Employment and Support Allowance 


ESA replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid because of an illness or disability from January 2011. It is one of several benefits being gradually replaced by UC (see Chapter 1).


You can apply for ESA if you are employed, self-employed or unemployed, and you may get it if you have an illness or disability that affects your ability to work, and you are:


• under State Pension Age; 


• not getting Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay and you haven’t gone back to work; and


• not getting Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). 


There are three types of ESA. Contributory ESA is for people with limited capability for work that have paid enough National Insurance Contributions (NICs). Income-related ESA is paid to people on low incomes.


In addition, there is new-style ESA. You can apply for new-style ESA if you live in a UC full service area (see Chapter 1). If you live elsewhere, you can only apply if:


• you are already claiming UC; or


• you claimed UC in the past six months and your payments ended because of your earnings.


New-style ESA works in the same way as contributory ESA. Any partner’s income and savings do not affect the amount of new-style ESA.


You can get new-style ESA on its own or at the same time as UC. However, if you get both at the same time, your new-style ESA payment will be deducted from your UC payment, so you are not guaranteed to get any extra money.


In order to claim income-related ESA, any savings you have must be less than £16,000. If you have a partner, your benefit may be paid at the “couples rate”. If your partner is living with you and working, how much they earn could affect your income-related ESA. You will not be entitled to income-related ESA if your partner works more than 24 hours a week.