Employment and Support Allowance

A sick worker who is not eligible to claim SSP may be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance, ESA (which has replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid due to an illness or disability from January 2011). To claim they must be under State Pension Age, not getting Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay or Jobseeker’s Allowance, and haven’t returned to work.

There are two types of ESA. People receive contribution-based ESA if they have limited capability for work and have paid enough National Insurance Contributions (NICs) but income-related ESA is paid to people on low incomes. Any savings they have must be less than £16,000. If they have a partner, benefit may be paid at the “couples rate”, but if the partner is living with them and working, how much the partner earns could affect income-related ESA. In most cases, people who qualify for ESA will not get any money for the first seven days of their claim, these are called waiting days.

ESA involves two phases. The Assessment Phase rate is paid for the first 13 weeks of a claim while a decision is made on the worker’s capability for work through the Work Capability Assessment. During the assessment phase they are paid a “basic allowance” (set at a similar level to that of Jobseeker’s Allowance) and if they are under 25 they receive a reduced rate of that basic allowance. The Main Phase rate starts from week 14 of the claim, if the Work Capability Assessment shows that the illness or disability does limit the worker’s ability to work.

There are further rules affecting what the claimant may get and what they may have to do to get it (see LRD’s guide State Benefits and Tax Credits). Current ESA assessment rates start at up to £57.90 a week if you are aged under 25, and up to £73.10 a week if you are aged 25 or over. After that, if you are entitled to ESA, you’ll be placed in one of two groups and will receive: up to £102.15 a week if you are in the work-related activity group; up to £109.30 a week if you are in the support group.

However, new measures announced in the July 2015 budget propose to cut ESA in the work-related activity group to the level of Jobseeker’s Allowance (18 to 24 up to £57.90, 25 or over up to £73.10).