Ask the Experts

How does the new ESA work?

Q If you are getting Incapacity Benefit now and are put onto the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and have not paid National Insurance (NI) for many years, does this mean being put on income-based benefit? If so, is it means tested? I have been on incapacity and DLA for a few years now and I am worried that I will lose money because I haven't made any NI contributions. I’d welcome your advice.
Suzanne Peel, by email

Ken Butler from Disability Alliance says: Between Spring 2011 and 2014, 1.5 million people who get benefit on the grounds of incapacity will be medically examined using the Work Capability Assessment.

This will check if they have a “limited capability for work” and can be transferred to ESA. If so, they will be placed either in the ESA “work-related activity group” or the ESA “support group”. People in the support group are not obliged to under­take any work-related activity.

Those who get income support paid on the grounds of illness or disability will be transferred to means-tested ESA. But all those in receipt of contributory incapacity benefits will be transferred to contribution-based ESA.

If someone gets less on incapacity benefits than the appropriate ESA rate, then his or her benefit will be increased to the ESA rate. Those who receive more on existing incapacity benefits than the appropriate ESA rate will have their existing rate of benefit frozen at the point of transfer.

In short, the fact that you haven’t paid National Insurance contributions will not disbar you from being transferred to contribution-based ESA and you should not receive less than your existing rate of Incapacity Benefit.

However, on 20 October 2010, the Government announced that entitlement to contributory ESA for those in the “work-related activity group” is to be limited to just one year. It is yet to be confirmed when this change will come into effect or what support will be available for people losing access to this support.

We at Disability Alliance will be updating our website with information as soon as we know more about this significant change.

How can I fight council indifference?

Q I live in Yorkshire with my disabled mother and her severely disabled husband, my stepfather (86). Earlier this year his Blue Badge had to be renewed. He can only walk a few inches at a time with a walking frame and therefore doesn’t leave the house. Were it not for his appointments at Dewsbury and Wakefield hospitals, he wouldn’t need a Blue Badge.

My mother asked the local issuing office if she could renew the badge by sending a recent photo or if the issuing office could do this on a home visit, since Kirklees Council offers home visit services for non-disabled people who need assessments. It turned out, unbelievably, that there isn’t a home visit service for disabled people needing a disability badge.

Instead, my mother was told that her husband had to show up in person at Dewsbury town hall, and had to take his expiring disability badge in with him.

My mother therefore asked me to take him in their car, which meant she had to come with us, so that we could use her Blue Badge to park in a disabled space. (This raises a serious issue for disabled persons who have to visit the town hall while taking their badge in with them.)

When we got there, we found only two disabled parking spaces, up a side street, but none outside the disabled entrance to the town hall. (Disabled drivers used to be able to park on yellow lines by the side of the town hall, but this area is now cordoned off while the town hall is being refurbished.)

I had no choice but to drop the two of them off outside the disabled entrance but while a helpful door­attendant was getting a wheelchair, a traffic warden ticketed the car, even though the Blue Badge was showing.

People watched, stunned. Even the doorman couldn’t believe it and assured me it would only be a case of ringing the necessary department to get the ticket cancelled.

In fact, there hasn’t been any goodwill, whether from the parking office or subsequently from any of the numerous departments within Kirklees whose help I have sought. I have used virtually every avenue of appeal: nobody in the council is listening. Even local councillor, Vivien Lees-Hamilton, has made representations but all her protests have been met with indifference. Can anyone help?
Stewart Moxon, by email

Helen Dolphin replies:
This is a very troubling story, and I’ll try to answer each of your points. First, since you say that your step-father has difficulty walking and only uses his Blue Badge to go to the hospital, I suggest you ask his doctor if he qualifies for hospital transport, but only do this if he really doesn’t use a badge for anything else.

You ask why someone from the council cannot visit you at home when visits are made to non-disabled people for other reasons. This is probably because Blue Badges are for people to get out and about. The council therefore assumes that your stepfather is more mobile than he actually is. (But not all councils ask all Blue Badge applicants to attend an assessment.)

To have to take your disabled mother with you simply so you can park is ludicrous. The council needs to make provision for people attending appointments to be able to use their Blue Badges. I understand the need for councils to ask for expired badges to be returned but it is silly to expect people to bring their badges with them and then get a parking ticket.

I find what happened next with the traffic warden repugnant, especially if he could see you were struggling. I would like to know why he gave you a ticket and, if you have appealed, what the outcome was. If the council rejects your formal representation, you can appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, telephone: 0161 242 5252. Good luck.