ESA joint claim switch nonsense.

[mafiaduck]

Hi,

 

I'm hoping one of the clever people here knows of a way around the system, or using the system, that helps me become the main claimant on an ESA claim.

 

5 years ago, me and my wife signed up for ESA. They asked who will be the main claimant, we asked what difference it made, they said none at all except the tax code may determine how much we get (income based or contribution based I guess). My wife was earning about £3,000 a year more than me, so they said they'd put her down for that reason. But it doesn't really make much difference.

 

Well for 2 years it didn't. We had no hassles, we just provided sick notes in my wifes name, and we were good. Then the ATOS stuff started to happen. Assessments where score my wife zero, go to court, claim is decided in our favour and we're awarded 25 points. This happens twice, each time with a 9-13 month wait for the court to decide.

 

This stresses my wife out, and instead of getting better, she is now worse. Along with a leg surgery that went wrong leaving her with osteo arthritis, she now has anxiety and depression far worse than she had just a couple of years ago when she was getting better. Obviously, I want to help my wife, so I want to become the main claimant so the stress of the interviews is on me. I was told during this time that we can do this, but not during a period of review. So we'd need to wait for an ATOS result to be cleared by court. This was about 12 months ago.

 

We were happy with that, we sent sick notes, we waited for the results in the post. They finally came. As mentioned, we passed it again. Great, we can switch over. I asked about it (with my wife there in the room, because they wont speak to me unless she is) and I got told about data protection and how they can't alter her claim. Despite us both being there. Gutted does not begin to describe it.

 

Well now I'm at a point where I can return to work 1 day a week, possibly two. There's tons of jobs around here for 6-10 hours work per week. (usually two half days) and they're perfect for me, because my doctor said to only work as few hours as possible (I suffer migraines that are sudden and cause black outs, although I start screaming in pain and rambling. I dont know I'm doing it. I have about 30 minutes of warning before they come. They keep me down for about 2 days afterwards) I need the job to be flexible, so I can have a day off and replace it with a day later in the week if the need arises. I have found jobs that are willing to do this. In fact, I got one.

 

So off I go to the job centre. ask to do permitted work. "Thats great. Where will your wife be working?" it's not her, it's me "Oh, well you cant do it then. You need to be the main claimant"

 

So that's where we are now. After a big argument with them. I'm ready to do some work, to help get me back to work full time, but I'm not allowed to do it. MY wife likely wont be ready for work for a long time, her therapist just put her on an 18 month course of counselling, and despite it clearly being best for us, and the government to let me become the main claimant and start working towards taking us off benefits... we're not allowed.

 

If we did sign off, and make a new claim, we'd lose the additional support component of £60+ a fortnight. I'd be making about that in my job, so there's no benefit to it. I was told the support component can take up to 12 month to claim now, cause ATOS are backlogged in our area.

 

I spoke to the job centre about this, they did a better off report, and because I'd only be earning £60 a fortnight at the job I was offered, they would be against us signing off, and me signing on a new claim. Even mentioning that it could possibly cause issues with the process.

 

Is anyone here smarter than the people in the office? do they know a way around this? some help I can get if I get a job, that wont cause our benefit to be cancelled (which it will at the moment, apparently)

 

PLEASE HELP

[estellyn]

If you work, the first £20 a week of your income will be disregarded, so if earning £30 a week, your wife's ESA will be reduced by £10 a week.

 

Your wife should be receiving part contribution based and part income based esa - If you increase your hours and income, eventually the income based part will be reduced to zero leaving only cont based ESA which is not affected by your income. So in practice, her esa will never get lower than £108.15 while she is in the support group.

 

If she does fail another assessment or put in wrag then things would change.

[mafiaduck]

If you work, the first £20 a week of your income will be disregarded, so if earning £30 a week, your wife's ESA will be reduced by £10 a week.

 

Your wife should be receiving part contribution based and part income based esa - If you increase your hours and income, eventually the income based part will be reduced to zero leaving only cont based ESA which is not affected by your income. So in practice, her esa will never get lower than £108.15 while she is in the support group.

 

If she does fail another assessment or put in wrag then things would change.

 

 

Wait, so I could work all this time? The Job Centre specifically told me that if I was to go to work, they would have to shut down our claim and my wife would not be entitled to claim again.

 

Ok. So if my wife stays on ESA, and I get a job. For example, I earn £100 per week. She stays in her support group. Would she get the full 108.15 per week? taking our income from £137 (or whatever couples rate is) up to £208.15? cause obviously that is way better, but completely different to what I was told.

 

Also, if this is the case... at what bracket of income would my wifes ESA cease to be. If I got a job for 24 hours, which I hope to do within 9-12 months, and got Working Tax Credits, would her ESA still be payable? or would she lose it and only be eligible for PIP (something we're currently applying for, but have been told there's a 12 month wait)

[estellyn]

as long as your wife's claim is contribution based esa topped up with income based, and she is in the support group, there is no limit to what you can earn while your wife keeps the core 108.15 a week. The income based claim will be shut down if you earn in excess of the disregard plus the income based amount or if you work for 24 hours or more a week. Working tax credits would not affect the cont based esa she received. And any income you earn would not affect her PIP entitlement.

 

Things to be aware of - please check she is getting cont based esa with income based top up, and confirm she is in the support group.

 

If she at any time has to go on appeal rate esa or onto wrag, then she will only be entitled to 365 days of cont based esa, and then would lose it unless she is put back in the support group.

 

If you receive housing benefit there would be some issues - let me know if you are.

[mafiaduck]

Hi,

 

We do currently get housing benefit. I'm aware that we will likely lose this, not sure on how much we lose, and what earnings I have to have before they start to be cut off.

 

Pretty sure my wife is Contribution based, with an income top up as you mentioned. Pretty sure she was specifically told it was contribution based, and that was why she was best as the main claimant due to paying more tax when she was in work than I did.