Transition to ESA

ESAESA

Hi guys,
Im a newcomer so please bare with the rambling on.
I was on incapacity Benefit over 20years ago. And automatically placed on ESA when the switch occured. I was placed in Support Group Contribution Based after an assessment . The transition to  ESA has been since 2011 
I have never applied for IR ESA. I wasn't aware of anything tbh. Im also on PIP standard daily care component and enhanced mobility component (i think that's what they call it) previously on DLA low care n high mobility 
Mysteriously, recently, I received a letter saying DWP need to look into my claim for ESA.  Saying they need to decide if i might be eligible for IR ESA. That if im eligible I may be entitled to extra premiums. Stating i won't qualify for IR ESA If :
a)  I Had a partner n they were working more than 24rs a week.
b)  I Had or have savings over 16k
Or
c)  I had/have a partner or together had/have savings over 16k
(I can clarify NONE OF THE ABOVE...)

It says ESA3WUL (IBR) at the bottom of the letter (not sure what that means)
On reverse it says please let us know "if you don't" want us to look at your claim to check if im entitled to IR ESA since i was  awarded ESA CB,  by calling or completing a reply slip which has
3 Boxes to choose from for Reasons to Why i dont want them to check if im entitled to IR. 
basically tick
a) b) or c) and return by post!
I'm quite confused . I didnt apply for this..Is this a standard request by DWP and is it like a generic form for everyone who wants to claim IR ESA ..
should i say yes to applying for it? Or should i stay on my CB ESA support group. Why have they sent me this letter if i didn't request anything?
My relative has wrote this on my behalf as i find everything very confusing and stressfull in general. Is the IR ESA also 2 components  SG and WRAG..please can you clarify...thanks for any advice.. im confused.com...

Tarnia

Good morning @ESAESA .
A very warm welcome. 
This community can of a lot of support and advice on this. However, im newish here myself and navigating isn't my strong point. But someone else,  I'm sure, soon will be able to direct you further.
It saddens me to say, that most of the posts I read here are all very similar; the concerns, fears, worries and confusions all based around ESA and pip... so your not alone.
I wish you all the best.
Kindness to all ???

Geoark

Hello @ESAESA and welcome to the community.

Late last year it was discovered around 75,000 (dwp figures) claimants were wrongly transferred from Incapacity Benefit to ESA, being awarded contribution based ESA and not Income Related based ESA.

The DWP is in the process of looking at those transferred in the affected period which your change over falls into. They will look at the original decision and decide if you were placed into the wrong benefit. If you were, as I understand it, and monies owed will be backdated and paid to you. 

You can find out more about this at https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2017/november/esa-claimants-owed-£500-million-due-dwp-error

It is not a new claim and should not affect the group you are currently in.

As I am not aware of all the ins and outs I am tagging @mikehughescq to take a look and offer any further advise, and to check I am right in what I have said.

ESAESA

Hi.
Thanks for joining and advising .
Besides answering No to a)b)c) on my first post. What is the criteria to validate any premium one may be entitled to and what are they supposed to have paid??. Ive been getting the maximum amount of ESA CB For several years increasing slightly each April.  £110 a week roughly. How does one qualify for any extra monies it claims I "May" be entitled to. I know they had an extra premium entitlement if you received  middle/higher rate Care DLA and if you were cliaiming income support at the time. But never heard that the ESA IR or CB benefit entitled you to anything other than what the law says you need to live off. 
Any knowledge.. ? 
Cheers

Geoark

@ESAESA as I understand it the DWP messed up when they were migrating people, so you would have gotten the full amount of the contributory based ESA, potentially this was below what you were entitled to so they should have added the income related ESA to your claim. I say potentially as they still need to check what you have been getting and if you should have qualified for the Income Related ESA.

As you said, it was what the law said you needed to live off. 

ESAESA

Thanks for everyone's input.  Mikehughes appreciate the links.  But im REALLY not that clued up to all the gargon they spill out in their rules and transcripts .. theres so much to sink in and i think I'll just send the form back n see what they say. I do however clearly remember that i did contact the ESA customer services years ago asking if there was any additional topup i was entitled to and they refused and made it clear that there wasn't . I asked then  because i know someone who was receiving  DLA high rate Care and got paid extra premium because she was on income support.  DWP have a habit of NEVER informing claimants of extra monies they could apply for . Different times different rules maybe. Not holding my breath tbh.  
Thanks again guys..
Early night. . And merci Beaucoup  ?

ESAESA

Hey,
Ive sent the ESA3 form  back.. i noticed that there was a circle drawn in red biro at the top near their freepost address and ALSO the letters  IBR scribbled on the opening section on the reverse side... wonder what that indicates..? I was told by a friend that its possible that if placed on the IR ESA.. it most likely will be incorporated by UNIVERSAL CREDIT later which means ESA CB will no longer qualify  for extra premium once switched over to UNIVERSAL CREDIT?...is that true if on support group.  Will I be making a mistake accepting IR if offerred ? Or will it not affect me in the future. I  Didnt realise it can be so confusing... 

Luv44

Hi Esaesa.. I received the same letter from the dwp on 1/6/18 .. I called them and they got someone to call me back the next day.. they asked if I would fill in esa3 claim form over the phone which took approx 25 mins or they could send me the form.. I decided to answer the questions over the phone.. they said it would be passed over to the processing dept and would take approx 12wks and that I would hear in the post of any money owed to me ..
i also transferred from IB to esa support group in 2013 but wasn’t assessed for esa/ir and received esa/cb.. I wasn’t aware that esa/ir existed so therefore I lost out on receiving the enhanced disability premium. 
The downside to all this is the dwp are only backdating people the under payments to Oct 2014.. 

Geoark

Hi @Luv44 unfortunately this was when the courts confirmed they made a mistake and the DWP stance is this is when they became liable to make any back payment.

It is just part of the ongoing incompetence at the DWP overseen by Iain Duncan Smith, and now McVey.

Luv44

Nothing shocks me regarding the DWP.. they do as they please and then try and sweep their wrong doings under the carpet.
I think the CPAG are looking at court proceedings with regards to the not paying people esa underpayments prior to 21/ Oct/14.. 
if we owed them money, I’m sure we couldn’t pick and choose a date to suit us..
It makes my blood boil ?

ESAESA

Hi luv44,
In the letter i received it specifically says they want to look at my claim from 2011. That i wouldnt qualify for IR ESA if i had a partner/savings/16K etc etcfrom 2011 to "NOW".. So i dunno bout the 0ct 2014 rule? I really am not holding my breath with these lot tbh.
What sort of questions do  they ask...i cant stand forms..get so stressed  and im not sure how i'll hold up to a phone consultation ?
Can i get hold of a copy of the form online too prepare my head!! Im sure there's others that understand my anxiety ... Thnx guys

poppy123456

This is the ESA3 form.

https://gmwrag.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/esa3.pdf

ESAESA

Thanks poppy
Dont wanna lose sleep over it. Will view tomorw. ?

snowdrop

ESAESA said:
In the letter i received it specifically says they want to look at my claim from 2011. That i wouldnt qualify for IR ESA if i had a partner/savings/16K etc etcfrom 2011 to "NOW".. So i dunno bout the 0ct 2014 rule? 

They said the same thing in a letter to the person I have been helping. In the letter said they are looking at any arrears owed from 2013 - 2018. They even asked for proof of savings in 2013 so it definitely seemed like they (the DWP) were going to pay any arrears due from 2013, but in the end they didn't. Once the DWP had all the info they needed they called and said they were only paying arrears from October 2014 because of a law. I personally think this October 2014 date should have been referred to in the inital letter/s and phone calls rather than making it appear as if they were looking at and paying arrears for the full period.

Unless advised otherwise, I will be helping to do a mandatory reconsideration and then appeal if needed.

[Deleted User]

Hi snowdrop and others

CPAG are indeed doing a judicial review to try to get the DWP to pay full arrears. At the moment, arrears will only be paid from 21/10/14, which was the date of the high court ruling saying that the DWP needed to consider income-related ESA in every case on transfer to ESA from IB.

At the moment the DWP has to establish what the person's circumstances were at the date when they moved to ESA (this could be a lot earlier than 2014, so 2011, for example), but with the idea that arrears can, currently, only be paid from 21/10/14.

Fingers crossed for that judicial review.  

Gill_Scope

ESAESA

Hi, anyone know what the discrepancy is -
 (how much a week in other words.) ...or does it vary for each of us. Calculating it, Guess I'm owed nearly 5 n half years worth... but REALLY REALLY wont believe it till i see it...even thern thyl knock 2 years of it bcoz of the  Oct ruling..robbery in motion...

poppy123456

ESAESA said:

Hi, anyone know what the discrepancy is -
 (how much a week in other words.) ...or does it vary for each of us. Calculating it, Guess I'm owed nearly 5 n half years worth... but REALLY REALLY wont believe it till i see it...even thern thyl knock 2 years of it bcoz of the  Oct ruling..robbery in motion...

The Enhanced disability premium is currently £16.40 per week. It increases slightly each year. Only paid back to Oct 2014 at the moment though.

ESAESA

If i send my form and  Im awarded the premium..does that still mean that I will still be classed as being on ESA CB and receive EDP the premium top up or will my benefit be changed to ESA IR instead of ESA CB.. wots the title of the benefit if you're in the support group when you rec the EDP of ESA CB.
Who makes these rules up. . Monkey SAY monkey DO...?

poppy123456

The name of the premium is same. It's not called EDP of ESA CB. It's called EDP because you will receive an Income Related top up.

ESAESA

Ok. Cheers guys.. 

Splashy

Hi, 

 I received  one of these letters on Friday.

 The wording made no sense to me and seemed to be saying I would lose my ESA claim back dated to 2011!

 Add to that the telephone number on the letter is dead, non existent!

 Between 2003 and 2016 I was in a total agoraphobic mess. I didnt have a partner of any kind which is one of the questions they ask but I may have been over the 16k threshold in 2016 (finances were my last worry as by then I was living off stuff in tins as the kitchen was full and I only  had one narrow path to the toilet and a small space to lie on the floor in) as I had taken out loans and borrowed off family to get out of my hell hole. That included a bill of over ten grand just to clear out the rubbish from my one bed flat that I had literally been living in as I hadnt been able  to go out to get rid of it in 13 years.

 Anyway this letter has thrown me, I declared everything by the book to my knowledge but then as I was a convert from ICB to ESA support Im not sure I really new the rules or ever had them explained to me. I am severely sight impaired/blind registered ,so leaflets are of no use to me and even using software on my PC I struggle as the words kinda move around and distort even at 600 percent magnification. (speech to text is my saviour and vice versa NOW)

  Two years ago I rented out my flat. I advised the DWP expecting them to no longer pay me but instead they told me that that was fine and I have a letter to that effect. 

 So the crux of this question really is, in this telephone interview they want to give me and if I answer that I might at one point have had over the 16 grand allowance will I be in hot water?  (like I say Im sure I was) This is born of a nasty call I had with them, the agent was obviously upset her mum had had to sell her house to pay for a care home and here I was saying I was renting out my home and still wanting to claim ESA. I didnt go out for a month after that. I could do without another confidence killer, but then they say they can send a form instead, I wouldnt be able to fill it in. 

  Ive never claimed any other benefits and am not worried about getting any more in back payments I just dont want to be in trouble. 

 But if I fill in the bit that says I had over 16k during the period be it not the whole period will that end my ESA payments of now and worse.
 
 Im 2 years into fighting my mental issues  using CBT and am doing darn well but things like this just pop along and crash my world cause I just cant see beyond the negatives which my horrible loop of woe brain wont stop swirling around on me 24/7

 any advice would be great
  
cheers ..
 Mike