ESA claim

So sorry to be so thick, but if I was to put in a claim for ESA and not give income details,ie not go for IRESA, say tomorrow, and then got an award for NI credits, and told WRAG when assessed, when I got below 16thou say in 18 months time , can I assume I would still get the pre 3 april WRAG component

Thank you. No intention of committing fraud! I am all ready to do the phone call for ESA1 tomorrow apart from one thing. I notice the ESA1 form asks whether you intend claiming housing benefit or council tax reduction. I am not sure whether I will need to claim these temporarily whilst waiting for the sale of the buy to let to go through - I can probably manage with my savings but should I say yes in case the sale takes forever to go through in which case I will run out of money and need to claim HB and CT reduction. And also there is the fact that although once I get the 37 thousand from the flat i won t be claiming any benefits whilst living off that money, I may need to, say in 18 months when savings have dwindled, claim housing benefit or council tax reduction. So should I just say yes on the form to the 'do you intend to claim council tax reduction or housing benefit' question? Or will that cause problems if I do not claim HB or CT reduction for say 18 months?

I think I may get something like five pounds a week as my finances are right now! But at least it will be set up and act as an insurance if the flat selling goes wrong because that five pounds I assume will have to increase if flat still not sold after a few months cos my savings will be right down by then. If you are eligible for a little ESA does it mean you ll normally eligible to a little HB? (Though I want to put off any HB claim for as long as possible really cos I don t know that my landlord will like it)