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Basic facts

  • New-style employment and support allowance (ESA) is for people who are assessed as having limited capability for work because of their health or disability.
  • It is a non-means-tested contributory benefit.
  • Payment is limited to 365 days in some cases.
  • Part-time and full-time students can get new-style ESA if they have paid sufficient national insurance contributions.

2. Who is eligible

To qualify for new-style employment and support allowance (ESA), you must meet all the following conditions.1

You have limited capability for work (LCW – see here).

  • You are 16 or over and under pension age.
  • You have paid sufficient national insurance (NI) contributions. You must have paid class 1 contributions on earnings of at least the lower earnings limit in 26 weeks, which need not be consecutive, usually in one of the two complete tax years (6 April to 5 April) before the start of the benefit year (which runs from the first Sunday in January) in which you claim. You also must have paid or been credited with class 1 contributions on earnings of 50 times the lower earnings limit in these years. For example, you qualify if you claim ESA in 2026 and you paid contributions on earnings of £6,150 in each of the tax years April 2023 to April 2024 and April 2024 to April 2025, earning in one of the years £123 a week or more, for at least 26 weeks. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.
  • You are in Great Britain (although some absences are allowed, and new-style ESA can be paid in other countries in limited circumstances – see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for more details).
  • You are not entitled to statutory sick pay or new-style jobseeker’s allowance.
  • You are not working, although some ‘permitted work’ is allowed. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for more details.

New-style ESA is not means tested. To qualify, you must meet the conditions above. You can also claim it in order to get NI credits for LCW.

There are no special rules for students, so you can claim new-style ESA whether you study full time or part time, including if you are taking time out from your course because of ill health (see here).

Reference
References
  • 1

    s1 WRA 2007; reg 37 ESA Regs

Limited capability for work

One of the basic rules of entitlement to new-style ESA is that you must be assessed as having LCW. This means that your mental or physical health condition makes it unreasonable to require you to work. You are normally assessed at a medical, known as the ‘work capability assessment’. This also assesses whether you have limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA). If you are assessed as having both LCW and LCWRA, you are in the ‘support group’ and your new-style ESA includes an amount called a ‘support component’.

If you are assessed as only having LCW you are in the ‘work-related activity group’. You are expected to attend work-focused interviews and may be required to undertake work-related activity. If you do not do so, your benefit may be reduced. If your claim began before 3 April 2017, your ESA includes a ‘work-related activity component’. If it began on or after this date, it does not.

If you are assessed as not having LCW, you are not entitled to ESA. However, you can challenge this decision if you disagree with it (see here).

All students, unless they are in the support group, must take part in work-focused interviews and may have to undertake work-related activity as a condition of getting full benefit.1

Starting to study may prompt the DWP to call you for a reassessment, although this should not happen routinely. At the next assessment, your ability to perform the set activities is considered in the context of what you can do in a typical day, including your college or university routines. For example, you may be asked questions about your ability to get around campus, your ability to get to and from lectures, how long you can sit comfortably to study, or your ability to use a pen or a keyboard and mouse.

The questions you are asked depend on which of the set activities (such as standing and sitting, manual dexterity and understanding communication) are relevant to your condition.

See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for advice on medical examinations and what to do if you do not pass the assessment.

Example

Rachel (29) is getting new-style ESA that includes a support component. She starts a full-time course of study in August 2026. She continues to be eligible for new-style ESA, but she is called for a medical reassessment. Her condition is still the same; she remains in the support group and her new-style ESA continues.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Regs 54 and 63(1) ESA Regs

3. Amount of benefit

New-style employment and support allowance (ESA) is usually payable after seven ‘waiting days’. You are paid a limited amount of new-style ESA during an initial ‘assessment phase’. In most cases, this lasts 13 weeks. After this, you may then be paid more in the ‘main phase’ (see below).

New-style ESA is worked out as follows.

In the assessment phase, you get a basic allowance of new-style ESA, based on your age. Once you have been assessed, you move into the main phase (usually from 13 weeks after your award started).

In the main phase, if you are in the support group, you get a support component of £50.35 a week. If you are in the work-related activity group and you claimed before 3 April 2017, you get a work-related activity component of £37.95 a week. If you claimed on or after 3 April 2017, no work-related activity component can be added. The component, if applicable, is added to the basic allowance.

You may get a reduced amount of new-style ESA if you have certain pension payments. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

Weekly rate from April 20261
Assessment phase, basic allowance (under 25)£75.65
Assessment phase, basic allowance (25 or over)£95.55
Main phase, basic allowance (under 25)£95.55
Main phase, basic allowance (25 or over)£95.55
Main phase, support component£50.35
Main phase, work-related activity component (claims before 3 April 2017 only)£37.95

New-style ESA is paid for up to a year if you are in the work-related activity group, or indefinitely if you are in the support group.

Reference
References
  • 1

    s2 WRA 2007; reg 62 ESA Regs

4. Claiming new-style employment and support allowance

Check how to claim new-style employment and support allowance (ESA) at gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/how-to-claim.

You claim new-style ESA for yourself only.

You are usually interviewed after you claim. You must provide medical certificates from your GP (or similar) until you are assessed under the work capability assessment.

Claims for new-style ESA can be backdated for up to three months if you met the conditions during that time (you don’t need a reason for a late claim).

5. Challenging a decision

If you think a decision about your new-style employment and support allowance is wrong, you can ask the DWP to look at it again. This process is known as a ‘mandatory reconsideration’. Provided you ask within the time limit (usually one month), the DWP notifies you of the decision in a ‘mandatory reconsideration notice’. If you are still not happy when you get this notice, you can appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. If it was not possible to ask the DWP to reconsider the decision within a month, you can ask for a late revision (within 13 months), explaining why it is late. You can also ask the DWP to look at a decision again at any time if certain grounds are met – eg, if there has been an official error.

6. Other benefits

You cannot get new-style employment and support allowance (ESA) if you are getting statutory sick pay (SSP) from an employer.1 SSP runs out after 28 weeks, after which you can claim new-style ESA.

You can claim new-style ESA and have this topped up by universal credit. You cannot get new-style ESA if you are getting new-style jobseeker’s allowance.2

New-style ESA is taken into account when calculating whether the benefit cap applies, unless you or your partner get a support component in your new-style ESA. If this is the case, you are exempt from the benefit cap (see here and here).

Reference
References
  • 1

    s20 WRA 2007

  • 2

    s1(3)(f) WRA 2007

1. What are health benefits

There are charges for some NHS treatments and services including:

  • glasses and contact lenses;
  • dental treatment.

There are also often costs incurred in getting to hospital. You may be exempt from these charges or be able to claim help with them on low income grounds.1

There is no charge for NHS eye and dental checks, or for prescriptions. Note: if you have an English prescription form there may be a charge, but there are exemptions.2

Reference
References
  • 1

    NHS(TERC)(S) Regs, as amended (most recently in 2021 by SI No.241); The National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1998 No.642, as amended (most recently in 2024 by SI No.38); The National Health Service (Free Prescriptions and Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 No.55, as amended (most recently in 2024 by SI No.233); The National Health Service (Dental Charges) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 No.158, as amended (most recently in 2011 by SI No.168)

  • 2

    Reg 4 The National Health Service (Free Prescriptions and Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 No.55, as amended (most recently in 2024 by SI No.233)