The first lump sum that you take from your pension should be treated as capital and therefore should have no effect on your ESA(CB), any regular payments and possibly any second lump sum will be treated as pension income and may reduce your ESA(CB) depending on the amount.
CB ESA is not means tested, if you received an occupational or personal pension that pays more than £85 a week then your contributory ESA payment is reduced by half of the amount over this limit. There is an £85 per week disregard followed by a £1 per week deduction for every £2 in excess of the £85. For example, if you receive £105 a week before tax from a personal pension, your ESA is reduced by £10, ie half of the excess figure of £20. If you receive more than one pension then they are added together for the calculation.
As long as you are only receiving Contribution Based ESA and not Income Related payments then your savings and assets will not have any effect on your CB ESA.
Gary
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: Fortunate, LL26
