Migration when on both SDA and Income Support

I am getting SDA and IS, no conversion letter yet. Would these be merged into one ESA benefit with my right to a non means-tested amount lost in the process or would the SDA element persist in the new benefit and continue to be paid in the event that my savings increased over the threshold?

portslade wrote: I am getting SDA and IS, no conversion letter yet. Would these be merged into one ESA benefit with my right to a non means-tested amount lost in the process or would the SDA element persist in the new benefit and continue to be paid in the event that my savings increased over the threshold?

Hi ps,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

The equivalent payments if successfully transferred to ESA would be Contribution Based (CB) ESA to replace your SDA and Income Related (IR) ESA to replace your IS top-up.

The CB ESA part would not be affected by any savings that you have.

The IR ESA part is liable to the same savings limits as IS.

See : Asset rule for ESA(IR)

&

24 hour work rule for ESA(IR)

From our : ESA FAQ’s

Being paid any amount of IR ESA, even a penny, "passports" you to the same "benefits" as IS. i.e. Free prescriptions and dental care, HB and CTS, etc, etc.

See also : What will I be transferred to?

&

What will I be paid?

From our : IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s

bro58

Thanks for such a quick response. You have confirmed what I suspected, but couldn't find written down.

Could you tell me what ESA form I am likely to have to complete?

portslade wrote: Thanks for such a quick response. You have confirmed what I suspected, but couldn't find written down.

Could you tell me what ESA form I am likely to have to complete?

Hi ps,

You will first receive the Conversion Notice letter. ("The benefit that you are receiving is changing")

You may then receive a "courtesy phone call" which you don't need to answer.

Around a fortnight after the initial letter you should receive an ESA50 Questionnaire, this will have a deadline date (generally around 4 weeks from receipt) to return it to : The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) (Maximus) who took over the ESA WCA Contract from ATOS on 02/03/15.

You do not have to instigate your transfer to ESA and will continue to receive your current level of benefits until you have been transferred over and a decision has been made.

As you may know, there are still huge backlogs with the ESA system, this is indicated by the fact that all IB, SDA and IS recipients should have been transferred over to ESA by Spring 2014.

To put yourself ahead of the game, you could make a start on The ESA50 now by using The Pdf ESA50, which you could store on your P.C. until the paper one eventually arrives through the post.

See :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Whilst referring to the guides on this page, 3rd & 4th links down :

ESA Claims Guides

See also :

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?

ESA50 too big for the envelope

&

Sending Documents to the DWP or Maximus. (CHDA)

You could also read through our : "Being transferred from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance. A 22 page guide to the transfer process." at the top of : This Page.

bro58