Confused .

Hi maggie3605

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is.

Welcome to Benefits and Work .

To answer your question, what group have you been placed in with your ESA claim?

If you have been placed in WRAG then your claim will only last one year after which you will have to apply for UC to claim any benefits.

If you have been placed in the Support Group then your claim will be indefinite until you are next re-assessed and taken off the Support Group.

As you are not receiving any means tested benefits then you will stay on the benefits you receive providing you meet the qualifying conditions.

At present you will not be transitioned to UC unless you have a change of circumstances and need to apply for a means tested benefit. UC is claimed by claimants of working age.

If you have more questions then please return to the forum and we will do our best to help.

Gary

Hi maggie3605

Thank you for your reply, as you are in the support group then your ESA will stay for as long as you meet the qualifying condition. You will of course will be re-assessed periodically to see if you still qualify for the support group.

On 15 May 2019, the law changed so that a ‘mixed age couple’ (a couple where one partner is a pensioner and the other is under pension age) are considered to be a ‘working age’ couple when checking entitlement to means-tested benefits.

This means they cannot claim Pension Credit or pension age Housing Benefit until they are both pension age. Before this change, a mixed age couple could be eligible to claim the more generous pension age benefits when just one of them reached pension age.

The government does intend that all legacy benefits will move over to UC at sometime in the future. The SDP gateway ended on 27th January 2021, prior to the 27th January 2021 this stopped claimants who had a change of circumstances and were in receipt of a SDP from going on to UC, ie they stayed on legacy benefits, this is no longer the case.

Once you reach State Pension age then you will not go on to UC, you can check you SP age by clicking on the link: www.gov.uk/state-pension-age.

Gary