Hi, my name is Francesca99! Severe disability benefit and carers?? Are they allowed?

Francesca99

hi everyone.
i am trying to understand the severe disability rules. I am disabled and receive pip.
I live alone  council house, I have a room for a carer to stay the night if need( allowed by the council).
my daughter and son take turns caring for me and for their father( who lives miles away in disability bungalow).
no one claims any carers allowances.
my son and daughter are autistic and are in receipt of pip themselves.
 The reason I was given for not being entitled to severe disability benefit is that they are both registered  with DWP for universal credit, from my address. 
They stated many times on journals and call appointments with the jobcentre, that this was a care of/ contact address as they are both looking for suitable housing for themselves. There is nothing available and they are registered with social housing and have stated to them that they have no permanent address. 
  I have now been referred back to esa to be reassessed .
i have been in the support group since 2016. 
I had such s terrible phone call with esa where the woman talking over me insisted that all my adult children still lived with me as I failed to notify them when someone moved out. 
i then tried to appeal last week and suddenly got a mandatory reconsideration notice, yesterday which stated I have adults registered at my address and I have no proof that they live else where ( such as tenancy agreement or-council tax bill etc), which is true . This is because they are waiting to be housed ?
  Does anyone know the law and can help me please ?

thankyou in advance x

Francesca99!
 

bg844

Just for clarity here, you and both of your children receive PIP and no one receives CA? Is your ESA still in payment?

Just to add, when you call any DWP benefit you are actually speaking to an outsourced call centre who have very limited knowledge of the benefit system. Just to give you some re-assurance on that front.

Francesca99

Thanks for reply bg844
i am still receiving esa but I was only sent the mandatory reconsideration notice 2 days ago. 
They eventually awarded me severe disability from May 23 !
after trying to find out how to claim it. I was originally told by letter” you don’t need to claim severe disability benefit. It is awarded automatically if you are entitled “.. 
It was only when I asked Esa why I wasn’t getting the benefit, I was told that I had an adult living there. My daughter made a claim for UC in April, during lockdown, using my address as care of / contact.
this  can be verified as it was mentioned many times on their journal and phone call appointments too.esa told me to tell daughter to tell UC That her address is care off only. ( they already knew ) She wrote on journal again telling them about my esa call .
 Still,i heard nothing from severe disability. Time went on, many troubles and I was ill. Some months later I rang pip to ask “ how do I get severe disability benefit? Told guy on phone what had been happening and he told me to call esa and tell them that this needs to be addressed now!
1 week later, I got severe disability ( May 23). How strange to just suddenly get it. I wondered about all the years I should have got it. I contacted CAB. They told me to simply ask for it to be backdated.
i said this to Esa and had the most terrible nasty response . I got upset and said I felt like I was being talked to by a Nazi . She hung up. I was upset and confused. I rang back( each call was on hold 45 mins!). I got through and told the advisor what had happened and said I want to apologise to previous person for what I said.
i then got a letter saying they had awarded severe disability in error! As I have 2 adults registered with DWP from this address. 
I feel like I am under attack. Whilst on that last call, I asked about previous calls I had made to esa and was told that there was no record! I was shocked that there was no evidence and called them liars.yet on the MRnotice they just sent me... it’s as if they have played back the conversation We had. Forcing me to say dates I was certain of until I checked my letters. 
now I wish I could go back and Not follow CAB advice and Not request to be backdated because now I’ve started a nightmare

chiarieds

Hi @Francesca99 - are your children both in receipt of the daily living component of PIP?

Francesca99

Hi @ chiarieds.
yes, both children are in receipt f pip daily living components 

bg844

Then with both children in receipt of PIP daily living and no one claiming CA, you should be entitled to SDP (regardless of it being a letter-only address of your children, it doesn't matter that they claim UC) and have this backdated too. I know you received a letter stating it will automatically be applied but this doesn't always happen so is always worth a call to ESA to add this and request the backdate.

Francesca99

@bg844
Really? 
Thankyou and I don’t want to phone esa ever again.
It says on their letter, to appeal to tribunal, so I will do that now.
My daughter has received care component for 2 year and my son for nearly 1 year. I will have to get the dates they started .etc, for the appeal.
I feel I might have to get evidence from their journals to prove that they informed UC repeatedly, that my address was care of/ contact.
can journals be back tracked to the beginning ?
thanks for your help 

Jimm_Scope

Hi @Francesca99, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. In my past I've worked in call centres, not for the DWP thankfully, but I never understand how call handlers can ever be rude. I can understand callers being rude due to frustration (though it's rarely the call handlers fault to begin with and usually the organisation), but stories like yours really make me wonder why such people are in their position.

You've already received very good advice from some of our community members, which I greatly thank them for. 

How long have the had the journals for? If my knowledge of data retention requirements is correct the DWP should be storing those for years if not longer, if they are following policy of course.

I know you had a bad experience with CAB but have you tried reaching out to another organisation for direct adviser help? While Citizen's Advice is the most common result you can search your local area using Turn2Us - Advice Finder.