Any way to complain about a DWP benefits decision?

alishid

My autistic son is 22. He is almost at the end of autism spectrum with no ability to talk or understand any word. He is 100% dependent and cannot do anything by himself. Apart from DLA, He gets no other benefits because based on a cruel judgment he never worked in this country! We have Dutch nationality. We have to take care of him 24/7, because he can't sleep and is hyper active. After years of fighting, he got continuous full care from NHS. 
It is so confusing. Recently, we received a letter from NHS checking section that he should pay penalty for prescribed medication for his epilepsy! He used to get ESA, but it was stopped, because according to the DWP he was not eligible as an EU national's child. They did not mentioned about his sever disability.
Is there any way to complain about this unfair decision? We are experiencing unbearable hardship. I am applying for job without any luck so far.

BeccaShark123

Hi Alishid,

Welcome to Scope's online community. I imagine there would be channels you could go through to complain or appeal the decisions made about your son. I would recommend you post your query here:

https://community.scope.org.uk/categories/ask-a-benefits-advisor

As the thread there is to ask a benefits advisor for help, so you will get to a response from someone with a very good knowledge, which may help. You can ask your query on this page here:

There is a link here, that tells you the details of the DWP complaints department for different benefits:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure
so you can air your grievances with them.

I have also found a link for the DWP appeals process, but this may depend on how long ago the events in your post took place:
https://www.gov.uk/social-security-child-support-tribunal

I know I have posted a lot of information here, but I do hope it is useful for you!
Becca

Liam_Alumni

Hi @Alishid,

Welcome to Scope's online community! It's great to have you here.

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you're having - it certainly sounds like a very stressful situation.

As @BeccaShark123 mentions above, we do have an Ask a Benefits Advisor category on our community which may be of interest to you. I've moved this post into that group, so @BenefitsTrainingCo can further advise.

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, then please do get in touch.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi alishid

This is very tricky, but here goes...

I am assuming you and your son are both Dutch nationals and neither of you have British citizenship.

ESA has a right to reside test which basically tests whether an EU national is living in the UK for some reason connected to freedom of movement rights under EU law. There are many different ways of having a qualifying right but i would imagine the most likely route for your son will be as a family member or may be based on a permanent right to reside following five qualifying years.

For example, if you (as his mother) were classed as a worker then your son will probably be able to claim ESA. This is because workers have the right to work in another member state including the right to take family members with them. This can lead to the family member (i.e. your son) then having the the same rights as the worker. Work has to be genuine and effective and although it does not always have to be the case it is helpful to earn at least £157 per week. I realise this may be very difficult when considering your son's care needs.

The other example i can give is if you have previously worked for at least five years. If so, both you and your son probably have a permanent right to reside and you should consider applying for a permanent residence card which you can find out more about here.

As i started by saying this can be a very complicated area and i would suggest you explore your options for specialist advice in your local area.

David