Savings limits after migration from Contributory ESA with IR top-up

I was originally receiving Incapacity Benefit and in 2013 I was migrated to Contribution based ESA. Confusingly, all the ESA letters I received said "Your income-related amount is" followed by the amount I was receiving, but it clearly wasn't IR as no deduction was made for my small pension of about £11/week.

In 2015 I learnt that I should have been getting an IR ESA top-up of about £1.50/week, which isn't much but it qualifies me for free dental treatment and prescriptions, and I've been receiving that since. I've got a letter from the DWP from January 2016 which says that I'm receiving "Income related ESA and Contributory" and it shows how much is Contributory and how much is IR.

My question is about how the savings limits will apply after I'm migrated to UC. I understand that currently if I had savings above £6,000 that would affect my IR amount, and if they were above £16,000 I would no longer qualify for IR (I think the same limits also apply to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction). After I'm migrated, will my Contributory ESA become UC such that those limits will apply to all my ESA, not just the IR top-up, or could I have more than £16,000 savings and just lose what was my IR top-up and keep receiving what was my CB ESA?

How are Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction dealt with under UC, as I'm a council tenant and currently the Council calculates those benefits and it just credits them to my account. After I'm migrated to UC, will the DWP process those benefits instead such that I'd need to notify them if I had savings over £6,000 and they'd reduce or stop my IR, HB and CTR, or will the Council still deal with the HB and CTR and I'd have to notify them?

Hi David

I understood that Contribution Based ESA isn't means-tested and therefore it isn't reduced for having savings over £6,000, unlike IR ESA. If that's incorrect, I'm a bit confused by your statement that New Style ESA is basically the same thing as CB ESA but it is unaffected by any savings, as that would be a major difference.

Regarding Housing Benefit, if I'm only receiving CB ESA, no IR ESA, will Housing Benefit still be migrated to Universal Credit and if so, will it be paid directly to the Council, as it currently is, or will it be paid to me and I'll then have to pay the Council?

Hi David

In my last post I asked whether CB ESA is affected by any savings, because your previous post said that it is and that New Style ESA is different because it isn't affected by any savings, so I want to check whether that's correct about CB ESA because I always understood that it isn't affected by savings because it isn't means-tested.

I also asked whether my Housing Benefit would be migrated if I'm not receiving any IR ESA, and your reply says that on Managed Migration day both my Housing Benefit and IR ESA will stop and be replaced with UC, which is confusing as my IR ESA can't stop and be replaced if I'm not receiving any IR ESA. To put my question another way, will my Housing Benefit be migrated if that's the only means-tested benefit that I'm receiving?