Employment and Support Allowance

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a benefit paid to people whose ability to work is limited by ill health or disability.

It replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds for new claimants after 27 October 2008.

Who can get the allowance

You may get Employment and Support Allowance if:

• you are aged at least 16 and are under pension age (pension age for men is currently 65; pension age for women is gradually increasing from 60 to 65) AND
• your ability to work is limited and you pass a test that assesses this AND
• one of the following applies:
  • your income, including savings, is low enough for income-related ESA or
  • you have paid enough national insurance contributions for contribution-based ESA.

Note: Previously special rules allowed people aged under 20 - or in some cases 25 - to claim without contributions. These rules were abolished on 30 April 2012. Please follow the link on the right for details of important changes to contribution-based ESA from April 2012.

Receiving the allowance

In order to get the full amount of ESA and to continue to receive it, you will have to attend interviews to discuss work and training options.

Some people with very severe disabilities (for example, people who are terminally ill) can get ESA without meeting the above conditions.

ESA will be paid at a lower rate during the first 13 weeks – it will increase after this if you meet the conditions outlined above.

How to claim

Call Jobcentre Plus, and remember to request a call back if you are ringing from a mobile phone.

There is one form for both contribution-based ESA and income-related ESA – you will need to return this together with a medical certificate.

After four weeks you will receive an ESA50 questionnaire to assess if your ability to work is limited. You must complete and return this within four weeks. If you do not return it within the time limit your payments may stop. Claims can be backdated for up to three months.

Important: If you get Housing or Council Tax Benefit remember to tell the Council if you start getting ESA or if the amount you get changes. You can contact our Revenues and Benefits team to do this.

Further information

For further advice and information, including advice on what to do if your claim is refused:

• download a copy of our Employment and Support Allowance factsheet (see the link on the right)
  
• contact the Welfare Rights Service
• visit the Directgov website.