Hi jackie50
Unfortunately you will have to go through the whole UC rigmarole. Have a look at our ESA/UC Claim guide on the following link.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1 www.gov.uk/apply-universal-credit ESA now called "legacy ESA" is no longer available to new claims except in very special circumstances . (The claimant needs to be receiving the Severe Disability Premium).
The difference is that legacy ESA was one benefit consisting of two eligibility criteria, one based on the claimant's NI Contribution history (Contribution Based ESA) and the other on their personal circumstances (Income RelatedESA).
New Style ESA only considers the claimant's NI Contributions, the equivalent to ESA(IR) is Universal Credit.
You can see how much benefit you might receive by putting your information into one of the online benefit calculators;
www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators If you have any specific questions then come back to the forum.
Gary
