Adult dependant under IB and change to ESA.

[johnsmi]

Hi folks,

I was getting IB (CB) for a good number of years, my partner and I had a child, and I got an adult dependant addition for her because of this about £60 a week.

Our child has severe learning difficulties (gets High care in DLA) and was told by CAB at the time while I was on IB that my partner couldn't claim carers allowance as she already had an underlying entitlement to it through the adult dependency I was getting in IB, not that we were going to apply for carers allowance anyways as my partner has own health problems and is on DLA which no doubt will end soon due to PIP.

My contribution based IB changed to ESA five years ago, and under transitional protection I still get the same amount of benefit money £162. That obviously doesn't change from year to year as its more than basic ESA support group.

Now my question is this, if anyone happens to know. if in the future my partner was to claim carers allowance for our child, would I lose the top up payment that I am getting on ESA, in other words was that underlying entitlement for an adult dependant criteria carried forward from IB contribution based to ESA contribution based?

I am going through a reassessment for ESA at the moment so the above situation may never arise but it would be better to know. I know that any transitional protection ends in April 2020.

Thanks if anyone can shed any light on this.
John

[pmlindyloo]

Hi folks,

I was getting IB (CB) for a good number of years, my partner and I had a child, and I got an adult dependant addition for her because of this about £60 a week.

Our child has severe learning difficulties (gets High care in DLA) and was told by CAB at the time while I was on IB that my partner couldn't claim carers allowance as she already had an underlying entitlement to it through the adult dependency I was getting in IB, not that we were going to apply for carers allowance anyways as my partner has own health problems and is on DLA which no doubt will end soon due to PIP.

My contribution based IB changed to ESA five years ago, and under transitional protection I still get the same amount of benefit money £162. That obviously doesn't change from year to year as its more than basic ESA support group.

Now my question is this, if anyone happens to know. if in the future my partner was to claim carers allowance for our child, would I lose the top up payment that I am getting on ESA, in other words was that underlying entitlement for an adult dependant criteria carried forward from IB contribution based to ESA contribution based?

I am going through a reassessment for ESA at the moment so the above situation may never arise but it would be better to know. I know that any transitional protection ends in April 2020.

Thanks if anyone can shed any light on this.
John

This is what CPAG says about the transition from IB to ESA:

There are three steps in deciding how much ESA a transferred claimant is entitled to.13
Where ESA is awarded on conversion, the first step is that ESA is calculated in the usual way, as if the assessment phase has ended – ie, it will include either the work-related activity component or the support component straightaway.
The second step is a comparison with the amount of the incapacity benefit the claimant has been getting, but not all elements of awards are taken into account. For IB and SDA, the comparison is with contributory ESA, including the additional component. The IB taken into account is the relevant short-term or long-term rate, including age-related additions (in transitional invalidity benefit cases, the full amount is taken into account). In both IB and SDA, according to official intent (but at time of writing apparently not the regulations), dependant additions are also included in the comparison.14For IS, the comparison is between the income-related ESA applicable amount including the appropriate additional component but excluding housing costs, and the claimant’s IS award, excluding housing costs and any amounts for children.
The third step is that if the amount of ESA is lower than the amount of the incapacity benefit award as calculated above, a ‘transitional addition’ is made to the ESA (if the amount is higher, the ESA is not reduced). The amount of the transitional addition is simply the difference between the incapacity benefit and the ESA. The transitional addition is not uprated, and is reduced (not below nil) by annual increases in ESA rates, and by the amount of additions for dependants formerly paid with the claimant’s IB or SDA where the conditions for those are no longer satisfied. Any transitional addition still being paid will cease on 5 April 2020.

If I am reading this correctly then the adult addition was included in your transition to ESA and that is why the IB amount is protected and you are paid this instead of the ESA usual amount.

If the conditions for the adult addition are not met then the amount you are receiving will reduce and your ESA will be reassessed. I cannot find any information about CA not being claimed if there was an adult addition but am presuming CAB are correct.

If at any time your partner does wish to claim CA then I would suggest that you go back to CAB for a quick benefit check. Their system should flag up this matter.

[johnsmi]

Thank you very much Pmlindyloo.