Hi all,

Desperately need some help please,

I am contribution based esa wrag due to stop on april 30th but appealing for support group, my husband is about to lose his job for gross misconduct, (just a stupid mistake, we think this is a harsh claim, so please don’t be too hard on him, I’ve already told him he’s an idiot) am I right in thinking he can’t claim jsa for a certain amount time according to what the sanction the dm makes?

I also understand that I will be eligible to claim income related esa however having looked at this I don’t think it will be any more than im on now as I don’t seem to qualify for any premiums.

We have a mortgage so I will apply for smi but as I have been on esa for 18 months will I still have to wait for the 13 weeks, I will also apply for CTB. But this still leaves us horrendously short we were struggling to survive when he was working, I can’t understand how we will possibly survive, we lose 16k a year and get no more than I get now how can two adults survive on £400 pm.

Ive done a calculation on turn 2 us but that tells me were only entitled to £38.00 pw which is a dramatic drop from what I get now I must have done something wrong surley.

Can anyone advise me what we are actually entitled to im sick with worry.

Thanks in advance

Rach.

You could change your ESA claim to a joint claim for income related ESA. If you have no other income or savings, you might get an extra amount for your husband even if you're not entitled to any premiums. ESA(IR) is not affected by the new 1 year limit. The standard couple rate is about £105 (as opposed to £67.50 for a single person) or so per week, plus you would get the extra WRAG component of £25. I stress again that these amounts depend on your household financial situation.

To claim SMI you need to be on ESA(IR), or have an underlying entitlement to it that is cancelled out by your ESA©.

If he wanted to claim JSA, he could do that, but there are potential problems. He would only want to apply for JSA© I would think, so his entitlement would depend on his NI contributions. And yes, a DM may apply a sanction for some period of time based on the reason he left his job. We can't say for sure what the DM would decide, and he would be given the opportunity to put his side of the story to them, but I'd say it's likely that there would be a sanction applied in his case.

Thanks atone,

is the couple rate really only £7.50 more than single rate, wow thats low. i would only apply for smi on ESA IR if i do that can he still claim JSA C as im thinking better to do it now and get the sanction time over with as i assume he will find it difficult to find another job in this climate although hes not fussy he will take whatever he can get. or does it have be a joint claim ?

thanks again

rach

Well, the amounts I gave are approximate, but it works like this:

Single = £67.50 plus WRAG component of £25ish so about £93 or so

Couple = £105 plus your WRAG component of £25 so about £130

If you apply for ESA(IR) he can still claim JSA© but it will be counted as income for your ESA claim and deducted pound for pound from your weekly amount. The key here is that you can't both claim a means-tested benefit. I'd say doing things that way could be complicated but as you say, it would get any sanction out of the way and he would get his stamp paid to protect his state pension.

Edit to add: Actually, I'm thinking now that having two claims like this might complicate things for SMI. Anyone else have a view on this?

I thought when it comes to income based benefits, you could only claim either or as a couple?

OP - if a sanction is applied, (no-one can say whether it will be or not) it goes from the date of the application for JSA.

I thought when it comes to income based benefits, you could only claim either or as a couple?

 

OP - if a sanction is applied, (no-one can say whether it will be or not) it goes from the date of the application for JSA.

Yes, only one member of a couple can claim income based benefits. However, you could have a situation where the OP claims ESA(IR) for herself and her husband, and he claims JSA© for himself only. Of course, in that case ESA(IR) would treat his JSA© as income fully taken into account.

Yes, only one member of a couple can claim income based benefits. However, you could have a situation where the OP claims ESA(IR) for herself and her husband, and he claims JSA© for himself only. Of course, in that case ESA(IR) would treat his JSA© as income fully taken into account.[/quote

 

Hi Antone, Just a quick question about Income Support. My Nieces husband is in the process of being migrated off IB to ESA, it is very unlikely he will receive enough points to qualify, as his illness is only Alchol Dependancy. My question is.. will my Niece be able to claim Income Support as a couple as she is in reciept of Carers Allowance for her Mother in Law I think, Many Thanks.

Ahh, i was thinking 105 in total didn't think to add the wrag component, looking at it i don't think it financially it will make any difference whether we have a joint IR claim or single claims , so i think the simplest thing to do would to be go for a joint IR claim because goodness knows sorting benefits out can be difficult enough without making it unnecessarily more difficult.

still don't know how were going to manage particularly with the sanction but i suppose theres not much i can do about it.

thanks all for your help

rach.

Hi everyone

thanks for all your help so far, just a quick update and another question.

first the good news, got a letter through on thurs saying that they have moved me over to the support group. i am amazed given that they didnt give me a medical for last decision, thought i would have to have one now, also was expecting a fight tbh finding it a little unsettling not having to fight im not used this!!

anyway so thats fantastic news and im thrilled

now the bad news OH did indeed get dismissed they rang last thing on fri to tell him, we will be appealing the decision when we get the letter.

a slight complication arises though as in the morning GP had signed him off for 2 weeks and we expect this could run up to 8 weeks, so what do we claim, as its only short term. so not sure if it should be ESA or JSA especially as he will be def moving over to JSA at some point, most likely before the WCA which he wouldn't pass anyway. he still plans to continue to look for work just not as much as he normally would, for instance in one day only he applied for 15 jobs, hes not able to keep up to it and i dont think it would be advisable for him to start a new job till his new meds are settled, but thats only my opinion, the DWP would disagree im sure.

I think he feels a bit off a fraud if he claims ESA temporarily, i dont suppose it really matters given the sanction that will prob be applied.

speaking of sanctions can anyone tell me how it works for a couple, do they just remove the couple rate and pay me the amount of a single claim, whilst keeping him on the claim, what happens to premiums as i now qualify for one, semi yay!

thank you all once again

a very confused Rach

JSA is for someone who can work. If he can't work, then it'll be ESA.