ESA change of address?

[Beddz]

Hello currently on ESA Support Group Income Related.

Been offered a council property bungalow I am looking to accept tenancy on Monday but won't be moving in for a couple of months while I get painters/decorators/carpets all sorted but will still be paying the rent

Do I need to notify the DWP of this, guessing as I'm not officially physically moved in I should be ok to just keep the address that is currently on file as I'm still sleeping there etc

[nukecad]

There are bigger questions to consider here, like how are you going to pay the rent on both?

1. Do you currently claim Housing benefit for where you are living?
2. Do you intend to claim for the rent at the new bungalow?
3. Is the new bungalow in the same Local Authority (council) area?

There can be overlaps for two properties during a move, and in some circumstances benefit payments towards rent for both properties.

Whether that is Housing Benefit, or Universal Credit, or both, and for how long depends on the answers to those 3 questions above above.

[Beddz]

There are bigger questions to consider here, like how are you going to pay the rent on both?

1. Do you currently claim Housing benefit for where you are living?
2. Do you intend to claim for the rent at the new bungalow?
3. Is the new bungalow in the same Local Authority (council) area?

There can be overlaps for two properties during a move, and in some circumstances benefit payments towards rent for both properties.

Whether that is Housing Benefit, or Universal Credit, or both, and for how long depends on the answers to those 3 questions above above.

My family member OWNS the property we currently live in outright which will be sold once we move over to the new bungalow, tenancy is solely in my name so hopefully this won't cause issues

Yes the council have advised once we physically move into the new bungalow housing benefit will cover the rent

Yes its still in the local authority(council area)

[nukecad]

In that case you don't need to inform ESA until you start to claim rent for the new house.

But your answer doesn't say if you are currently claiming Housing Benefit for living in your family members property?
That is very important.

If you are not already claiming Housing Benefit then you won't need to inform ESA at all.

That's because if you are not already claiming Housing Benefit then you can't make a new claim for Housing Benefit at the new bungalow.

Even though it's the same LA because it would be a new claim for rent costs it would have to be a claim for Universal Credit.
Which would mean that your IR ESA would automatically migrate into Universal Credit.

As it's Social Housing then UC should pay the full rent and some (but not all) service charges.

But to work out what a move to UC would mean for your other benefits, we would need to know more about what you are getting now.
You say it's IR Support Group, so you will have the EDP of £17.10, do you have the SDP of £66.95 as well?
Are you getting any other benefits?

You should be better off on UC than ESA, but it's worth us doing a check.

[Beddz]

In that case you don't need to inform ESA until you start to claim rent for the new house.

But your answer doesn't say if you are currently claiming Housing Benefit for living in your family members property?
That is very important.

If you are not already claiming Housing Benefit then you won't need to inform ESA at all.

That's because if you are not already claiming Housing Benefit then you can't make a new claim for Housing Benefit at the new bungalow.

Even though it's the same LA because it would be a new claim for rent costs it would have to be a claim for Universal Credit.
Which would mean that your IR ESA would automatically migrate into Universal Credit.

As it's Social Housing then UC should pay the full rent and some (but not all) service charges.

But to work out what a move to UC would mean for your other benefits, we would need to know more about what you are getting now.
You say it's IR Support Group, so you will have the EDP of £17.10, do you have the SDP of £66.95 as well?
Are you getting any other benefits?

You should be better off on UC than ESA, but it's worth us doing a check.

Much appreciated for you going to all this effort NukeCad

So I don't claim housing benefit at all right now, I just live rent free in my family members property

For ESA I get Support Group/Carers Premium/Severe Disability Premium its around £470 every 2 weeks

I also get PIP enhanced daily living and standard mobility which is £450 every 4 weeks

I thought you could start a new claim for Housing Benefit if you received the SDP unless that's been recently changed

[nukecad]

I thought you could start a new claim for Housing Benefit if you received the SDP unless that's been recently changed

It has just changed on the 27th of January 2021, (last Wednesday), so unless you claimed HB before that you've just missed it.

There is a Transitional Element to make up for the SDP when you migrate to UC, see the calculations below.

You said:

I am looking to accept tenancy on Monday

the council have advised once we physically move into the new bungalow housing benefit will cover the rent

From that I'm assuming that you haven't yet claimed HB and so you will have to claim UC for the rent, which will then migrate your IR ESA into UC as well.

It may just be possible that someone at the council was on the ball and to beat the deadline has started a HB claim for you before you actually have the tenancy agreement signed?
(They shouldn't really do that, but will sometimes fudge the rules).
In which case all the below will be surperfluous, but TBH I doubt they have done that.

You say that you are getting Carer Premium, and the £470 every 2 weeks supports that, so presumably you are also entitled to Carers Allowance even though it's not being paid?

So with ESA you currently have:
£ 74.35 Personal Allowance.
£ 39.20 Support Group.
£ 17.10 Enhanced Disability Premium.
£ 66.95 Severe Disability Ppremium.
£ 37.70 Carer Premium.
£235.30 Total ESA each week. (£470.60 a fortnight like you say)

With UC (before April) you will have:
£ 409.89 Personal Allowance.
£ 341.92 LCWRA element.
£ 162.92 Carer element.
£ 120.00 SDP Transitional element. (Other readers - This is for Beddz, there are 3 different rates of SDP-TE yours may be one of the others).
£1034.73 UC a month replacement for ESA.

Of course your total UC will be more than that because there will also be the Housing Element (rent) to add.

To give a comparison of ESA to UC: £1034.73 * 12 / 52.143 = £238.13 a week, so £2.83 a week more that your current ESA.

There is a big 'however' though.
That is this years UC rate which includes the uplift for Covid. Unless the government does a U-turn that uplift will end in April.
Which will leave you slightly worse off on UC than you were on ESA.

With UC from next April (without the Uplift) you will have:
£ 324.84 Personal Allowance.
£ 343.63 LCWRA element.
£ 163.73 Carer element.
£ 120.00 SDP Transitional element. (Other readers - This is for Beddz, there are 3 different rates of SDP-TE yours may be one of the others).
£ 952.20 UC a month replacement for ESA.

That's £952.20 * 12 / 52.143 = £219.13 a week, so £16.17 a week less that your current ESA.

That happens because the SDP transitional element takes no account of EDP, and so EDP is still lost.
At the moment the Covid uplift more than covers that, but once that Covid uplift has gone that's it.

I wish it was better news, but it is what it is.

PS. Your PIP is not affected by any of this, and does not affect UC payments.
As you seem to have an underlying entitlement to CA that may come back into payment once you migrate to UC, but if it does it will be deducted £ for £ from UC anyway.

PPS. You may want to read the information about Migration to UC in the Blue/Red link in my signature below this post.

[Beddz]

Yeah I would rather stay on the current ESA but obviously to claim housing benefit I'd need to migrate over the UC.... Ugh just that you hear horror stories regarding UC but then again I would have to cover the £80 rent myself out of my ESA instead of getting it covered by HB on UC... decisions decisions

[robbie66]

on esa myself in support group and get pip standard care could be getting a new flat however it’s with a different authority here in Dorset so if I take the new property I need to apply for universal credit and that takes 5 weeks so in relation to housing benefit is that done through universal credit or is that done with the new local authority that would be dealing with who do I need to apply to getting a bit confused any help would be greatly appreciated

[nukecad]

Yeah I would rather stay on the current ESA but obviously to claim housing benefit I'd need to migrate over the UC.... Ugh just that you hear horror stories regarding UC but then again I would have to cover the £80 rent myself out of my ESA instead of getting it covered by HB on UC... decisions decisions

Most of the horror stories are from a few years back, things have got better now.

There are still mistakes made of course, but there again when were benefits ever run smoothly?

EDIT- Something was niggling at me and I've just realised what it was.
You said:

.. the council have advised once we physically move into the new bungalow ..

Did you mean "once I move in"?
The above was based on you living alone, if you are going to be living with someone else then all the above could change.

[nukecad]

on esa myself in support group and get pip standard care could be getting a new flat however it’s with a different authority here in Dorset so if I take the new property I need to apply for universal credit and that takes 5 weeks so in relation to housing benefit is that done through universal credit or is that done with the new local authority that would be dealing with who do I need to apply to getting a bit confused any help would be greatly appreciated

You will need to claim UC with the DWP for the rent and then the ESA should be migrated automatically.
(If you try to claim HB at the new council they'll just tell you to claim UC).

Council Tax/Council Tax Relief you will have to sort with the new council because that's who do Council Tax.
And don't forget to tell PIP that you have moved, don't expect UC to do it for you.

Are you already claiming Housing Benefit where you are now?
If I remember correctly you were a migration from IB so your ESA will be CB with an IR top up (EDP and SDP)?

If you are already claiming HB where you are now then that will run on for 2 weeks (paid by the old council) after you claim UC.

Your CB ESA can stay outside of UC (but will be deducted £ for £ from UC), the IR part will be migrated to UC and will also run on for 2 weeks.

Or you can give up the CB ESA and just have it all as UC - that way you are only dealing with the one thing.
It makes no difference to what you will be paid overall. (Unless you come into a lot of money in future, or get a working partner).

The 2 weeks run-ons of HB and ESA are intended to lessen the shock of the 5 week wait for a UC payment.
The good news is that they are paid as well as UC, so you get double benefits for those 2 weeks.