ESA contibution based con

[tonywhu]

I am not able to work as i am deemed long term sick, i was put onto employment and support allowance then added to the support group. i have been in this group now for over 2 years, my wife passed away in January of this year so i had to go through all the stress off cancelling her benefits .

 

This opened a whole new light on ESA ,as the support group is for long term sick you are put into the contributions based benefit as there is no support group for income based. This makes life difficult as you are not entitled to free prescriptions, dental , opticians, no help with community care grants , budgeting loans , warm home option and lastly i have to pay some of my housing benefit and council tax.

 

It seems if you are signed off indefinetly through ill health you cant get any help at all. Why are they punishing people who cant work? if i was in the work group on income based i would be entitled to all the above help. i have been told i can appeal to go onto income based benefit BUT my money would be stopped while this was going on which could take 8-12 weeks and they have already told me i dont qualify to go into this group as the medication i am on disqualifies me from doing any work.

 

What can i do ? have they got the benefit scheme wrong i think so no help for those who need it most . my meds are weekly based and cannot be changed to monthly 9 items per weel which is about £70

Edited December 24, 2012 by antone
Added paragraphs

[antone]

Well, firstly, the Support Group is available to people on both income and contribution based ESA. The SG vs WRAG issue has nothing to do with the basic type of ESA you receive, so if you're currently in the SG and transfer to income related ESA you would probably remain in the SG.

 

So, you are currently on ESA© in the SG, correct? Do you have any other income or savings over £6000? You don't need to "appeal" to claim the income based benefit, you simply need to apply for it.

 

Even if you don't qualify for ESA(IR), if your income is low you may still be entitled to help with prescriptions, dental care and eye care. You should ask the Jobcentre for form HC1, which is an application for means-tested help with health costs. Anyone who meets the requirements can receive this help - it doesn't matter which benefit you're on and, indeed, people who work but are on low incomes may also be entitled to this help.

[tonywhu]

i was informed be ESA themselves there is no support group for income based at all this is now twice they have told me that once was a manager as i asked for it to be confirmed. tried the hc1 route i was told that i was not entitled to free anything i had to pay 33.56 eye test,67.12 glasses, 100.68 dental .

was also told last week that i had to appeal their decision to put me on contrabution based benefit as apposed to imcome based and that i was on that benefit indefinatly. i have no savings at all . thanks for your reply

[antone]

i was informed be ESA themselves there is no support group for income based at all this is now twice they have told me that once was a manager as i asked for it to be confirmed.

 

This is simply not correct. The SG is available to people on either type of benefit.

 

tried the hc1 route i was told that i was not entitled to free anything i had to pay 33.56 eye test,67.12 glasses, 100.68 dental .

 

If you have other income (say, an occupational pension) then this makes sense. But if you have no savings and ESA© is your only source of income, then this is puzzling.

 

was also told last week that i had to appeal their decision to put me on contrabution based benefit as apposed to imcome based and that i was on that benefit indefinatly. i have no savings at all . thanks for your reply

 

When you were awarded ESA, you should have received a letter (or several letters) explaining their decision. Do you still have them, or can you remember why they said you were not entitled to ESA(IR)?

[tonywhu]

i receive a small amount of bereavement benefit (£7.00 per week until Jan 25 )i get low and middle rate DLA . the reason i was initially put on ESA con was i had been my wifes carer for 15 years before i became to ill to do it any more as you get NI contrabutions whilst a carer.

the support group issue i dont know all im going by is the website and contact with ESA (not the call centre but there main office in bassildon)

[debt4get]

if you are in the wrag group then contribution based esa is time limited to one year...this is not the case for the support group, there is no time limit to cont based esa in this group...someone is not telling you the truth...even if you transfer to Income based esa you should not have to wait...this is utter nonesense, you have been given...i am sure there is a link somewhere with the rules regarding this if i cant find it i am sure someone on here can... knew if i looked i could find it, it is quite clear if you are IN the support group you are NOT time limited and if cont do run out you are AUTOMATICALLY changed to income based http://www.dwp.gov.uk/adviser/updates/changes-to-contribution/

[antone]

Given that you receive DLA, could we possibly be talking about the Severe Disability Premium rather than the Support Group? This can be paid to those on income related ESA who receive DLA at higher or middle rate care and who (with some exceptions) live alone. It's not payable to those on contribution based ESA.

[wobbly]

If you require aload of meds get a prescription season ticket much cheaper than paying item prescription charges.Ask chemist for info.

[estellyn]

Ok, it sounds like you should be getting both contribution based and income based ESA. You need to make a claim for income based ESA. If you live alone and have no savings and only £7 a week of other income then you should be entitled to a severe disability premium and enhanced disability premium as income based top up of your ESA. You should also be getting these things as part of any housing benefit council tax benefit claim, so please check your award letters.

 

Plus even if you weren't entitled to income based esa (which it sounds like you are), you would be able to complete a form called a hc1 form:

 

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/1125.aspx

[Nystagmite]

If you require aload of meds get a prescription season ticket much cheaper than paying item prescription charges.Ask chemist for info.

 

This is about £104 a year. You can pay by direct debit in 10 monthly installments.