My ESA payment reduced

Sofia123

Hello all, I recieved my ESA payment today shortly after midnight, but instead of getting £209 every fortnight, DWP payed me £201.85 today. My mum who also gets ESA got no reduction. What should I do and is there an explanation for this?

Regards

life

Could be money you owe. call them when they open today.

Sofia123

life said:

Could be money you owe. call them when they open today.

I haven't borrowed anything from DWP though and have zero debt, aside from  paying off my late dad's re-mortgage loan myself. I will call them.

Sofia123

I rang the ESA department but they made me wait on an automated message for over an hour and in the end I just hung up as i have chores to do. The bot however said that my next ESA payment would be £230. However there was no mention of why I was paid £201 today instead of £209. 

poppy123456

I couldn't work out why your ESA was £209/fortnight until a looked back at previous threads and realised you're claiming carers allowance for looking after your mum so that payment makes sense.

Sofia123 said:

I rang the ESA department but they made me wait on an automated message for over an hour and in the end I just hung up as i have chores to do. The bot however said that my next ESA payment would be £230. However there was no mention of why I was paid £201 today instead of £209. 

With the April increase of 10.1% your ESA will increase to £115.05/week so the information for your next payment is correct. The automated payment line will not gave details of your payment today or why it was reduced.

The best time to ring them is as soon as they open.

Sofia123

poppy123456 said:

I couldn't work out why your ESA was £209/fortnight until a looked back at previous threads and realised you're claiming carers allowance for looking after your mum so that payment makes sense.

Sofia123 said:

I rang the ESA department but they made me wait on an automated message for over an hour and in the end I just hung up as i have chores to do. The bot however said that my next ESA payment would be £230. However there was no mention of why I was paid £201 today instead of £209. 

With the April increase of 10.1% your ESA will increase to £115.05/week so the information for your next payment is correct. The automated payment line will not gave details of your payment today or why it was reduced.

The best time to ring them is as soon as they open.

Thanks for the insight, poppy. My mum got her PIP payment after midnight, but was paid £632 instead of her usual £627. Any idea on why DWP algorithm has been giving out odd payments, as in my case I got a reduced ESA, while my mum got a higher PIP?

Regards 

poppy123456

Before the increase PIP Enhanced for both parts was £617 every 4 weeks, not £627. It will be because of the increase, although that increased amount isn't doesn't even amount to a daily rate. If it did her payment should have been something like £640.

My daughter had her PIP yesterday and she received £1.50 more than usually, which makes no sense. All i can say is, it can only be a good thing that they received a little more than usual. Next months payment will be for the full increase. For your mum it should be £679.40.

Sofia123

poppy123456 said:

Before the increase PIP Enhanced for both parts was £617 every 4 weeks, not £627. It will be because of the increase, although that increased amount isn't doesn't even amount to a daily rate. If it did her payment should have been something like £640.

My daughter had her PIP yesterday and she received £1.50 more than usually, which makes no sense. All i can say is, it can only be a good thing that they received a little more than usual. Next months payment will be for the full increase. For your mum it should be £679.40.

No, my mum has been getting paid exactly £627.60 every month for enhanced PIP. My late dad recieved a letter before he died saying the PIP amount had gone up previously. I have checked her bank account and scrolling back to last year, she has been getting paid £627.60. But this one payment she recieved £632. I thought it was strange as my own ESA had been reduced. Btw must we inform DWP about the increase? Because failure to report an overpayment may mean they could claim it back...

poppy123456

My apologies, the old rate for Enhanced for both parts is indeed £627.60/ 4 weekly. I have no idea why I said £617 but it was rather early this morning 😂

For the increase she had this week I have no idea how exactly they worked that out but there’s no need to ring to tell them. As I said my daughters was also slightly more than usual. 

poppy123456

This same issue came up in another thread where the persons ESA payment was reduced slightly. This member claims carers allowance. 

Do you receive your carers allowance as a weekly payment by any chance? If you do then weekly carers allowance payments are paid in advance, not in arrears. 

The deduction of 7.05 is the amount that carers allowance increased by from 10th April so for this reason it now makes sense why your ESA amount was reduced. 

You won’t be any worse off because you will receive carers allowance of £76.75 this week. 

Sofia123

poppy123456 said:

This same issue came up in another thread where the persons ESA payment was reduced slightly. This member claims carers allowance. 

Do you receive your carers allowance as a weekly payment by any chance? If you do then weekly carers allowance payments are paid in advance, not in arrears. 

The deduction of 7.05 is the amount that carers allowance increased by from 10th April so for this reason it now makes sense why your ESA amount was reduced. 

You won’t be any worse off because you will receive carers allowance of £76.75 this week. 

Thanks for your post poppy. I don't get paid CA weekly. I get paid once a month in arrears which is £278.80 atm. 

poppy123456

Then it will be every 4 weeks, not monthly. This means it's paid 3 weeks in arrears and 1 week in advance. My carers allowance is also paid every 4 weeks. My payment this week was due on Monday 10th (paid 6th April because of Easter) and is usually the same as yours but this week it was £285.85, which is £7.05 more than usual.

This makes sense with the decrease of your ESA by the same amount.