ESA QUESTION

JUST wondering if you can offer some advice please My husband has been told today that he is being made redundant after 41 years he is currently awaiting an operation on his lower spine due to be done in November my question is once he is unemployed on june 9th could he make a claim for esa over the last 2 months he has had to have time off on the sick with his back issues a week here and there your thoughts and advice will be gratefully received thanks in advance

Hi sully,

Your husband should be able to make a claim for ESA once he is no longer getting Statutory Sick Pay. Whether this is contributory or income-related will depend on the NI contributions he made in the past few years.

As you know, being awarded long-term ESA is entirely down to meeting the specific criteria (descriptors) rather than being unable to work, per se.

You might want to bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future. That will allow you to keep this as your husband's ESA topic so that we don't get mixed up with the information we give you.

he is not claiming ssp he has been off from work for around a week in the last 2 months because of his back problems so im I write in thinking it would be income related esa has he had paid ni for the last 41 years and once he becomes unemployed on the 9th june he can then make a claim sorry for the reply just stressed at the moment thanks for your time

thanks Gordon very grateful for the advice