esa back pay

sivraj67

i would like to ask a question on esa for 2 friends of mine and as this will affect me next year im interested to know the outcome.....both had medicals last year and of course they were passed fit to work but both on appeal won and were reinstated to esa however they have never received any arrears and are now telling me that no longer happens both are long term claimers and many years before the new terms came in last april,they both had to claim jsa whilst their appeals were heard as i have had  this happen to me twice before and have always received the back pay has this changed? or is this just another example of the dwp failing its clinets

Ripples

That is incorrect  you will receive any money owing if your claim is continuous

poppy123456

Ripples said:

That is incorrect  you will receive any money owing if your claim is continuous

It totally depends which group they were placed into. If it's the WRAG and they applied for ESA after April 2017 then no, there will be no backpay.

If they applied before April last year and were placed into the WRAG then you, there will be back pay. Support Group will be back pay regardless of when they applied.

sivraj67

the prolem is that that one of them had a medical last june and won their appeal in december  but had to go on jsa during a period in that,she had been on esa since 2012 and been in the wrag but is now back on esa and only in receipt of £73.10,i know the recent changes applied after april 2017 but has others been added since

Ripples

@sivraj67 You stated that they were reinstated to ESA  so my statement is correct in that scenario. Are you in a Universal Credit area? The person that has been on ESA WRAG since 2012 ordinarily having won her appeal should suffer no loss of money since her claim is continuous. The changes made in 2017   do not affect existing ESA claimants who made a claim before 3 April 2017 so the  Work component of the benefit is the same. However that person claimed JSA in the intervening period, it is quite feasible to claim JSA and have a 3 month extended period of sickness whilst waiting for your appeal to be acknowledged. Once your appeal is in place you can receive the lower rate of ESA until they have decided. Again the new rules state ' the changes do not apply to  those ' making mandatory reconsideration and appeal decisions for claims made before 3 April 2017'  so you should be getting the old rate of pay. 

sivraj67

thanks ripples youve just confirmed what i thought i used to run an esa group and some people are so nervous about contesting things,i am not.i had not seen this woman since december and she has done nothing in regards of contesting her pay i assume she still can

Ripples

@sivraj67 Yes if her claim was continuous. If the person went to mandatory reconsideration then appeal and won  then  that is considered  continuous. If however she was found fit for work and then claimed JSA  and made a fresh claim for ESA  based on worsening condition then that is different.