Claiming IR esa if partner has spouse visa

[aligbutt1]

Hello everyone,

My wife currently receives esa(ir) £132.50 per week. I recently got a leave to remain as spouse of British citizen with no recourse to public funds. We are living together from last 1 year. When we got married we informed dwp about the changes in circumstances. At that time, the dwp asked for my details and sent us a form for me to get my details. The dwp said they would recalculate my wife's entitlement as she has a partner now but I did not have my visa with me at that time because i had to apply for LTR as spouse before my tier 4 got expired. We gave all other documents except visa. They didn't change my wife's entitlement because they needed to see my visa. However, after waiting for 11 months i got my spouse visa. Now, we contacted dwp again and provided my visa but they are refusing to pay backdated money and changing my wife's entitlement as my visa says no recourse to public funds. My point is that im not the one who is claiming esa but my wife. Im just her partner. I need to know if we are allowed to get esa as a couple or not?

[drdh4]

hi,

ESA couple rate, £114 is for both of you. If you do not have Settled status then DWP can not pay you. Even if they pay you (by mistake) they need your NI to re-assess/process via 'ESA3 form' and, it will show on national database (CIS), where all the government agencies have access to!

so, if your visa says 'no recourse to public funds' means no. don't risk you future visa applications.