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Unfortunately my mother sadly passed away this year, she may have left me some money, it wont be huge amount, but will certainly help to buy a home. I am unclear if I can have savings while on contributory benefits.
Your (or your partner’s) savings will not affect how much New Style ESA you’re paid. If your partner works, it does not affect your claim.
Unlike means-tested benefits, there is no income and savings test for contributory ESA. However, your contributory ESA is reduced by half the amount of any pension or permanent health insurance payment received in excess of £85.
Contributions based ESA is not means tested so savings do not affect it. However, if any part of your ESA is Income Related then for every £250 or part there of over £6,000 there’s £1 deduction.
New Style ESA, which has replaced contribution-based ESA, is not affected by your savings or capital. Therefore, your savings will not impact your eligibility or payment amounts for New Style ESA.
That means if you apply for income-based ESA and have more than £16,000 in savings, you will not qualify for payments. Conversely, if you have less than £6,000 saved (£10,000 if you are over the legal pension age), then ESA payments will not be affected at all.
To check how your pension will affect your ESA: Charlie gets £975 each month from a pension. To check how much he gets each week, he needs to work out what he gets in a year and divide by 52. £975 times 12 is £11,700. £11,700 divided by 52 is £225. Charlie’s pension is £225 each week.
What if I have savings or other income, will that matter? It does not matter what other income or savings you have, other than any occupational or personal pension.
You can't be moved from Income related ESA to Contribution based, it doesn't work like that. If you were claiming Contribution Based ESA with an Income Related top up then your level of savings would affect the top up part only.
How much you get will depend on what stage your application is at, as well as things like your age and whether you’re able to get back into work. If you get New Style ESA you’ll earn Class 1...