Incapacity Benefit Linking rules - concerned

Blanco wrote:

I am currently on IB and have been considering trying a few hours a week, perhaps in the Spring.

If I were to do this, I too would find myself in a vunerable position if it didn't work out. Not sure what to do now.

Maybe you should get permission to do either "permitted work" or "supported permitted work" where you can earn up to certain limits per week and still retain your IB. If it doesn't work out nothing is affected.

See:
www.direct.gov.uk/en/disabledpeople/fina...lsupport/dg_10020667

Thanks IT2Go4IT, good idea.

Hi Gordon
thanks for your reply, and sorry for my delay in checking back on this topic.

Now that I re-read the document and check the various separate bits of relevant legislation in detail, you're right -- there's nothing explicit in draft ESA conversion regulations about what happens to people with 'protection' under IB linking rules.

The IB linking rules are in the Incapacity For Work regs, and (obviously) are phrased in terms of 'incapacity for work', which has no relevance for ESA and will have no practical application after 31/1/2011.

I agree, this is (another) worrying gap in the proposals, which unfortunately we never picked up at the time. In one sense I'm pleased to now be alerted to it.

It would be a simple matter to insert 13 weeks 'treated as having limited capability for work' into the ESA conversion regs -- if the Govt wanted to. This would seem to be 'fair' ... but I'm not sure how much weight that would carry.

There are other problems with the draft regulations (eg, no mention of carrying forward non-taxable protection if pre-1995 claimant). At RNIB we're also (obviously) very concerned at separate proposals to remove Vision activity entirely from a 'revised' WCA.

Remember the draft regulations on conversion were sent to Social Security Advisory Committee for consultation back in January 2010 and we've heard no more about them since.

It's enormously worrying that we still don't know full details about changes scheduled to happen in less than one month. The uncertainty is awful.

If I find out more I will post it here.

alban

me again, correcting mistakes from my previous posting --

The Employment and Support Allowance (Transitional Provisions, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit) (Existing Awards) Regulations 2010 SI 875/2010 are in force (not still in draft as I said previously).

and as you say (and I've demonstrated by my ignorance), much detail about how this will work is still unclear.

most crucially, we still don't know the exact form the WCA will take.

I've got a lot of reading up to do ...

alban

RNIB wrote:

Hi Gordon
thanks for your reply, and sorry for my delay in checking back on this topic.

Now that I re-read the document and check the various separate bits of relevant legislation in detail, you're right -- there's nothing explicit in draft ESA conversion regulations about what happens to people with 'protection' under IB linking rules.

The IB linking rules are in the Incapacity For Work regs, and (obviously) are phrased in terms of 'incapacity for work', which has no relevance for ESA and will have no practical application after 31/1/2011.

I agree, this is (another) worrying gap in the proposals, which unfortunately we never picked up at the time. In one sense I'm pleased to now be alerted to it.

It would be a simple matter to insert 13 weeks 'treated as having limited capability for work' into the ESA conversion regs -- if the Govt wanted to. This would seem to be 'fair' ... but I'm not sure how much weight that would carry.

There are other problems with the draft regulations (eg, no mention of carrying forward non-taxable protection if pre-1995 claimant). At RNIB we're also (obviously) very concerned at separate proposals to remove Vision activity entirely from a 'revised' WCA.

Remember the draft regulations on conversion were sent to Social Security Advisory Committee for consultation back in January 2010 and we've heard no more about them since.

It's enormously worrying that we still don't know full details about changes scheduled to happen in less than one month. The uncertainty is awful.

If I find out more I will post it here.

alban

I thought the none tax 95 rule was going