ESA for my daughter — Scope | Disability forum
If we become concerned about you or anyone else while using one of our services, we will act in line with our safeguarding policy and procedures. This may involve sharing this information with relevant authorities to ensure we comply with our policies and legal obligations.

Find out how to let us know if you're concerned about another member's safety.
Please read our updated community house rules and community guidelines.

ESA for my daughter

Loobieloo
Loobieloo Community member Posts: 4 Listener
Hi everyone thanks for accepting me to your group.
Im a carer for my daughter who has cerebral palsy, she is 32 now & has recently been dismissed from her job so we are currently tackling the ESA challenge ?
She is in receipt of high rate DLA for care, mobility etc. She lives alone with lots of support from me to enable her to do so. Carers allowance is not claimed by anyone. 
Does anyone roughly know how much she will receive for ESA ? also we have provided sick notes from February as she was off sick when she was sacked do we still have to provide them for the length of her claim? 
Many thanks for your help. 

Comments

  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @Loobieloo Pleased to meet you welcome.

    I am sorry I do not know the answer but if you look on our posts on benefits. You will find information or advice.

    Also one or the team could suggest a solution to your question.

    Maybe the community could answer your question.

    Please take care

    @thespiceman
    Community Champion
    SCOPE Volunteer Award Engaging Communities 2019
    Mental Health advice, guidance and information to all members
    Nutrition, Diet, Wellbeing, Addiction.
    Recipes
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 273 Pioneering
    Hi Loobieloo

    Glad you have got in touch.  The fact that your daughter was dismissed shouldn't impact on her ESA entitlement. Have you been told different and if so, by whom?

    For the first 13 weeks,your daughter should get the Assessment Rate of ESA - £73.10 plus housing benefit and council tax benefits. She does need fit notes from the GP to have these payments. She needs fit notes in fact until she has got through the Work Capability assessment. 

    The amount your daughter will get once the work capability assessment has been done will depend upon her postcode. Assuming she isn't in a full service universal credit postcode - which you can check on  www.entitledto.co.uk - and that she is placed in the support group, then she will get

    Personal Allowance             £73.10
    Support group component   £37.65
    Enhanced disability premium £16.40
    Severe disability premium    £64.30

    Total £191.45 per week, plus some housing costs via housing benefit and Council tax reduction if applicable. 

    If she isn't placed in the support group but is placed in the work related activity group, then only the personal allowance and the severe disabilty premium would be paid. 

    You can check the qualifying conditions for being in the support group at Factsheet 71 on Disability Rights UK - search for Work Capability Assessment. In Factsheet 71, look for Appendices 3 and 4 at the bottom of the page. 

    Do post again if this doesn't help!

    Best wiishes
    Gill_Scope
    Scope Helpline Benefits and Finance Specialist 




  • Loobieloo
    Loobieloo Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Many thanks for your information it’s gratefully received.
    Coincidently we received notification today from the DWP.  She gets the £73.10 living expenses 
    £62.45 severe disabled payment 
    £15.90 disability income guarantee
    They have said from April 13 th she will get £153.80 a week paid fortnightly. 
    Does this sound correct?
    Nobody has said anything about her being sacked having an impact on her entitlement from ESA Gill.
    She was in receipt of Tax credits due to being in low income whilst employed. This was taken into account when working out her entitlement from 7/2/18. 
    Many thanks once again for your wonderful advice it’s a godsend in the midst of trying to get what our disabled relatives are entitled to.  It’s been a great source of stress for me trying to get it all sorted out 
    Thanks again ?


  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 273 Pioneering
    Hello again Loobieloo

    Yes, that sounds right, and you're very welcome.  She's not in a full service universal credit area then and has been able successfully to claim income-related ESA. Premiums are a feature of income-related benefits. She needs to make a housing benefit and council tax reduction claim, if she hasn't done already, always supposing that  she has a rent commitment - these are not automatic claims. 

    Just to correct something I wrote above (the fifth paragraph), your daughter would get the enhanced disability premium (also known as the disability income guarantee) whether or not she is placed in the support group - two ways of qualifying for this payment are 1) to be on the highest rate of the care component of PIP / DLA, or 2) being placed in the support group for ESA.

    The support group component should be added to the £153.70 from week 14 of her claim if she passes the work capability assessment AND is placed in the support group. 

    (There are two parts to the work capability assessment, appendices 1 and 2 of that document above, and then the decision as to whether she should be in the work related activity or the support group - appendices 3 and 4. 

    I do appreciate how difficult this is for people who aren't familiar with the system and suddenly have to negotiate it - its our job to try to explain as much as possible about it. 

    Gill_Scope
    Benefits and Finance Specialist
    Scope Helpline 




  • Loobieloo
    Loobieloo Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Thank you again for your help ?
    She does receive the highest rate care & mobility of DLA.

    She actually has a mortgage on her property & is exempt from Council Tax due to her mental health.
    Many thanks ? 

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 273 Pioneering
    Hi Loobieloo

    Thank you for this post. Just one more thing to mention then. If your daughter has a mortgage rather than  rent to pay, the available help with that from April 2018 is through a loan rather than through paid benefit. The changes to Support for Mortgage Interest are quite well documented now, and are a real difficulty for some people, we know. 

    Please let me know if you're not aware of this, and I'll post a link. 

    Best wishes

    Gill_Scope


  • Loobieloo
    Loobieloo Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Many thanks Gill she has mortgage protection but we were turned down as she was sacked & policy says it doesn’t cover for that ..we are now trying to claim via ill health as she was on sick when she was dismissed. 
    Your information is invaluable thank you ? 

Brightness

Complete our feedback form and tell us how we can make the community better.

Do you need advice on your energy costs?


Scope’s Disability Energy Support service is open to any disabled household in England or Wales in which one or more disabled people live. You can get free advice from an expert adviser on managing energy debt, switching tariffs, contacting your supplier and more. Find out more information by visiting our
Disability Energy Support webpage.