ESA/DLA/PIP

bambam

i am on ESA my husband was on middle rate DLA after changing to claim PIP he was refused . We went to court and he was awarded enhanced care and standard mobility. all of this has been going on since July 2016 . We are still waiting back pay !
In the meantime I received a letter from ESA stating i may be fined for not informing them my partners DLA has stopped and to give my reason why . I had no idea i was supposed to inform them that my husbands DLA was stopped . 
Has anybody had an experience of this 
Thanks guys

gnmeads

Hi, sorry to hear about your situation and willcom to the community.
Yes I've been in similar situations myself. The silly thing is you have to tell each benefit about every change in circumstance even though it all comes from the same place ie Job Centre. Don't worry though it's probably a small amount and even if its a bit more than expected they won't expect you to pay it all back in one go.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @bambam

I'm presuming that there is some way in which your husband's DLA award impacted on your ESA award? Perhaps you received a Carer's Premium, or (if you are also on disability benefit) Severe Disability Premiums?

Either way, as a general rule, claimants are under a duty to report changes in circumstances such as household income, and the DWP are entitled to apply a Civil Penalty if they believe you have failed to report a change in circumstance which would have affected your entitlement to benefit.

I think it may well be relevant in your instance that your husband has now succeeded in his transfer to PIP, and without knowing the full details of your benefit claims, I assume that this means that you have not in fact now been overpaid. You have not stated in your post how long ago the appeal was won, but if the backdate has not yet been paid, then perhaps the DWP are not aware of the decision??

If the DWP think there is an overpayment on your ESA, this may affect the backpay of PIP, as they are entitled to offset the overpayment against the backpay, so I would recommend contacting ESA to see if they think you have been overpaid in order to respond.

As regards the Penalty, and the overpayment if there is one, I would recommend sending in evidence of the PIP award, including dates, and asking them to reconsider the decision (a mandatory reconsideration) in light of the fact that the DLA award has been replaced with PIP, and if this is not successful then seek further advice on possible appeal.

Good luck! Do get back in touch if you're still struggling to sort this out - if you do so, please advise whether you have received notification of an overpayment, and the way in which your husband's DLA affected your rate of ESA.

Kind regards,

Mary