Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Transcription

1 Empoyment and Support Aowance (ESA) Pease read this eafet carefuy This eafet gives you more information about Empoyment and Support Aowance (ESA) and tes you: about the support we can give you, and what you need to do whie you are getting ESA. There are two types of ESA: contribution-based ESA you usuay get this if you have paid enough Nationa Insurance contributions income-reated ESA you usuay get this on its own or on top of contribution-based ESA, if you are on a ow income. You coud get both types of ESA depending on your circumstances. You ony pay tax on contribution-based ESA, if it s due. ESA40ER 04/17

2 Pease read this eafet carefuy continued For more information about ESA, visit If you do not have access to the internet, you coud ask your famiy or someone you know if you can use their internet connection. You can aso get access to the internet in your oca Jobcentre Pus office or ibrary. If you have any questions about this eafet or you need it in Braie, arge print, audio or emai pease get in touch with us on: Teephone Textphone Wesh Language Cas to 0345 numbers cost no more than a standard andine ca, and count towards any free or incusive minutes in your andine or mobie phone contract. 2

3 About your ESA caim What you wi be paid when you first make a caim When you make a caim for ESA, you wi normay be paid the assessment rate unti we work out how your disabiity, iness or heath condition affects your day-to-day ife. You wi be paid every 2 weeks We wi pay your ESA into the bank or buiding society account that you tod us about. Further information can be found on our website What you need to do Keep sending your Statements of Fitness for work unti we ask you not to This is sometimes caed a fit note, sick note or medica certificate. You wi find the address to post them to at the top of your etters. They coud take 7 days to reach us by post. Pease do not take them into your oca Jobcentre Pus office. 3 You may not get your fu ESA payments if you do not send your statements in on time.

4 What you need to do continued Te us if anything changes It is important that you te Jobcentre Pus straightaway about any changes that coud change the amount of ESA you get. The quickest way to do this is to ca on You must et Jobcentre Pus know if: your persona detais change you have a new medica condition your medica condition gets better or worse you or your partner s work situation changes the amount of money coming into your house changes there are changes to who ives in your house you are invoved in a trade dispute (industria action), or cannot work because of a trade dispute (industria action) you go into or eave hospita if your stay is for more than 4 weeks you go into prison or ega custody you eave the country or are about to eave the country your partner dies. 4

5 What you need to do continued Te us straightaway about any changes If you do not te Jobcentre Pus about any changes straight away then you coud be paid the wrong amount of ESA. You may have to: pay back any money you are overpaid pay a financia fine go to court. Sometimes we might pay you too much money. This is caed an overpayment An overpayment can happen for a number of reasons. For exampe, there was a change in your circumstances and you did not te us about it. If we have paid you ess ESA than we shoud, we wi pay you any money due to you. 5

6 What happens next Your heath and work conversation You may get an appointment to go to a heath and work conversation, this is a type of work focused interview (see page 8 for information about this). This is not your Work Capabiity Assessment. The conversation is not about you ooking or appying for work now, it is about heping you get into work when you are abe to in the future. It can hep you get to know your work coach and pan simpe steps to hep buid your confidence. Your ESA payments may be reduced if you do not go to and take part in your heath and work conversation, and you do not have a good reason for not going. We ca this a sanction. For more information about sanctions, pease go to our website 6

7 What happens next Your Work Capabiity Assessment This assessment heps us find out how your disabiity, iness or heath condition affects your day-to-day ife. There are two parts to the assessment. Part 1 We send you a Capabiity for Work questionnaire (this is aso caed an ESA50 form) a few weeks after you make your caim. You wi need to fi in the questionnaire and send it back to the Heath Assessment Advisory Service. If you need to, you can ask somebody (ike a friend or reative) to hep you fi it in. 7 Part 2 You may be asked to go to a face-to-face appointment with a heathcare professiona. This wi be either a nurse, a doctor, a physiotherapist or an occupationa therapist. You can bring a friend or famiy member to the appointment, as a support, if you woud ike to. To keep getting your ESA you have to compete both parts of your Work Capabiity Assessment if we ask you to. You can find more information about the Work Capabiity Assessment, caiming back costs and watch a video exampe of an assessment on the website.

8 If we can pay you ESA after your Work Capabiity Assessment If we can pay you ESA, after your assessment, you be paced into one of the foowing two groups: The work-reated activity group is... for peope who have some imits on things they can do. You wi have appointments with a work coach who wi agree with you what you can do to hep you into work. The things you agree to do are caed your work-reated activities. If you do not go to your appointments or do what you have said you woud do, your ESA coud be reduced. We ca this a sanction. To keep getting your ESA, you wi need to do your workreated activities. The support group... means you wi not have to go to meetings with a work coach or take part in activities to hep you get into work. But if you want to, you can tak to a work coach at any time. They can hep you get training to earn new skis, or hep you write your CV. You may find this support hepfu if there is a change in your disabiity, iness or heath condition. 8

9 If we cannot pay you ESA after your assessment If we think that your disabiity, iness or heath condition does not stop you working we wi ca you to check that we have ooked at a of the information you have. If we have seen a of the information, we wi send you a etter etting you know why we cannot carry on paying you ESA. We aso send a etter to your doctor etting them know we don t need any more Statements of Fitness for Work. If we decide we cannot pay you ESA you may be abe to get other benefits, incuding Universa Credit and Jobseeker s Aowance. For more information, pease go to our website If you do not agree with the decision not to pay you or with the group you have been paced in... You can ask us to te you why You, or someone who acts for you, can phone or write to us within one month of the date on your decision etter to ask us to expain our decision in a etter. 9

10 If we cannot pay you ESA after your assessment continued You can aso ask us to think again about the decision Te us if: you think we have not ooked at a the information, or you have more information which may change the decision. You must do this within one month of the date on your decision etter. When we have ooked at the new information you have tod us, we wi send you another etter to te you what we ve decided and why. We ca this etter a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice. How to appea How to appea If you disagree with the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice, you can appea to an independent tribuna. You must wait for the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice before you start an appea. 10

11 You may be abe to work and sti caim ESA Permitted work You may be abe to do some work and sti get ESA payments. This is caed permitted work and it ets you: work for ess than 16 hours each week earn up to (Apri 2017) every week, after tax get your norma amount of benefit payment buid up your skis and experience do vountary work - there is no imit on how many hours per week you can do vountary work for. From Apri 2017 there is no imit on the number of weeks you can do permitted work for. Before you start any work, whether paid or unpaid, you must fi in a PW1 and send it to the Jobcentre Pus office that deas with your benefit. The quickest and easiest way to get a copy of the PW1 is to go to our website and search for PW1. Or you can ca Jobcentre Pus on and ask them to send you a PW1. For more information about permitted work pease tak to your work coach or go to our website You can search for a job through DWP s Universa Jobmatch on our website 11

12 More information Pease visit Other hep and support you may be abe to get Universa Credit Work Choice (a programme to hep you get and keep a job if you are disabed) Access to Work (payment made to assist disabed peope in a job or Work Tria) Persona Independence Payment (PIP) Industria Injuries Disabement Benefit Mortgage Interest Payments Chid Tax Credits Winter Fue Payments and Cod Weather Payments Housing Benefit Can hep to pay the rent for your home. Pease contact your oca counci. Counci Tax Reduction Is hep to pay for your counci tax. Pease contact your oca counci. Money Advice Service Pease go to Prescriptions, gasses and denta treatment Pease go to Winter Fue Payments and Cod Weather Payments 12