why wasnt I given the income top up or advised?

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: ESA.

Lozzza_333

Hi all, Im new and in need of some advice please. 
I have been claiming contribution ESA since 2016. I was living with a partner in full time work. In 2017 I my partner moved out and I informed in writing housing benefit, tax credits and ESA. My HB and tax credits changed, my ESA stayed the same which I assumed was the correct amount. 

In 2019 I called ESA to query if I was on the right benefit (it is logged on their system) as I was low income but having to pay dental work and prescriptions. It wasn't making sense to me. 
The advisor ask me some questions ‘any other incomes in the household’, ‘do you have savings?’etc I answered no. He advised I was on the correct benefit but if I want to ask them to look over the past paperwork etc I can. I trusted his advice so said it was not necessary. I asked if i could come off contribution based and he said no one has ever asked to give this benefit up. So he sort of made it sound important lol. So I left it as I was.

Fast forward to now. I have been doing some on off reading regarding income based ESA and top ups. I feel thats what I should have been given advice on. I have also just been awarded PIP. I called ESA to query the disability element to be added but they said Im not entitled. I requested a call back to highlight my call in 2019 and asked why I wasnt given the income top up or advised. She said they didnt receive any notification of change (partner moving out). All the other benefits did (on record). 
I said regardless of you not receiving it, I called up in 2019 to query if I was on the right benefit and was given advice based on my circumstances. She said there was no record of what was said but it does say i called with this query. Surely it’s obvious the advisor would need to ask me my current circumstances in order to give me the correct advice? 
She said it didn’t matter because they couldn’t have added the income related top anyway. It would have been through UC. 

From what Ive been reading, it seems they could add it as I am on an old style contribution based so can be superseeded to income based? Is this right? 
Where do I stand here? 
I have asked to speak to a manager but they are refusing to talk to me and the advisor is also refusing to give me the managers name. 
Im sure UC wasnt in my area at the time and I still havent been asked to merge over. I am in receipt of child tax credits, C ESA and PIP. 
Thank you so much for reading and any advice. 

Lozzza_333

hi All so since my last telephone call with ESA, my payment on my bank statement looks different. I will attach the difference but block any personal info. Im worried they are playing with me now. 

Lozzza_333

this is how my payments have looked for years

Lozzza_333

this is how it looks this week following my recent telephone dispute

poppy123456

The JSA  FP (fast payment) just means that it was paid manually, rather than automatically as a BACS payment, it doesn't mean anything other than that. When this happens there's always JSA next to it. Your next payment, if it's BACS will have the usual EESA next to it.

poppy123456

My last comment on the other thread for you was this..

You don’t need to ask for a supersession. Before they can award the top up you will need to be assessed. For that to happen you will need to ask them to send you the ESA3 form. You will need to fill that out and return it. 

Lozzza_333

thats great, thank you for all your advice. Im going to call them first thing tomorrow. If they refuse like last week, should I ask to speak to a manager (again)

poppy123456

You can ring them and ask if a case manager can ring you but I'm still not 100% certain which ESA it is you're claiming. For this reason I'd advise you to get some expert advice, take your ESA award letter with you and they maybe able to tell you which ESA you're actually claiming.