What is happening?

Claimants of Incapacity Benefit, Income Support on the grounds of incapacity, and/or Severe Disablement Allowance will, over the next 3 years, be medically assessed for transferring onto Employment and Support Allowance.

It is thought that this assessment for transferring onto ESA will generally take place when the claimant is due to be medically reassessed for their Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Income Support (IS(incap)) claim.

The idea is that by 2014 all existing IB, IS(incap) and SDA claimants will have gone through this assessment process so that Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance will no longer exist and Income Support will only be paid to some lone parents and carers.

Will all Incapacity Benefit, SDA and Income Support (Incap) claimants be moved onto ESA?

No, every IB, IS(incap) and SDA claimant will have to pass the medical test for ESA ie be found to have a limited capacity for work. In the pilot areas (East Lancashire and Aberdeen) they found that 28% of IB and IS(incap) claimants were failing this test. This is because, as might be expected the medical assessment for ESA is tighter than the existing medical assessment for IB and IS(Incap) and many claimants will be found fit for work and therefore not transfer onto ESA. (In addition, the medical assessment for ESA was made harder due to changes from 28th March 2011 for the new form and test - so we are expecting more people to fail.)

Will those that transfer be worse off?

No, those that do transfer over on to ESA should be no worse off as protection measures are being put into place. Some claimants may even be better off.

However, those that are protected because their previous level of IB / SDA / IS(incap) plus HB & CTB income was higher, will not see the usual increase in their benefit every April until the new entitlement level reaches their protected level

What impact will this have on their HB?

Those that transfer onto ESA should not see a drop in their HB award due to the transitional protection put into place (if they do then they need to contact their HB Office as it is likely that a mistake has been made when their HB has been assessed). Most people will continue on the same level of income, with the same shortfall in rent if applicable. Please see HB Circular A14/2010 for more information and some examples.

We are aware of situations where HB Offices are not assessing HB correctly and so are currently working on some of our own examples / standard letters that will be added on to the site soon. We already have a 'Frequently Asked Questions' paper; Handy Hints for people due for a medical; and Handy Hints for people inrending to appeal an ESA decision. Click here to access these from our ucnotes site.