changes in October to ESA

[Offcut]

Link to new changes coming in force in October or there abouts.

word.office.live.com/wv/Wor...

[Julie63]

Thanks for the link, Offcut. Interesting reading, but it's good to hear there are people out there prepared to challenge the DWP.

Julie xxx

[Offcut]

I know I would rather be fit and working but I was bought up on the fact my country would look after those in need? I paid enough back in taxes and NI in my 42 years of working I am sure.

[ladytelita]

Hmmmm, doesn't sound great at all. Sounds like they're trying to make it almost impossible for people to appeal against a decision at all.

I may not have been the biggest contributer in my working life, but then most jobs I've had paid so poorly I didn't qualify to pay tax. I do have my NI all paid for though.

Once all my investigations are complete I shall speak with my local JCP, even though, as a carer, I do not have to work currently. I don't want them to turn around and say I should have informed them should I ever need to claim in the future.

P.

[Maladjusted]

Can't open it, anyone know of anywhere else I can access this information?

Thanks

Em

[Aisha in reply to Maladjusted]

I couldn't open it either, it just kept coming up Bad File not found!!!

[Offcut]

sorry it has been removed

[Tusk]

Hi I am wondering why has this been removed as I would like to know what it is all about can anyone tell me please?

Regards

Tusk

[fibro]

its coming up that its a word doc and as i don use microsoft it wont open. is there any other link available as id be interested to read it, many thanks xx

[Offcut in reply to fibro]

I have microsoft and you can get a word reader for free but it is now gone

if you do not have microsoft office they do this reader for free microsoft.com/en-us/downloa...

[fibro in reply to Offcut]

thanks for posting that and be,ow. i was using an iPad so t wouldn't work, neither will the reader on my Mac, but apreciate you posting the info xxx

[Offcut]

Before October 2013

Working tax credit

Child tax credit

Employment Support Allowance (income based)

Jobseekers Allowance (income based) Universal credit

Housing benefit

Council tax benefit

From October 2013

Universal credit

Claimants whom are already receiving the above benefits will continue to receive them and will then be slowly transferred. The above system is to be run via a single computer system which will connect with the Inland Revenue systems. you will be paid 1 month in arrears ( If you have no money in-between you will have a problem)

Also the time for you to appeal will be greatly changed as the ATOS will not be the final answer it could be 13 weeks for the DWP to decide and while the time before appeal you will not be paid however they do not say as yet if it will get back dated? Plus you may be able to emergency payments which will be 60% of the amount you got before if you can claim?

Personal Independence Payments – 2013/2014

Disability Living Allowance will be replaced around 2013/2014 for Adults by Personal Independence Payments ‘PIP’ under the Welfare Reform Bill 2010. PIP will again be made up of two components as with Disability Living Allowance ‘DLA’. To be eligible for PIP a person will have to have suffered from a disability for 6 months instead of 3 months and they will have to show that they will have the disability for a further 6 months.

Under PIP it will be extremely rare for anyone to be given an indefinite award of PIP unlike DLA.

[Tusk]

Hi I have been awarded ESA contribution based which I was so relieved to get after such stress with the form etc but the letter I received said it will be paid until Nov 2014 so I was wondering what happens after Nov 2014 do I get reassessed or what, does anyone know as I am reluctant to ring the DWP?? I see the link etc from Offuct is to do with ESA income based etc not contribution based so it will be different for me.

Regards

Tusk

[Offcut in reply to Tusk]

Contribution based ESA will be for 365 days after that period you will get nothing. Income based ESA is a re viewable and that will go on until a decision is made to take you out or change to PIP. But to complicate things you can claim if you have a partner and they are earning below the threshold that they have set and get the income related part. Have you been told you are also Work Related Activity Group if that is the case you will have to attend meeting to see if hey can find you a job that fits your conditions. If you supply sick notes you do not have to attend. At this time you will have 4 weeks to appeal their decision (worth going to CAB) but you will need a form.

gov.uk/employment-support-a... explains in more detail but misses out what you need to do if you do not like the decision

[Tusk in reply to Offcut]

Hi Offcut

OMG I am really shocked. I though ESA contribution based went on as long as you had NI contributions so that I would probably get reassessed and if passed continue on ESA. I have been on Incapacity for quite some time now and then transferred to ESA, I filled in the forms in May and was told in August I would get the same money as I have been bgetting until Nov 2014 but I assumed in Nov 2014 would then be reassessed. I would not get Income based ESA as my hunsband works and earns too much to qualify. I was so pleased when they said I had been awarded ESA with no WRAG and now from what you have said all my money will stop in Nov 2014 and I will get nothing. I have totally misuderstood it all obviously and will now be worrying again that I am going to lose all my money.

Regards

Tusk

[Offcut in reply to Tusk]

you have to have 24 months of NI to get the 365 days payment. they sopped mine as they claimed I had not paid enough and it took 5 months to prove to them I had before they paid me (in the wrong closed bank account)

[Tusk in reply to Offcut]

Hi I have been doing a little checking and see that providing I have enough NI contributions there is no limit to ESA contribution based if you are also not in WRAG which I am not. I have filled in an Inland Revenue NI checker which may help me as I have been paying Ni for a long time even on benefits you are still accredited NI contricutions as far as I am aware.

Tusk

[fibro in reply to Tusk]

are you sure that the benefit is based on just credited NI contributions, as at one time they had to be partly be actual paid contributions. if you have been in receipt of NI credits for more than two years then you wouldn't have actually paid any in, and therefore may not qualify. thats why after the 365 days on WRAG if you dont qualify for income based ESA you get nought! Im only going on what i read previously. and very possibly the HMRC credits check was done to confirm you have been credited with enough towards your retirement pension..... thats if there will ever be such thing.

from my experience of HMRC just recently the call centre staff haven't a clue, esp when it come to what you have or haven't paid, all they actually know the answer to is whether its on their screen.... its like..... the computer sayssss no!!! they couldn't even tell me for over two months wether or not they have receieved documents i had sent in, they still never replied so i phoned up again.... i lost track of the number of calls i made, they recommended a call back from one of their section staff, that took three weeks, the person who phoned me, name unknown, actually hung up on me as all she wanted me to do was, for me to listen to her, not the other way around, she never put anything in writing, all she did was change a tax code. i could have done that myself!! she then refused to listed to me and hung up saying she wasn't listening to me any more and she put the phone down!! bearing in mind she phoned me, i wasn't rude, upset yes, but i was owed money so i had every right to be upset!

when no correspondence appeared after another two weeks i phoned back and the team leader asked me if i wished for it to be escalated to an official complaint. I got a call back within a few weeks as the complaint team had to gather up my documents from wherever they were, the lady i spoke to totally agreed that i had been poorly treated and as well as calculating for me what was due or not due, they are compensating me too..... have you ever heard of the tax office giving compensation! i hadn't! i know one thing though, whether it be a government department or private company, it seems that no one is prepared to take any notice unless you make an official complaint! so you need to make doubly sure that the info you have been given, is sent to you in writing and is correct.

it makes me feel more and more the word hitler, and disabled people are little bit too forefront in my mind!!!

if only it were easier for us to obtain the correct info first time around! xxxx

[Tusk in reply to fibro]

Hi It is such a complicated system but I am not in WRAG I am in the Support group with no WRAG and claiming ESA contribution based. The info I have read is that if you are in the Support group with no WRAG then the benefit has no limit PROVIDING you have enough NI contributions. If you have been put in WRAG your benefit is for only 1 yr. I claimed Incapacity Benefit for 6 yrs until recently when I had to fill in the ATOS form. I sent it back in May and was awarded the support group ESA with no medical required. Before claiming Incapacity Benefit I worked for many years and paid NI contributions. Whilst you are on these benefits I understand that you are credited NI contributions by the government as you are too sick to work.. I myself have asked for a statement of my NI contributions from the HMRC and they will be posting this to me so I may get a better idea of what I have paid and what will happen next Nov.

Tusk

[fibro]

re my message above, sorry its so long!

when you are in receipt of benefit they credit your contributions, but to make a new claim if necessary you have to ave ad to have paid NI contributions via employment. if by chance you had low earnings and didnt pay any NI then its a problem, but please do check this with the DWP the HMRC are only going on what you may have as a total including credits. but if you are positive they are all pad contributions then ignore what ive said. its only i worry coz of my recent dealings with them xxx

[ritzy123]

Hi, is there any other way of reading this link as it wont open on my computer..I am in the support group on income based although I worked for 40 yrs, tho this doesnt seem to count if you havent worked in the past 2 years...just wonder what happened to my 40 yrs of contributions...Thanx.

[Offcut]

that is true support does not need NI as it is now paid while on ESA but in my case they stopped it because they claimed I had not paid enough in the 2 years prior to my claim. I was on contribution and that stopped after 365 days I tried income but they got my wife hours wrong and would not take the correct evidence so I got nothing until I won my appeal