Are you one of the 70000 ESA claimants the DWP owes money

[lankou]

From Benefits and Work, far more at link:-

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/4173-exclusive-dwp-has-saved-over-75-million-by-losing-70-000-esa-underpayment-claimants

Exclusive: DWP has saved over £75 million by losing 70,000 ESA underpayment claimants
Category: Latest news
 Created: 18 February 2020
The DWP has closed the cases of 70,000 employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants it was attempting to contact about possible underpayments because it has lost track of them, a Freedom of Information request by Benefits and Work has revealed. The department will save over £75 million in arears payments as a result.

[Monic1511]

This will be the people who were in receipt of DLA middle rate or high rate care and were transferred from Severe disablement allowance (SDA)or Incapacity Benefit onto ESA.   Many were transferred onto ESA support group which was classed as contribution based, the additional disability and severe disability premiums were not paid and since now one told the person they were due additional money it was never paid.

By extension if you were only on contribution based benefits you were often charged rent but if you got the disability premium then you got income related benefit and had full housing benefit.

better stop ranting but this gets on my nerves that the poorest in society are fleeced by successive governments >steam<

[JLR2]

Morning Monic, I was on DLA middle rate or high rate care and so far as I know I still am as the payments are still going into my bank account so I'm unsure if my ESA support group payments are actually less than they should be and worried that even if they are to start asking the DWP questions in relation to my benefit claim would see them claim this is reason enough to constitute a change of circumstances and bring about the compelling of my claim being moved to Universal Credit.

[Monic1511]

Hi JLR2

If you are on ESA support group and its contribution based then your weekly amount should be
basic rate £73.10
Support Group £38.55
total con based esa £111.65

Because you get middle rate care and no one claims carers allowance for you and you live alone then you are due the severe disability premium of £65.85, this means your weekly ESA should be £177.50 paid fortnightly at £355.00

If you receive any works pensions or have savings over £6000 then the £177.50 might be reduced
I think you bought your house so wont be getting housing benefit but what you need to do is ask ESA if you are being paid the SDP as you have been entitled to this since you live alone and get DLA MR care.

This is not a change that would trigger a move to UC, by getting the SDP included in your ESA you would stop any managed migration to UC when it eventually happens.

The only changes that would trigger a UC claim would be
A move to another local authority area requiring a claim for housing benefit
Being found fit for work and your ESA claim being closed - so cured after a visit to the Glasgow Lourdes offices
A partner not on ESA SDP joining your household
A child joining the household requiring a claim to child tax credits would mean a claim to UC

So unless you have any of those changes in the pipeline all you need to do is obtain an ESA3 form from DWP.
This is not a new claim to ESA but you are asking the DWP to check and reconsider the original decision to only pay you contribution based ESA as your due some income related ESA.

I hope that's clear as this can be awkward to explain online

[JLR2]

Thanks for the info Monic. I've just looked at my rates from April 2019 and according to them I'll be on £194pw.

If I'm understanding what I'm reading I'm being paid the severe disablement monies and something called the disability income guarantee along with extra money because I'm in the support group. I think I'm probably receiving my full benefit entitlements and from what I have heard through the news on the BBC regarding folk being moved from ESA onto UC the level of my benefits should be maintained through the passporting system. As usual I'll just have to wait and see what'll happen when the DWP gets around to moving folk in my situation onto UC, and then panic >yikes<

[SteveX]

I find it amusing they can so easily "lose track" of people they owe, you can bet all the tea in china that they wouldn't "lose track" if the claimants owed them!

[Monic1511]

Hi

Thanks for the info Monic. I've just looked at my rates from April 2019 and according to them I'll be on £194pw.

If I'm understanding what I'm reading I'm being paid the severe disablement monies and something called the disability income guarantee along with extra money because I'm in the support group. I think I'm probably receiving my full benefit entitlements and from what I have heard through the news on the BBC regarding folk being moved from ESA onto UC the level of my benefits should be maintained through the passporting system. As usual I'll just have to wait and see what'll happen when the DWP gets around to moving folk in my situation onto UC, and then panic


You are one of the people who will not be moved onto UC as you are receiving the SDP and DP monies, there would have to be another change in legislation and the government has lost the last 3 cases its has taken to court re disability premiums.

If the DWP moved you onto UC they call it "managed migration" and in that situation there is "transitional protection" so your money wont reduce, if you made a new claim to UC (called natural migration by DWP) then there is no transitional protection and your money would drop significantly.

Losing track of people is in my opinion another phrase for deceased or no longer working or claiming anything, if your national insurance number is active they can find you if they want.

 >dove<
Monic

[JLR2]

Monic, I'd love to be able to count on what you were saying in your posting there but I think I'll still be nervous of any DWP mail I get. The other issue I'm unsure about is how the roll out of UC will be completed as intended by the DWP by the end of 2024 without folk in my situation being moved to UC.

[Monic1511]

Since UC was meant to have been finished by 2017 I’m not counting on dwp being able to do much, the minister in charge wants them to get a move on as only 13 managed migrations have been completed so far.

If there’s independence then the snp have said they ain’t keeping uc either  >erm<

[JLR2]

"If there’s independence then the snp have said they ain’t keeping uc either   >erm<"

It might be an idea for the SNP to make clear any closure of the UC system will only be able to be completed when a new welfare benefit system is ready for implementation. It could be that in the interim an independent Scottish government (of whatever colour) brings or introduces its new system gradually but continues with the UC system in part but having removed much of the poverty inducing aspects, for example the 5 week delay in receiving due benefits.

 

[Monic1511]

This is slightly off subject but the Scottish government legislation writers have not written in any appeal rights into the Scottish version of pip and aa which is concerning as a WRO. When this was pointed out to ministers they’re argument was that they would always make the right decision because they’d ask the persons own gp >doh<
What about all the folk who don’t see Gp and if the gp has the wrong idea of disability then they’re also stuffed. 

I wish the Scottish government wasn’t so blinkered to think that just cos they’re Scottish they don’t make mistakes  >steam<

[JLR2]

".....because they’d ask the persons own gp"

Heck, it only took me as long as it did to read that line to know  I've heard the argument put forward by the DWP in IDS's time there that they, the DWP, would be seeking other sources of proof of a claimant's disability(s) as making the awarding of disability benefits being solely dependent on a claimant's GP could see GPs facing threats from would be claimants should they not provide whatever was required for a claimant to gain access to these benefits. It is an argument I can understand, however I do feel a claimant's GP should have their knowledge of their patient's health and disability taken into account by the DWP when making when its decisions regarding benefit awards.

[Monic1511]

As a WRO my concern is that a GP's definition of care is not that of the DWP or the tribunal service.  If you ask a GP or Nurse if a person requires care they assume you mean home helps or carers going into the property X number of times per week.  They don't mean that the person has to be nagged into eating, washing, dressing taking meds etc.

Also GP's are over worked and under resourced as it is without being asked to complete the equivalent of a PIP assessment for NHS Scotland.  If you every read a ESA113 (report from a GP) re a persons ability to work they are often blank as the patient doesn't disclose to the GP the answers to each descriptor.   One judge I recall refused to believe the claimants report on seizure frequency because there were no visits to the GP in the last 3 months yet client was saying at least 3 seizures per day, I agreed he was having the seizures but he hadn't sought any treatment in years which undermined the "I want to get better " argument. 

[On the edge]

I came across an issue recently where a couple living together and one partner was asked to complete the ESA form as an 'update'  Contained on the form was a demand to include the partner's complete bank statements going back 4 years.  The partner and the bank challenged the DWP's right to that and succeeded on the basis although they are cohabiting the individual's bank account is at the behest of the owner of that account not an unmarried partner and the DWP had no right of access to it. The sting in the tail was the DWP then saying we will deny the claimant ESA unless they do, again the CAB legal dept said the DWP cannot do that either its illegal. So you DON't need to give the DWP all your family accounts at all unless they are married? and why penalise claimants because they are?