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ESA and early retirement pension
- whitehorse
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8 years 1 week ago #156687 by whitehorse
ESA and early retirement pension was created by whitehorse
Hi
Once again I am asking your advice and once again I am thanking you in advance for the wonderful work you are doing. My husband took early retirement with a pension when he was diagnosed with MS in 1999. He was put on Incapacity Benefit and Higher rate DLA. He has since been put on to ESA (Contribution Based). He has recently been told that DWP are taking approx. £32/wk from his ESA as he has a pension. We accepted this and just happy we do not have to pay this back to 2012. We were adviced that this would happen! However, I have recently been told by a friend that my husband's ESA should not be reduced as he was claiming IB in 1999 and his work pension was not affecting his payment then. Can you give any clarity?
Thank you
Once again I am asking your advice and once again I am thanking you in advance for the wonderful work you are doing. My husband took early retirement with a pension when he was diagnosed with MS in 1999. He was put on Incapacity Benefit and Higher rate DLA. He has since been put on to ESA (Contribution Based). He has recently been told that DWP are taking approx. £32/wk from his ESA as he has a pension. We accepted this and just happy we do not have to pay this back to 2012. We were adviced that this would happen! However, I have recently been told by a friend that my husband's ESA should not be reduced as he was claiming IB in 1999 and his work pension was not affecting his payment then. Can you give any clarity?
Thank you
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- Gordon
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8 years 1 week ago - 8 years 1 week ago #156697 by Gordon
If his pension was disregarded under IB AND he was successfully moved to ESA AND has had a continuous claim since then, then his pension should have continued to be disregarded after the transfer to ESA.
If it was not disregarded under IB then there is no disregard under ESA.
If the money is being deducted in error then you need to contact the DWP about the matter. Your biggest problem will be that DWP record keeping was appalling under IB and I would not be surprised if there are no records that he notified the DWP of the pension when he claimed IB and that at that time it met the criteria to be disregarded.
You might want to get face to face advice as you may need someone to act on your behalf when communicating with the DWP about the matter.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA and early retirement pension
whitehorse wrote: Hi
Once again I am asking your advice and once again I am thanking you in advance for the wonderful work you are doing. My husband took early retirement with a pension when he was diagnosed with MS in 1999. He was put on Incapacity Benefit and Higher rate DLA. He has since been put on to ESA (Contribution Based). He has recently been told that DWP are taking approx. £32/wk from his ESA as he has a pension. We accepted this and just happy we do not have to pay this back to 2012. We were adviced that this would happen! However, I have recently been told by a friend that my husband's ESA should not be reduced as he was claiming IB in 1999 and his work pension was not affecting his payment then. Can you give any clarity?
Thank you
If his pension was disregarded under IB AND he was successfully moved to ESA AND has had a continuous claim since then, then his pension should have continued to be disregarded after the transfer to ESA.
If it was not disregarded under IB then there is no disregard under ESA.
If the money is being deducted in error then you need to contact the DWP about the matter. Your biggest problem will be that DWP record keeping was appalling under IB and I would not be surprised if there are no records that he notified the DWP of the pension when he claimed IB and that at that time it met the criteria to be disregarded.
You might want to get face to face advice as you may need someone to act on your behalf when communicating with the DWP about the matter.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Last edit: 8 years 1 week ago by Gordon.
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- whitehorse
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8 years 1 week ago #157107 by whitehorse
Replied by whitehorse on topic ESA and early retirement pension
Hi again and thank you again. Don't know where we would be without this group to turn to.
An update - we contacted ESA in Greenock which is the office dealing with my husband's ESA payments. They interprete the rule as meaning you must have been in receipt of your pension before being in receipt of your Incapacity Benefit. My husband started getting his pension on 4th April 2000 and his Incapacity Benefit on 20th January 2000. So according to their interpretation he's not exempt. However, what they say doesn't make sense to us as he took early retirement with his work pension after he had been ill for months before being diagnosed with MS. He was off work and received his wages for so many weeks but eventually had to claim IB.Then he took early retirement through ill health and got his pension. This to us is the logical sequence of events. We can't think of a way he could have got his pension before his IB. What do you think?
Many, many thanks again.
An update - we contacted ESA in Greenock which is the office dealing with my husband's ESA payments. They interprete the rule as meaning you must have been in receipt of your pension before being in receipt of your Incapacity Benefit. My husband started getting his pension on 4th April 2000 and his Incapacity Benefit on 20th January 2000. So according to their interpretation he's not exempt. However, what they say doesn't make sense to us as he took early retirement with his work pension after he had been ill for months before being diagnosed with MS. He was off work and received his wages for so many weeks but eventually had to claim IB.Then he took early retirement through ill health and got his pension. This to us is the logical sequence of events. We can't think of a way he could have got his pension before his IB. What do you think?
Many, many thanks again.
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- whitehorse
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8 years 1 week ago #157108 by whitehorse
Replied by whitehorse on topic ESA and early retirement pension
Sorry I meant to say that he does fill all the criteria you mentioned previously. He got his pension and his IB at the same time and was successful with no break going onto ESA.
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- Gordon
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8 years 1 week ago - 8 years 1 week ago #157122 by Gordon
The key question is whether his pension was disregarded when he was receiving IB, you haven't Confirmed this?
By disregarded I mean that you received confirmation from the DWP that there would be no deductions from his IB rather than no deductions being made.
Gordon
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Replied by Gordon on topic ESA and early retirement pension
whitehorse wrote: Sorry I meant to say that he does fill all the criteria you mentioned previously. He got his pension and his IB at the same time and was successful with no break going onto ESA.
Thank you
The key question is whether his pension was disregarded when he was receiving IB, you haven't Confirmed this?
By disregarded I mean that you received confirmation from the DWP that there would be no deductions from his IB rather than no deductions being made.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Last edit: 8 years 1 week ago by Gordon.
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8 years 1 week ago #157139 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA and early retirement pension
whitehorse
I have done some more digging, unfortunately the DWP guidance for IB to ESA transfers is not online at the moment as the link is to the wrong document, but I have found the guidance for Incapacity Benefit.
from
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...e/474064/dmgch56.pdf
This suggests that there is no requirement for the pension to have been payment before the claim for IB.
Gordon
I have done some more digging, unfortunately the DWP guidance for IB to ESA transfers is not online at the moment as the link is to the wrong document, but I have found the guidance for Incapacity Benefit.
56155 Pension payments do not reduce benefit where a person is entitled to IB before 6.4.01 on any day of IfW in a PIW which began before and continues after that date
from
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...e/474064/dmgch56.pdf
This suggests that there is no requirement for the pension to have been payment before the claim for IB.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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