ESA Income v Contribution and ESA50/ESA85a Form

My partner has been placed straight into the support group again. She was previously in the Support Group for 3 years from 2013-2016 and claimed Income Related ESA. The new claim says that she is entitled to Contributions based ESA and will be paid this. We know from experience that we get automatic entitlement to more types of benefits and free treatments if we are on Income ESA (we went through all of this 3 years ago).

1. We meet the criteria still for Income Related ESA and was wondering if you had come across claimants being put on Contributions based ESA for "new" claims when they had been on Income ESA previously - i.e. to save money and because when Contributions based ESA runs out you might have to reapply again for Income ESA? (Yes I am being cynical and wondering if this is a deliberate tactic - why haven't we just been put straight back on Income Related ESA if our circumstances have not changed?).

2. In 2013 we got forms ESA72 which confirmed the length of ESA, i.e. it gave the date when ESA was up for renewal and confirmed the 3 year period. We also got a copy of a form headed ESA85a which stated the evidence from "Med 3 and ESA50" as to the "Justification of Advice" for being placed in the Support Group.

Are these forms still available to request? If not is there a similar form to request which shows the reason for being placed directly into the Support Group and the length of time?

Thank you for the information that you have provided as it has helped us again to be successful in our claim.

Hi MSC,

Thanks for letting us know about your wife's ESA decision and for your kind words about B+W

Where there is an entitlement to Contributory benefit, this is always paid in preference to income-related - this is usually in the claimant's interest as it does not reduce with income. Therefore, if your wife is entitled to Contributory ESA, she will still be on it - albeit with an income-related 'top up' due to low income.

As this was a reassessment of an ongoing award, I believe the income-related top-up should still be paid. It would be worth contacting DWP to query this. If, for whatever reason, it is not being paid, you should request another ESA3 form, which will capture details of your financial situation.

If you have further questions about this, please reply to this message and we will do our best to reply. It helps us a great deal if everything relating to one subject is kept in the same place