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I’m owed money by UC because they mucked up

Charlongo

I had to migrate over to UC from ESS in December last year and after I’d done this someone from the RSA team rang me to tell me that I was still owed a bit of ESA alongside my UC, would I like to continue receiving it as the two separate things or would I like to cancel the ESA and receive it all as UC. I said I’d prefer to receive it all as UC and she said fine I’ll sort it. I asked if many ppl do it that way and she said yes.

so I received my first payment of UC and they had deducted £275 of ESA that they thought I was getting along side it. I spent ages trying to sort it out and on the 10th December I had a phone call to say that it was most likely incorrectly deducted and they would report it to the specialist team to sort out. The last message I received was was on 3.1.25; saying this.

Sorry for the delay from our our specialist team regarding your complaint. They have advised the deduction is correct as new style ESA should continue along side Universal Credit. As I have also received notification from ESA that new style ESA is not continuing, I have requested confirmation from the specialist team again and provided them with further information regarding your ESA claim. Hopefully I receive a reply soon and will update you again.

I’ve had my January UC payments since then for the correct amount (without £275 taken off) but not the missing money. I’ve chased it by replying to this message on my journal a few times but now no one is responding to me at all.

Is there anything further I can do to get the money I’m owed?
it’s so frustrating! If they want your money they’re quick enough to nag you for it.

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Comments

Holly_Alumni

Hi @Charlongo I can see why you're frustrated. I'm feeling frustrated for you reading this situation! Have you asked for your complaint to be escalated to a senior manager yet? If not, that's typically the next step in the process.

Charlongo

Hi Holly, is this the right place to reply to your comment? Can't see a reply button. I haven't asked for it to be escalated to a senior manager. The person said they have escalated it to the specialist team is that different? How do I go about escalating it to a senior manager? Thanks

unclebob

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/128992/i-m-owed-money-by-uc-because-they-mucked-up

They are useless and never rush to send money they owe, but quick enough to take it from you.

Holly_Alumni

Your reply has worked 🙂 I've not heard of the specialist team, but any escalation has got to be good and they should reply within 15 days. If you want to escalate to a senior manager, I'd suggest putting it in writing on your journal so you've a record of your communications. Sorry, I know it's not ideal… more waiting. Hopefully this escalation to the specialist team yields a positive result for you.

Charlongo

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/977939#Comment_977939

Unfortunately it was escalated to a specialist team originally and that’s who we’re waiting on. That was what the quote in my original question was

“Sorry for the delay from our specialist team regarding your complaint. They have advised the deduction is correct as new style ESA should continue along side Universal Credit. As I have also received notification from ESA that new style ESA is not continuing, I have requested confirmation from the specialist team again and provided them with further information regarding your ESA claim. Hopefully I receive a reply soon and will update you again. “

How do I make sure it’s gets a senior manager’s attention because the last time I asked for an update I was ignored?

Holly_Alumni

I'm so sorry @Charlongo, that's really shocking that even following the complaint process you're not getting a response. I've added a link below that offers some next steps when a complaint is not being responded to. Unfortunately it's a bit of a long winded process…

It does mention you can call, but if you do make sure to get a reference so you can document this as proof (i'd add it to my journal after).

What to Do if DWP and Universal Credit Ignore Your Communications

There's mention of ICE as the next step. They investigate complaints against DWP. Please let me know how you get on with this (if you don't mind keeping us updated of course).

Best wishes,

Holly.

OverlyAnxious

This is very strange. I haven't heard of anyone else being able to 'choose' to end the New Style ESA when moving from part contributions based. That is a non-means tested benefit and UC is a means tested benefit so they shouldn't really be merged in the way that the work coach initially advised.

You're also getting 'worse' NI credits by losing the NS ESA part.

I think I'd see if ESA can reverse the NS ESA cancellation now so you do continue to get that separately from UC, which is the way everyone else does that I've seen so far.

Charlongo

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/978172#Comment_978172

I’m not sure I can be doing with trying to change it. The whole,process has been a nightmare! I dont work apart from a small amount of self emploment and never get over the threshold where they take money off me so I’m not sure it would be any different anyway. I don’t know anything about NI credits or whether I get them. Can you advise? Thanks

Charlongo

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/978160#Comment_978160

I haven’t done a complaint though. How do I do that?

Holly_Alumni

Hi @Charlongo, have you expressed your dissatisfaction when asking it to be escalated? I've added below the complaints procedure from the government website. It might be worth giving them a call tomorrow if you can to verify the status.

Complaints procedure - Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/978178#Comment_978178

New Style ESA provides Class 1 national insurance credits. While UC only provides Class 3 NI credits. It doesn't make any difference immediately, but Class 1 credits could entitle you to other benefits in the future. Your work may be providing NI credits, though I can't say without knowing how much the weekly income is from that.

You are right that in monetary terms you wouldn't be better off with both ESA & UC because of the UC deduction.

However, I've just not seen anyone do it the way you have, and been allowed to cancel the non means tested ESA when migrating to UC. I was thinking ESA might be more helpful and able to reverse the NS ESA cancellation more quickly & easily than UC could stop the deduction.