What can you get after having ESA for a year?

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I’ve had my esa for a full year and obviously you can only claim it for that long. I’m down around £400 a month without it. I still get PIP, child tax credits and child benefit though.

You may be able to apply for UC but depending on your circumstances you’d have to also look for work/work the hours required unless you get LCW/LCWRA

I would love to go back to work but unless it’s something I can sit down for 100% I can’t do it. I also can’t do any receptionist work cos I can’t answer telephones (deaf).

You can try to be assessed as LCW/LCWRA, which would reduce or in the latter case remove any need to look for work. It is hard to get LCWRA though.

Have you considered civil service jobs? They are mostly desk jobs and have adjustments plus hybrid working so may be an idea for you

Do you have a partner who works? If so, you won't get income related benefits unless your partner is on a very low wage. Your partner's income is counted as household income and it's assumed you have access to it.

Yes he works full time.

Minimum wage? Or more? Any savings, either if you?

Do you share income as a household, joint account etc? If not, you'll probably be better off long term to sort out your living situation as a single person so you can claim means tested benefits. As far as DWP is concerned, you're pooling resources, regardless of whether you actually are or not.

If you're too ill to work and he refuses to pool resources with you, that's financial abuse. If he doesn't want to live "as if you're married" then you need to live separately, because DWP doesn't acknowledge households where you're committed in terms of monogamy but not committed in terms of pooling resources financially. In DWP eyes, you're essentially married, even though legally you're not.

That doesn't mean you have to live alone. You could live with family or friends, these people aren't considered your household for benefits/income purposes. Only spouse/partner and dependent children is your household. Everyone else is financially separate households even if you live in the same property.

If you're looking at private rental you'll need to know the Local Housing Allowance for your area (Google it). Entitled To website can give you an idea if what you'd get in benefits. Input the hypothetical situation you'd hopefully be changing to, not the current situation you're in now (although you can do that too).

You can only get it for a year if you have LCW. You should be being reassessed to see if you now qualify for LCWRA in which case you can get ESA indefinitely.