If you used to get old style ESA

There are 2 types of old style ESA - they’re called ‘income-related ESA’ and ‘contribution-based ESA’.

Income-related ESA has ended for most people. 

Contribution-based ESA is now called 'new style ESA’. If you used to get contribution-based ESA, your benefit will continue as new style ESA.

If you used to get old style ESA, there are still things you can do. These include:

• checking if you should have been getting a disability premium 

• challenging a decision - for example, if your ESA was stopped or reduced

Check which type of ESA you were getting

You might have got income-related ESA if all of the following apply:

• you had no income or a low income

• you had less than £16,000 in savings

• a partner you lived with worked less than 24 hours a week

• you were not 'subject to immigration control'

You might have got contribution-based ESA if you’d paid enough National Insurance contributions. If you were getting contribution-based ESA, you might have been able to add income-based ESA to it.

If you’re not sure what you were getting, you can check your old letters or ask the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). You can:

• write to the address on your ESA letters

• call Jobcentre Plus

Work you could do while getting old style ESA

You might have been able to do some types of work while getting income-related or contribution-based ESA.

These types of work included:

• paid work within specific earning limits, called ‘permitted work’

• domestic work in their own home, for example cooking or cleaning

• volunteering for a charity or voluntary organisation

• caring for a relative or getting paid to care for someone else who lived with them, for example as a foster carer

• a government-approved work placement - unpaid practical work experience with an employer

• the ‘test trading scheme’ which helped people become self-employed

• working as a councillor

• working as a member of a First-tier Tribunal for HM Courts and Tribunals Service - this could be up to 1 full day or 2 half days a week

• emergency work to protect someone or prevent serious damage to property or livestock

Your work didn't have to be unpaid, but if you were on income-related ESA and you earned money, it might have affected your ESA payments. If you earned more than the permitted work higher limit, your ESA claim would usually have ended.

Work your partner could do while you were getting ESA

The work your partner could do depended on the type of ESA you got.

Check you were getting the right amount of income-related ESA 

If you got income-related ESA you might have been entitled to extra money on top of your standard monthly payment. Depending on your circumstances, you might have been able to get 1 or both of the following:

• the enhanced disability premium (EDP) 

• the severe disability premium (SDP) 

Check if you should have got the enhanced disability premium (EDP)

You should have received the EDP if you or your partner got any of the following:

• the ESA support component

• the enhanced rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

• the highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

• Armed Forces Independence Payment

• the enhanced rate of the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment

• the highest rate care component of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance

• Pension Age Disability Payment

You wouldn’t have received the EDP if your partner had reached State Pension age. You can check your partner’s State Pension age on GOV.UK.

The amount of EDP you would have received depends on the rate at the time you became eligible.

For the 2025 to 2026 tax year, you would have been entitled to:

• £21.20 a week - if you didn't live with a partner

• £30.25 a week - if you lived with a partner 

Check if you should have got the severe disability premium (SDP)

You might have been entitled to the SDP if you, and your partner if you had one, got any of the following:

• the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of PIP

• the middle or highest rate of the care component of DLA

• Armed Forces Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance or Pension Age Disability Payment

• Constant Attendance Allowance

• the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment

• the middle or highest rate of the care component of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance

These are called ‘qualifying benefits’.

You wouldn't have got the SDP if someone received Carer’s Allowance, Carer Support Payment or the carer element of Universal Credit for looking after you.

If you lived with a partner or anyone aged 18 or over, you could usually only get the SDP if they either:

• got a qualifying benefit

• were certified blind or severely sight impaired

The amount of SDP you would have received depends on the rate at the time you became eligible.

For the 2025 to 2026 tax year, you would have been entitled to:

• £82.90 a week - if you were the only person getting the SDP

• £165.80 a week - if you lived with a partner and you both qualified for the SDP

Ask the DWP to add a premium to an old ESA claim

If you should have been getting a disability premium but didn't, the DWP might have underpaid your ESA.

If you think you should have got a premium, you can ask the DWP to add it to your old ESA claim. You can:

• write to the address on one of your old ESA letters

• call Jobcentre Plus

If you applied for PIP before you moved from ESA to Universal Credit

You might be able to get a disability premium if you're awarded PIP for the time you were on ESA. If this happens, the DWP should pay you the money you missed.

Getting a backdated PIP award might also mean you can get an extra amount in your Universal Credit.

You can check what extra money and help PIP entitles you to.

Challenging an ESA decision

You can still challenge or appeal a decision about your income-related or contribution-based ESA. For example, if:

• the amount you got wasn’t correct

• your ESA stopped when it shouldn't have

If the DWP said you had an overpayment of ESA

The DWP might have stopped or reduced your ESA because they were taking back an overpayment.

The DWP should only have reduced your ESA if you:

• gave wrong information when you applied or while you were getting ESA

• didn’t report a change of circumstances which would have affected your ESA

If you gave the correct information and reported any changes, you might not have to pay the money back.

You can check how to challenge an ESA decision.

Check you’re claiming all the benefits you’re entitled to

You can check what benefits and extra help you could get.