Private pension and income-related ESA

Hello there,

This is my first post – I tried to search the forums to see if the query had already been answered, but only got whole-site results rather than just for the forums. Apologies if I've missed a specific search box.

I'm a single person with no dependents, in receipt of IR-ESA (support group), and I also receive both components of PIP, HB, and council tax support. I have savings of about £700, although I'm also owed £3,400 in ESA arrears.*

I'm about to turn 60, and have two small occupational pensions from decades ago which add up to the princely sum of £49 per week. I've been able to find out how this income would be treated under C-ESA, but can't for the life of me find anything about how it affects IR-ESA. (There's been some kind of SNAFU over my national insurance credits, which hasn't been resolved, but as it stands I don't appear to qualify for C-ESA due to a gap in the credits a couple of years back.)

I assume DWP will simply deduct the pension income £ for £ from my weekly ESA payment, but as it may take weeks for them to respond to my letter about it, it'd be helpful if I could be a bit more sure about this – obviously I need to budget carefully, to make sure I put aside enough money to cover any overpayment. (I'm autistic and don't cope well on the phone, so even though it's a painful process, I prefer to deal with them by letter.)

There's also a £3,300 lump sum with one of the pensions, which in itself won't take me over the lower savings limit. I understand the ESA arrears I'm owed will likely be disregarded for capital purposes for up to 52 weeks, though if I've made a mistake about that, it'd also be helpful to know!

Many thanks for any advice anyone can give.

Thank you.

- M

* Long story: I wrote to DWP in April 2018 to tell them about a modest legacy from my mother, which I'd used to buy blinds and flooring for the new-build independent living bungalow I've moved into. It took them five months to get around to reading the letter; then they stopped my ESA for another five months, whilst they decided they needed to deduct £15 from my benefits for the first three weeks I was in possession of this money! I haven't received the arrears yet, they're checking to make sure I don't owe them anything from historic overpayments.