Do UC and ESA talk to each other?

[Bridget57]

I'm in receipt of UC and am also in the Support Group for Contributions based ESA and have been receiving both for the last 5 years. I've recently lost a close family member and am due to inherit approximately 30k. I completely understand that I will immediately have to notify UC when the money arrives in my account and that I will no longer be eligible to claim UC. Instead, I will use this money to live off for the next few years. However, do I have to notify ESA as, from my understanding, the type of ESA I receive is not means tested. I wondered whether UC will contact ESA and notify them that I no longer claim UC as they deduct my ESA payment from UC every month and am nervous that if they do this, then ESA will also close my claim without checking with me first the reason why UC have closed my claim. I am absolutely terrified that ESA will close my claim by mistake if UC contact them. I tried to phone ESA this week and after holding on for over 45 minutes they just told me that my ESA is contributions based. I also claim PIP and this has recently been reviewed and awarded for another 3 years. I know I don't have to inform PIP of the inheritance but my ESA is also up for review in July and I don't want to rock the boat with them, or for UC to cause me problems with ESA. Thanks.

No they don't really speak to each other as two different departments. As you say the type of ESA you are claiming is not means tested so even with that inheritance you can continue to claim it. They would not just claim a contributions based claim because it can be claimed even with hundreds of thousands in the bank.
I would also make sure you keep receipts for any larger ticket items so that when you need to claim UC again they can't quibble over where the inheritance has gone and how long it should last for.

Thank you for the reply. I've got to pay off a couple of small loans and then I'm hoping I can get through the next 3 or 4 years with the inheritance and pip and esa. I don't intend to make any big purchases just use the money to live off. My main worry was that UC would notify ESA that my claim is now closed and ESA would just assume it was because I was better and maybe had got a job and would close my ESA claim. I know it sounds far fetched but they've made terrible mistakes in the past with my claim e.g. I was interviewed at home by an assessor and work coach at the start of my claim. I was told at the time the assessors report would recommend I was put in the Support Group. Months later I still hadn't heard anything and so contacted the job centre and was informed someone had mistakenly deleted the assessors report and they had to send another assessor round to my house to carry out the assessment again. It's been an absolute nightmare and I just wanted to avoid another problem with ESA.