Frequently Asked Questions

From 27 October 2008 Employment and Support Allowance applies to new customers, replacing Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds. Existing customers will initially continue to receive their existing benefits, so long as they continue to satisfy the entitlement conditions.

In Great Britain, over 2.6 million people depend on incapacity benefits, and yet nine out of ten new customers tell us that they want to return to work. With the introduction of Employment and Support Allowance we are improving the package of support to help people return to the workplace. Employment and Support Allowance builds on the New Deal for Disabled People, and Pathways to Work which provide the practical support needed to help customers into work. There is also evidence which shows being out of work can contribute to poor health, whereas being in work can deliver real benefits, not only financially, but in terms of people's health and well-being, their self-esteem and the future prospects for themselves and their family.

Employment and Support Allowance offers personalised support and financial help for customers who are not working due to an illness or disability. Central to Employment and Support Allowance are new medical assessments which examine what the customer can do, rather than what they can't.

Employment and Support Allowance builds on the Pathways to Work scheme, which helps people with an illness or disability into work, if they are able. This includes the support of a personal adviser who can provide access to a range of financial support, return-to-work programmes such as the New Deal for Disabled People, and specialist provision, including access to the Condition Management Programme. The Condition Management Programme is delivered by healthcare professionals and helps customers to manage and cope with their illness or disability in a work context. The personal adviser can also help the customer to find the right job with the support needed to sustain employment.

Employment and Support Allowance is focused on support, and people will not be forced to take a job, or undertake any other work-related activity which may be detrimental to their health.

Most people will just need to make a single telephone call, with no initial claim forms to complete or sign, to start their application process. Customers with speech or hearing difficulties can contact us using a textphone to make their claim. Customers unable to claim by phone can claim via a representative or interpreter, by completing a printed claim form or through most Jobcentres, where a claim may be made face to face.

When someone becomes entitled to Employment and Support Allowance they will enter a 13-week assessment phase. During this period they will receive a basic rate payment of up to £60.50 a week for a single person aged 25 or over, £47.95 a week for a single person aged under 25, or, where income-related Employment and Support Allowance is payable, £94.95 a week for a couple.

Healthcare professionals (either a doctor or nurse appointed by the Secretary of State, not the customer's own GP) will carry out a Work Capability Assessment with most customers, which is an assessment of how an individual's illness or disability affects their ability to work and carry out day-to-day activity. The Work Capability Assessment helps us determine the customer's eligibility for Employment and Support Allowance and their capability for work-related activity.

Customers who are able to undertake some form of work-related activity will also take part in a 'work-focused health-related assessment' as part of the Work Capability Assessment, which explores their views about moving into work and identifies any health-related support that may help with this transition.

As soon as possible after week 8 of the assessment phase, the customer will be telephoned to arrange a work focused interview, during which a personal adviser will discuss the customer's entitlement to benefits, their views on returning to work, and the package of support that may be required to help them into work.

Some customers will not need to attend the full Work Capability Assessment, including individuals with a terminal illness and those we can identify as having limited capability for work or limited capability for work-related activity without the need for them to take part in the full assessment. We will work with the customer and their healthcare professionals to gather the necessary information about their illness or disability to determine whether a full Work Capability Assessment is needed.

Customers with a terminal illness will be fast-tracked into the Support Group of Employment and Support Allowance so that we can ensure they receive everything that they are entitled to as quickly as possible. They will not be required to participate in a work-focused health-related assessment or any other work-related activity.

The results of the Work Capability Assessment will allow us to decide if the customer is entitled to continue to receive Employment and Support Allowance. It will also allow us to determine whether they will enter either the Support Group or Work-Related Activity Group of Employment and Support Allowance from the beginning of the fourteenth week of their claim. The level of benefit they receive will depend on whether they enter the Work-Related Activity Group or the Support Group.

Customers are entitled to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance payments if they have paid enough National Insurance contributions.

Customers will receive income-related Employment and Support Allowance payments if:

1. They have not paid enough National Insurance contributions
2. They do not have substantial capital, for example savings of more than £16,000, or if their household income (including that of any partner) is below the level of Employment and Support Allowance they would be entitled to.

Customers may also receive income-related Employment and Support Allowance if they require additional financial support for specific reasons, for example, because of housing costs or as a result of disability or caring responsibilities.

Customers in the Work-Related Activity Group will participate in up to five further work focused interviews with their personal adviser, focused on helping them back into work. These interviews will usually happen every month and they will be informed by the work-focused health-related assessment. Personal advisers will discuss the type of work that might be most suitable with the customer and can refer them for employment, training or condition management support, to help them manage and cope with their illness or disability in a work context.

A period of limited capability for work separated from another such period by no more than 12 weeks is treated as a continuation of the earlier period (Regulation 145 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008)

Where the customer is a work or training beneficiary, any period of limited capability for work separated from another such period by no more than 104 weeks is treated as a continuation of the earlier period (Regulation 148).

Customers who return to Employment and Support Allowance under the linking rules will be treated as having completed all or part of the assessment phase. This means that customers protected by the linking rules do not have to completed the assessment phase more than once. However they will be subject to the WCA process again from the start of their linked claim.

A claim to Employment and Support Allowance can be backdated 3 months if there is supporting medical evidence. The Secretary of State will treat the claim as a claim for Incapacity Benefit or Income Support, as appropriate, if:

1. the backdating period spans 27 October 2008 and
2. the claim has been made on grounds of disability.

In these circumstances the existing backdating rules will apply.

Customers who claim Employment and Support Allowance after receiving their full entitlement of SSP will have a Work Capability Assessment, including a Work-Focused Health-Related Assessment. This applies even if they are still employed by their company.

The Action Plan shows the work-focused activities that the customer wants to achieve over a given period of time, as agreed with the personal adviser. It helps the customer and the personal adviser to focus on the steps and actions each will take to help the customer reach their chosen goal. It is a 'living document' which is updated at each WFI.

The assessment phase continues for 91 days. If the Work Capability Assessment has been completed within that period, the main phase rate, if applicable, becomes payable from the 92nd day. Where the WCA has not been completed within the assessment phase, the customer will continue to receive the basic rate of Employment and Support Allowance until such time as the assessment is made. Depending on the outcome of the WCA, the main phase rate will be backdated to the 92nd day and the customer will receive any arrears due.

Terminally ill customers will be fast-tracked to the main phase Support Group under the Special Rules and do not have to complete an assessment phase. The customer will receive the assessment phase rate of Employment and Support Allowance until Limited Capability for Work is confirmed and will then receive the main phase support group component of Employment and Support Allowance. This will either be backdated to day 1 of the claim, or to the date of diagnosis if a WCA referral during the assessment phase confirms the terminal illness.

There is no change to the appeal process under Employment and Support Allowance. Customers who are found not to have limited capability for work following the Work Capability Assessment have the right to appeal, and to claim Employment and Support Allowance at the assessment phase rate, until the decision of the appeal tribunal is made. The time limits and manner of appealing remain the same.

Where the Decision Maker determines that a sanction applies, the amount of Employment and Support Allowance payable to the customer will be reduced as follows:

1. by 50% of the amount of the work related activity component for the first four benefit weeks which the reduction applies
2. by 100% of the amount of the work related activity component for each subsequent benefit week.

Customers will continue to receive the reduced rate as long as they have limited capability for work. The work related activity component is restored once the customer has complied with the requirement to attend and/or participate in the Work Focused Health Related Assessment or a Work Focused Interview.

The Permitted Work rules have been aligned for income-related and contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance. There are no earnings disregards under Employment and Support Allowance, so customers who meet the criteria for Permitted Work will continue to receive full Employment and Support Allowance in addition to their permitted earnings. Where they do not meet the Permitted Work criteria, Employment and Support Allowance will be disallowed. Current rules will continue to apply under Incapacity Benefit and Income Support.

Carers have been identified as a group that will need special consideration under Employment and Support Allowance. Guidance will make clear that the implications of caring responsibilities should be taken into account when conditionality requirements are applied, for example by considering whether deferral of a work-focused interview is appropriate. The Employment and Support Allowance regulations allow for flexibility in the timing and location of Work Focused Interviews where necessary.