Process For Going Back Onto ESA Due to £16,000?

Hi there

I had to go off income-based ESA (SG) because I received income that took me above £16,000. At the beginning of November my income will deplete back down to £16,000. I am trying to find the smoothest, least stressful (to my body/head) way of doing this – any help would be so appreciated.

I obviously need to send in to ESA my bank statements as of the relevant November date to prove my income has depleted to £16,000 or below. But because ESA payments are adjusted according to how much income we have (between £16,000-£6,000), I supposedly need to keep sending in bank statements? Am I right in thinking that they deduct £1 from ESA for every £250 worth of income? So in theory that would mean that every time I spend £250 I would need to send in bank statements so that they could adjust my next fortnightly payment by £1…which is ridiculous, not to mention exorbitant with Recorded Delivery costs. A local benefits adviser said that ESA would have a process for this even if they don't offer it to me, that I need to request a system…and that I need to be organised with this system because ESA won't backdate in this context. What does such a system/process look like that I need to request?

Sorry, I’m struggling with cognitive fatigue/brainfog…after reading your reply I realised I had forgotten to mention:

I had ensured that when I informed ESA of my increased income that they confirm to me in writing that they would leave my ESA case open (because I wanted to avoid having to start from scratch with UC), which they did – and they gave me a specific office/address to write back to them when my income increased again. Presumably they understood from my ESA history and last DLA award that my illness/disability is long-term and therefore granted this? But who knows whether they will honour this promise. I will obviously include a copy of this letter of theirs when I write to them early November, but does anyone have experience of or know what this process looks like that I am supposed to request (in order to not have to send in bank statements every time my income depletes by £250)?

Gordon, I chuckled when I read that you wondered if I’d imagined this letter/mistaken its content for NI credits.

What took me above £16,000 was an inheritance that was left to me, and it was made in 2 payments with some time in between them, ie my income depleted to below £16,000 at a point after the first inheritance payment and before the second inheritance payment. I have the letter (that I mentioned in my last message) in front of me and I’m going to type some of it:
“I can confirm that your ESA claim has remained ‘live’ from [date], and you have continued to receive National Insurance credits.
[Apart from the address at the top, which isn’t my usual ESA benefit office’s address] I can also confirm our Freepost address is […].
I have now reinstated your payments following the reduction in your inheritance which now stands at [£…]. Please notify us asap when you receive the remainder of your inheritance.”

Apart from this letter proving that ESA claims can remain open when income goes above £16,000, I also have the personal experience (and I guess evidence) of my bank statements showing my ESA payments reinstated before the second inheritance payment. I was surprised that B&W moderators are unaware of this possibility because the way I found out about it a couple years ago was from other disability advice forums. That’s where I got the idea to write to ESA and insist that my claim remain open.

So back to my questions, like I wrote in my first message a local benefits adviser said that ESA have a system so that claimants in this situation don’t have to send in their bank statements every time our income depletes by £250 or monthly for argument’s sake (which is what I did previously, not knowing that ESA had a system to make this easier/smoother for me because they never volunteered it). That ESA don’t volunteer the system; we have to ask for it but she didn’t tell me what the system looks like. They are difficult to get through to which is why I was hoping to get answers here.