Employment & Support Allowance (ESA)

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The new Employment and Support Allowance: (ESA)

This section deals with Contributions Based Employment and Support Allowance. If a person does not have enough National Insurance contributions to qualify for this allowance then they can then be assessed on their income (means tested) and matched against the criteria to see if they qualify for Income Related Employment and Support Allowance. Income Related ESA has similar criteria to Income Support benefit.

ESA came into being in October 2008 and replaced Incapacity Benefit for new claimants. This benefit can be claimed if you cannot work due to reasons of physical health, mental health or conditions which may result in cognitive impairment.

It has similarities to claiming the old Incapacity Benefit. See the section on Statutory Sick Pay to see if you are entitled to this employer paid allowance first.

To receive Employment and Support Allowance, the person claiming must have paid Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance Contributions prior to the year of the claim unless the person claiming is less than 20 years old and in some cases less than 25 years old.

To receive the allowance a Doctor must assess that you are incapable of work and issue you with a sick note to give to the benefits agency.

There are three rates of Employment and Support Allowance depending on how long you are claiming for.

For the first 13 weeks the rate is £65.45 per week.

During the first 13 weeks the person claiming the allowance will have been invited to attend the new medical assessment. I say invited but everyone must attend unless too infirm to do so when a visit to them can be arranged instead. The medical assessment will be referred to in a different chapter, however, for the purposes of this chapter the result of the medical assessment will be that a person claiming will be put into either a Work Activity Group or a Support Group.

Those in the Work Activity Group are considered to be capable of doing some work and will be required to attend 6 work focused interviews. Those in the Support Group have been assessed as not able to work due to the severity of their health problems or disability.

For those placed in the Work Activity Group, after 13 weeks their benefit will increase to £91.40 per week.
For those placed in the Support Group, after 13 weeks their benefit will increase to £96.85 per week.

The Employment and Support Allowance focuses on people getting back to work when they are able to.

With this as its aim, people are allowed to work and claim benefits in certain circumstances. Up to £20 per week can be earned without loosing benefit. - ask the benefits agency for more information.

With the knowledge of your GP and the benefits system you can earn up to £93 per week if the work is supervised - ask the benefits agency for more information.

With the knowledge of your GP and of the benefit system you can earn up to £93 per week for a period of 52 weeks if you wish to trial work to see if you are capable of it. After 52 weeks you will loose the benefit - ask the benefits agency for more information.

Due to the nature of how this benefit works and the obligatory completion of the medical assessment which will determine which group people are placed in, it is vital that those applicants with difficulties in expressing themselves or who may not be fully aware of their condition and lack insight into the extent of their difficulties are supported/represented. If wrongly placed in the Work Activity Group, they may loose benefits if they do not attend appointments or accept work within a time frame. Such conditions may include those people who have an Acquired Brain Injury or other illness which result in cognitive impairment. Very often people with an Acquired Brain Injury will lack insight into their limitations thus giving an untrue picture for the assessor to work on.

It would appear that the new Government is going to restrict the time people can claim Employment and Support Allowance who are assessed as capable of work. Ask for the up to date information on this from the benefit office when a claim is made.

To make a claim phone Jobcentre Plus claim line: 0800 0556688 or visit www.dwp.gov.uk or ask for or download a paper claim form ESA1