The Department for Work and Pensions is paying out £362 a month to people with certain medical conditions that affects how many hours they can work. The Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is available to individuals under the state pension age who have a disability that impacts their ability to work.
Claimants must also qualify under certain criteria, which includes having worked as an employee or have been self-employed in the past and paid enough National Insurance contributions, usually in the last two to three years, with National Insurance credits also counting towards this. Applications are unaffected if an individual is in or out of work as long as they are not working more than 16 hours per week, or earning more than £183.50 a week.
People already claiming Job Seekers' Allowance and Statutory Sick Pay will not be considered for ESA. The government has recently rolled out a "new style" ESA, which essentially means it is paid more regularly than Universal Credit. Applicants will get a basic assessment rate while their application is being considered. According to the government, this is:.
The government says: "If it takes longer than 13 weeks to assess your claim, you’ll continue getting the ‘assessment rate’ until you get a decision or until your ESA is due to end. Your ESA will be backdated if you’re owed any money after 13 weeks." Once the assessment has been checked off, claimants will be placed into one of two categories.
