Why sent ESA1 after tribunal placed in Support Gp?

Hi again

Sorry to bother you again but I rang the DWP who confirmed the ESA1 form was sent in error and that I should have an ESA3 form as Bro mentioned above. She told me that this was because they need to know if my income has changed eg. do i now have any pensions etc.

This confused me because I am in the Support Group CB. The Judge at theTribunal said that the Support Group is not means tested so no-one will be asking me for that information. I told her this and she disagreed and re-iterated what she had just said. I challenged her by asking whether she was saying that the Tribunal Judge was incorrect. She replied yes. AAAGGHHH.

I do not have any money and rely on my partner to support me. Someone I know who is quite knowledgeable about ESA told me that they will also assess my partner's income; surely this isn't the case as I am in the CB Support Group???

Honestly, I feel like I'm going round the bend with all of this. please help!

Best wishes, Kasbah

Kasbah wrote: Hi again

Sorry to bother you again but I rang the DWP who confirmed the ESA1 form was sent in error and that I should have an ESA3 form as Bro mentioned above. She told me that this was because they need to know if my income has changed eg. do i now have any pensions etc.

This confused me because I am in the Support Group CB. The Judge at theTribunal said that the Support Group is not means tested so no-one will be asking me for that information. I told her this and she disagreed and re-iterated what she had just said. I challenged her by asking whether she was saying that the Tribunal Judge was incorrect. She replied yes. AAAGGHHH.

I do not have any money and rely on my partner to support me. Someone I know who is quite knowledgeable about ESA told me that they will also assess my partner's income; surely this isn't the case as I am in the CB Support Group???

Honestly, I feel like I'm going round the bend with all of this. please help!

Best wishes, Kasbah

Hi K,

If you are paid CB ESA you are not means tested, however as with IB, (unless you were exempt) if you are in receipt of an Occupational Pension, then you would have deductiion made from your CB ESA as follows :

If you received £100 pension each week OP, you are allowed the first £85/week without any deductions from your CB ESA so the excess in this scenario would be £15. You would have half of any such excess deducted from your CB ESA i.e. £7.50/week.

So if you are not in receipt of an OP then you will not have any such deductions made.

Household income, assets and savings cannot be taken into account with CB ESA.

The request to fill in the ESA3 may simple be a fact finding exercise to ensure that you are not in receipt of an OP.

You could end up better off, if it comes to a pass that you are entitled to any IR ESA top ups.

My best advice would be to fill the ESA3 in accurately and return it.

bro58

Thanks both, this makes more sense now and I am most grateful for your help. One final thing- will I have to fill in my partner's details on the form?

Thanks again, Kasbah.

This is what I don't understand-the woman on the ESA line said that they just wanted to know if I have any change of circumstances financially and mentioned occupational pensions for e.g.

I am happy with having CB SG without IR as I think we will be on the borderline as a couple for IR. What would happen if I filled out the form with just my details (much easier)

Thanks very much once again, Kasbah