Savings

I got Income based ESA and my housing benefit is based on my ESA. A few months ago I had a windfall and I went over the minimum £6000 savings. I notified DWP immediately and had my ESA reduced accordingly. Now my question is, Should I have informed the Housing Benefit people separately too?

Hi irnbru77

As LL26 has mentioned you should certainly advise the Housing Benefit department that your ESA has been reduced, the best way to do this is to send them a copy of the letter you should have had from ESA detailing the reduction in your ESA and the reason for it ie that your savings have exceeded £6000. It is very unlikely though that your Housing Benefit (and Council Tax reduction if you get that too) will be reduced because of this. Your ESA has been reduced because of your savings but because you remain on ESA your Housing Benefit will not be reduced, after all your ESA has been reduced to take your savings into account so there would be no 'need' for your HB to also be reduced! I have been in this position myself albeit many years ago when I inherited some money after my mother died. This took my savings over the £6000 threshold. I too was on ESA income related so I informed ESA and like you my ESA was reduced. I also sent a copy of the ESA letter confirming this reduction to HB/CTR office as I was on those benefits too. My HB and CTR was not affected by this and therefore remained the same. The change to your (and my) ESA was a change of circumstances so I informed HB/CTR about my ESA change even though I knew it was unlikely to affect level of HB/CTR.

If your savings reduce over time to £6000 or less please remember to inform ESA so that your ESA will be increased to the full level again. If this does happens again send a copy ot the ESA letter confirming this to HB dept although again your level of HB will not change because of it. In theory you could in fact notify ESA as your savings gradually decrease so that your ESA would gradually increase but I just waited until my savings had fallen below £6000 again.

I hope this helps in some way and all goes well re this issue, it should do and as mentioned your HB should not be reduced, neither should you have to pay anything back to them.

Kind regards

Mr B

Thank you very much for your replies, it is really appreciated. I only realised that this might be the case as I have only just started to receive my State Pension, and I had to re-apply for HB and CTR.
I have informed the HB office and they have asked me to email them my latest bank statements, a copy of my pension letter, and a copy of my PIP award letter.
I was in the belief that ESA and HB all worked together, but apparently not. I feel so worried about all this, but thankful that know this now rather than much later on.
I now await their letter.

Hi, it may be worth keeping receipts for your shopping etc while your windfall decreases, especially any large items. This can help avoid accusations later by DWP that you 'still have ' the windfall capital money when in fact you have used it up. Without receipts it is hard to prove.
best, Denby

I was in the belief that ESA and HB all worked together, but apparently not.

Hi again irnbru77

Many thanks for your latest text, I am glad that we were able to help and that you have now contacted HB. Regarding your comment I quoted above DWP and HB do indeed talk to each other - after a fashion - but it is unwise to assume that they have done so in any particular instance! I have in fact worked in a Housing Benefit department, albeit a very long time ago, but I would have expected the DWP themselves to have informed HB that you were no longer entitled to ESA as you had reached state retirement age. Whether the DWP did so or not the HB claimant is still under a responsibility to notify HB themselves. I am not sure what has happened in your case as you have said you have had to reapply for HB and CTR. You have also said that you have only just started to receive your state pension, congratulations on your retirement! It is good news for this issue that you have only just started to receive the state pension. As mentioned in my previous text while you were on ESA the fact that your savings went over £6000 (which you quite rightly notified DWP about) would not affect your rate of HB/CTR. Now that you have reached state pension age however a savings limit will apply to your HB/CTR, this however is £10000 rather than £6000 for those below pensionable age! Additionally the way what's called the 'tariff income' is worked out is also more generous in that HB will now assume that for each £500 of savings over £10000 you have an assumed income of £1 per week rather than for each £250 over £6000 for those under pensionable age. I hope this makes some sort of sense but the upshot of all this is that if there has been any overpayment at all it will be much less than for someone under retirement age. Have you looked into claiming pension credit as this would definitely help your finances and also helps with dental costs etc as well as qualifying you for a free TV licence.

Good luck to you for the resolution of this issue, fortunately I doubt there'll be a really dire outcome.

Kind regards

Mr B