ESA ir

Hi, I'm in receipt of contribution based ESA and my wife works 24hrs per week and has DLA and working tax credit. If her weekly hours drop to 20hr will I automatically be put on ESA IR? I have savings of over £16k and would like to stay on contribution based.

derek wrote: Hi, I'm in receipt of contribution based ESA and my wife works 24hrs per week and has DLA and working tax credit. If her weekly hours drop to 20hr will I automatically be put on ESA IR? I have savings of over £16k and would like to stay on contribution based.

Hi d,

No, if entitled to payment of CB ESA, that will always take precedence over payment of any IR ESA.

Claimant's who are paid CB ESA may also be entitled to IR ESA top-ups if they can pass the IR ESA means test with respect to capital, assets, savings, household income and any hours worked by a partner.

24 hour work rule for payment of IR ESA

Asset rule for receipt of IR ESA

At the moment, even if you fulfilled the other qualifying criteria for any of the : Income Related (IR) ESA Premiums , you would not receive payment of them as your partner works 24 hours or more a week and you have in excess of £16,000 in capital , assets and savings.

Even if your partner's hours are reduced to 20 hours/week you would still be precluded from any IR ESA payments due to the £16,000 in capital, assets and savings.

It is not really a matter of choice on "what" type of ESA payments you receive IR or CB !!

bro58