record.

The contribution-based part of the allowance is taxable. We have advised HMRC of this decision and they may send you a revised tax code as a consequence, deppendent on your circumstances.

Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance can be paid for a maximum of 365 dyas unless you in the support group."

The letter on the final page then says:

"The Employment and Support Allowance Award

Living expences for you and your partner............................ £112.55

Extra money because you are severely disabled .............. £33.30

Limited capability for work addition

Extra money because you are in the Work Related Activity Group .......... £28.45

which gives a total Income-related amount .........................£233.80

Income and Benefits

DLA - Care Comp for you
is not counted as income towards Employment and Support Allowance

DLA - Mobil Comp for you
is not counted as income towards Employment and Support Allowance

DLA - Care Comp for your partner
is not counted as income towards Employment and Support Allowance

No income will be taken off your Employment and Support Allowance

Your income-related amount is £233.80 less £0.00 so you would have been entitled to £233.80

However because you are entitled to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance we will pay you £309.05

Top-up Payment

Included in your Emplyment and Support Allowance entitlement is a top-up £208.90 payment which ensures you won't see a reduction in the level of your beneifit entitlement as a result of the change to Employment and Support Allowance.

The amounts on this page apply from 11 January 2014 yo 4 April 2014."

So the answer is 'yes' our money reduced in January because of the 365 day rule.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry I am going bananas here - something is wrong somewhere but we just cannot seem to get to the bottom of it, and needless to say we never get anywhere by phoning ESA.)

Hi Rc,

There are still anomalies here !

As it is evident that your wife was entitled to and being paid IR ESA on transfer, the 365 days limit to payment of ESA in The WRAG does not apply.

It only applies where the claimant is entitled to and being paid CB ESA only, where no part of the ESA payments are IR ESA.

If any part, even a penny of her ESA payments were IR ESA her ESA WRAG payments would not cease after a year (365 days)

As she was in receipt if IB with IS top-ups prior to transfer, she would have been paid CB ESA with IR ESA top-ups after transfer.

To add to this, if her ESA WRAG payments would have been all CB ESA, she would have not received any further CB ESA at all after exhausting the 365 days.

So this still doesn't explain "why" your "benefits dropped" in January 2015.

Have a read through the following to see if that helps further :

12 Month Limit for ESA(CB)

From our : ESA FAQ’s

&

IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s

bro58

'bro58 - Thank you.

I have just read in the FAQ you refer to the following:

"What will I be paid?

The legislation that enables the transfer of IB/IS/SDA claimants to ESA, includes a clause that offers what is referred to as Transitional Protection. Transitional Protection ensures that you will not be paid less than what you are currently receiving on your pre-ESA benefit.

Current payments are more than ESA
If your current benefit payments are more than the standard ESA rates then after transfer, an additional amount will be paid on top of your ESA payments to make up the difference. Every year, as your ESA payments are increased, the extra amount will be reduced until it is eroded and you are left with just a standard ESA payment.

Current payments less than ESA
If your current payments are less than the standard ESA rates, then after transfer your payments will be increased to the current ESA rates.

The Transitional Protection remains active while you remain eligible for ESA(CB) or ESA(IR) as relevant, as a continuous claim, or until April 2020."

That would indicate that my wife's benefit should be frozen at the rate of benefit she was being paid at her transfer over from IB and IS to ESA.

We will give ESA a call in the morning (and also send a letter by signed for delivery) to them asking them to reinstate the correct level of benefit, and obviously make payment of back benefit and not only stop deducting for the supposed overpayment but also return the monies they have already deducted erroneously.

I, actually we, really do appreciate your help on this, it is to say the least frustrating when the very people who should help, i.e. the ESA, just keep telling you over the phone that they are right and there is nothing you can do about it.

I will post a follow up when this has been sorted out. But our thanks are really sincere.

Now to just look forward to my wife's transfer to PIP, but that is in the future! (DLA claim ended up going all the way to the HT before the DWP changed their minds and awarded it to her.)

Just an update here, I have just been through the bank statements to track what and when things changed with payments, here are the amounts and dates since December 2014.

Date...........Payment

12/12/2014 ......£618.10
24/12/2014.......£412.08
09/01/2015.......£412.08
23/01/2015.......£485.69
06/02/2015.......£475.50
20/02/2015.......£475.50
06/03/2015.......£475.50
20/03/2015.......£475.50
02/04/2015.......£475.25
17/04/2015.......£353.90....(Just noticed that this payment is showing up as a 'JSA' payment)
01/05/2015.......£356.50
15/05/2015.......£356.50
29/05/2015.......£356.50
12/06/2015.......£334.30....(This is where ESA claim back £11.10 a week for 'overpayment')
26/06/2015.......£334.30
10/07/2015.......£334.30
24/07/2015.......£155.60

This shows the amount being paid has changed 8 different amounts in 17 payments! This is just ridiculous in the extreme.

Rclan wrote: Just an update here, I have just been through the bank statements to track what and when things changed with payments, here are the amounts and dates since December 2014.

Date...........Payment

12/12/2014 ......£618.10
24/12/2014.......£412.08
09/01/2015.......£412.08
23/01/2015.......£485.69
06/02/2015.......£475.50
20/02/2015.......£475.50
06/03/2015.......£475.50
20/03/2015.......£475.50
02/04/2015.......£475.25
17/04/2015.......£353.90....(Just noticed that this payment is showing up as a 'JSA' payment)
01/05/2015.......£356.50
15/05/2015.......£356.50
29/05/2015.......£356.50
12/06/2015.......£334.30....(This is where ESA claim back £11.10 a week for 'overpayment')
26/06/2015.......£334.30
10/07/2015.......£334.30
24/07/2015.......£155.60

This shows the amount being paid has changed 8 different amounts in 17 payments! This is just ridiculous in the extreme.

Hi Rc,

I am afraid the above payment figures don't really tell me anything of substance other than their are a lot of variations.

ESA does sometimes appear as JSA in your Bank Account rather than EESA where a manual adjustment has been made, or their has been a problem or change to the usual ESA payments.

This is because ESA is actually piggybacked onto The JSA payments system.

Yes, on successful transfer to ESA from IB, IS or SDA the claimant is covered by Transitional Protection as you have read where they cannot receive any less than they were prior to transfer.

If Transitional Protection (TP) is applicable a Transitional Addition (TA) payment will be added to your ESA payments as explained in The FAQ.

You can read more on TP and TA's from the links below :

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...ent-transitional.pdf

and Part 2. 8. onwards of these regulations :

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/1907/contents/made

DM Guide CH 45 also covers TP and TA's

Suffice to say unless your personal and financial circumstances had change around ESA transfer time you should not have received less monies on transfer to ESA.

There are lots of anomalies that need sorting out.

If you are going to phone ESA :

THE ESA PHONE NUMBER DWP : 0345 608 8545 Press Option 3 for ESA. (Open 8AM-6PM. Mon-Fri.)

I would request an escalation to a Supervisor Manager which will involve a call back.

If you get nowhere over the phone you can make a written complaint to The DWP : Complaining to The DWP

Sending Documents to the DWP.

You could even involve your M.P., many of our members have received help from their M.P.'s :

Contacting your MP

You need to verify if your wife received Transitional Protection on transfer, if not why ?

You need clarification of exactly what this overpayment was and why deductions are being made.

You need written clarification of the above and a breakdown of your full ESA entitlement, before and after any deductions.

You may need to seek face to face advice from a Welfare rights Advice agency such as The CAB.

bro58

Hi Rc,

A complete shot in the dark, but as your wife appears to be in The WRAG, are you sure that some of these "reductions" in ESA payments are not down to her payments being sanctioned for not complying with any mandated Work Related Activities, (WRA) or Work Focussed Interviews ? (WFI)

Some thing else to clarify when you contact ESA !

bro58