Hi All,
Just thought that I would share a snippet of useful information which I gained yesterday.
I have worked since leaving school, visited my doctors maybe 4 times in my adult lifetime, so when I suffered a stroke in April this year, I was introduced to a whole new life, but thats another story.
My Statutory Sick Pay from the Government through my employer recently stopped, so I lost the £92 a week for it. I contacted DWP as advised and was informed that the area which I live in is a Universal Credit area and I should apply online, create an account and complete it all online. I was given instructions on how to do this. Luckily for me I had only partly completed the online journal/claim.
I had been discussing this with a friend elsewhere in the country, who also has an illness which has stopped them from working. The friend said not to claim Universal Credit as it is income based, my partner works and I have a sickness insurance policy, this would put me over their limit, but instead to contact DWP and ask to apply for "New Style ESA - Contribution based" this is not income based, but based upon NI contributions for the previous 2 years. I have been in contact with the DWP and spoken to a lovely lady, who gave me great advice and I am now awaiting an apointment at the local Job Centre to apply for this.
Had I applied for Universal Credit this would have delayed and made it very difficult to claim the New Style ESA. So if anyone's in the same position, claim New Style ESA first, you can then still claim Universal Credit apparently.
Hoope this helpful to someone who might be new to the whole system like me. 