Historic Money owed.

Minesh15

Hi everyone.

In 2007 I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I claimed esa and dla. In 2010 I got a letter from dwp stating I was owed £6000 for something called a disability premium because I claimed the higher rate of esa and dla. I was unwell that when the letter came, the paranoid part of my illness led me to believe that with the money someone was going to kill me for it, so I refused to take it. Now that I'm getting better(only in the last month) I am starting to remember a lot of things that I blocked out. I never did claim this money. The most disappointing thing is that dwp never even questioned it. The person on the phone said "if you don't want it then that's fine it's up to you". Putting the disregard by dwp aside. Is there any way for me to get the money. Just to reiterate it was my illness that made me refuse.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Minesh15, welcome to the community 😊

I'm not too sure whether they'd be able to reinstate the money if you've already refused it, and also because it's been quite a while since it happened. But it may be worth seeing if you can speak to someone at the DWP about it and explain your situation to see what they say. They'd probably be the best people to advise whether you'd be able to claim some money back.

For ESA the number is usually:

Jobcentre Plus

Telephone: 0800 169 0310