We've put up a free benefits calculator on the Ferret website (link at the bottom of this post) that might be interesting for those wondering about the impact / differences between ESA and the current benefits. It's particularly useful around the HB /CTB consequences.

Any errors / bugs / queries please let me or David Palmer know.

ESA Helper

A preliminary (beta) implementation of Means-tested Employment and Support Allowance (MESA), and consequential changes to HB/CTB.

For modelling purposes only - not for use with real cases (we can't take any liability for non-commercial systems)!

The program help has not yet been updated to reflect ESA changes, and there is currently no help with ESA-specific questions.

This implementation does not consider MESA for pension-age households - rather it assesses GPC/SPC. There appear to be no circumstances whereby a household would sensibly claim MESA in preference to Pension Credit.

Either IS or JSA are shown alongside any MESA, to facilitate comparisons. This is deliberate, not an error.

HB/CTB are always shown as not-passported i.e. their means-test is always done even if some GPC/IS/JSA/MESA is payable. This is deliberate, not an error.

Some example cases (taken from A11-2008.pdf - HB/CTB A11/2008 Circular) are included and may be found in a "ESA Helper Cases" folder in your "My Documents" folder.

The "Example n" cases correspond to those in Appendix B of the Circular; those named "Body example n" correspond to those in the body of the Circular. There are also some other sample cases.

Feedback welcome, to dpalmer@ferret.co.uk

Download from http://www.ferret.co.uk