1. What is income-related ESA?
Income-related employment
and support allowance (ESA) is the means-tested element of ESA, the benefit paid to people whose ability to work is limited by either ill health or disability (see
Chapter 11).
Income-related ESA is being replaced by universal credit. It is not possible to make a new claim for income-related ESA, although an award of contributory ESA can be adjusted to include income-related ESA. If you are already getting income-related ESA, at some point you will be invited to claim universal credit instead (see
Box E.1 in Chapter 14). See
Section E for more on universal credit.
Income-related ESA provides for basic living expenses for you and your partner, if you have one. It can be paid on its own if you have no other income, or it can top up contributory ESA (see
5 below and
Chapter 11(13) -
(22)).