Eligible for IRESA letter?

gumdrops23

i got a letter saying I may be eligible for backdated payments for IRESA from when I was transferred from IB to contribution based esa support group. Until recently I probably was eligible as my boyfriend was studying but now he’s working (not really earning a lot given he has two kids to support) I’m worried if I was eligible for IR he’ll earn too much for me to continue to claim ESA. I also don’t have access to 5 years worth of bank statements (bank says it costs £6 per reprinted statements) - I don’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday let alone our dire financial status for the past 5 years. The whole thing is freaking me out. If I lie and say my partner was working so not to claim they’ll be able to check and know he wasn’t but if I don’t meet any of the
criteria to be excluded then I have to have them look at our situation and they might stop my pittance of an income if I’m no longer eligible for income based. I feel like im
doomed whatever I do. As if life isn’t stressful enough without this  

Can anyone reassure me that they won’t leave me destitute? 

poppy123456

Hi,

As you're currently claiming Contribution based then anything your partner earns won't affect your ESA. Income Related top up depend on circumstances such as household income and savings etc. The reason they've wrote to you is because DWP made an error when transferring those from Incapacity benefit and placed everyone on Contributions based and didn't assess them for any income related top ups. They've now realised their error and are contacting those that could be affected.