While you’re on Employment Support Allowance (ESA), it’s important to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if there are changes to your:

• health condition
• work
• money
• family life
• education – you only need to tell the DWP about this if you get income-related ESA

Any changes might affect how much ESA you should get or which group you’re placed in. When you reach State Pension age, the DWP should stop your ESA automatically. If they don’t stop your ESA, contact them and make sure they know you’ve reached State Pension age. You can check your State Pension age on GOV.UK.

Telling the DWP about a change

Tell the DWP about any changes by calling Jobcentre Plus. When you get in touch, they’ll ask for your:

• full name
• date of birth
• National Insurance number

If the DWP tells you to move to Universal Credit

If you’re getting income-related or contribution-based ESA and your circumstances change, the DWP might tell you to claim Universal Credit instead. You should contact us first. Moving to Universal Credit could mean you’ll be worse off. You also won’t be able to go back onto ESA.

If you’ve been told to claim Universal Credit by a certain date

The Department for Work and Pensions are stopping some people’s benefits and telling them to claim Universal Credit instead. If you get a letter telling you to claim Universal Credit by a certain deadline, this is a ‘migration notice’. You should claim Universal Credit by the deadline in the migration notice. Your old benefits will stop after the deadline. You might miss out on some money if you apply after the deadline. Check what you should do if you get a migration notice.

Tell the DWP within 1 month

You should tell the DWP about a change within 1 month of it happening, unless you have a good reason – for example if you:

• are in hospital
• are coping with a bereavement
• have a family emergency

If you have a good reason to tell the DWP late, you have up to 13 months to tell them.

If your ESA payments go up

If a change means your ESA payments will go up, you’ll receive a backdated payment to when the change happened. This will only happen if you tell the DWP on time or have a good reason to tell them late. If you tell them late without a good reason, your payment will change from the date you told them.

If you think your ESA payments will go down

You should still tell the DWP even if you think a change might make your ESA payments go down. You won’t save money by reporting it later. The DWP will backdate the payments to when the change happened, not when you tell them about it. If you tell the DWP late you’ll be paid too much ESA and have to pay it back. This is called an ‘overpayment’. You might also have to pay a penalty. Find out how the DWP deals with overpayments.

Changes you need to report

If you’re not sure whether the DWP needs to know something, it’s best to tell them anyway. There are some changes you should always tell the DWP about.

If you get income-related ESA

If you’re getting income-related ESA, it’s important to tell the DWP if you:

• start living with someone
• have someone come to live in your house
• get married or divorced
• form or dissolve a civil partnership
• someone close to you dies – for example your partner or someone you care for
• start or stop education

You must also tell the DWP about any changes to the money coming into or going out of your household. This includes money from:

• benefits
• pensions
• work

If you don’t report a change

If you don’t tell the DWP about a change even though you know you should, it could be fraud. If the DWP says you’ve committed fraud, you should get legal advice.