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Underpaid ESA enhanced disability premium

Luv44

I’m also one of the people that has been underpaid ESA enhanced disability premium since 2013.. I’ve always been in the support group of esa..
my story so far..
I received a letter from DWP and thought here we go again.. it asked if my circumstances had changed since 2013 and they haven’t so I didn’t need to do anything with this letter.. it said I could contact them if needed.. so I did..
basically the man I spoke to said they would send an Esa3 form for me to fill in or I could do it on the phone with him which would take approx 20 mins.. so I did..
( saves registering it and posting it back)
A lot of questions ... do I have stocks and shares, property abroad, and pensions... as if ....
a lot of the questions didn’t apply to me..
He said that the information I’d given him would be passed on to the processing dept and I should hear within 12 wks by letter if I
have any underpayments due..
Which I most definitely will after their **** up which has denied people of their entitled benefit.. I will keep you all updated

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snowdrop

I have been helping someone get arrears due from 2013. They didn't receive anything from the DWP though, I phoned and asked for an ESA3 after finding out about being able to claim back the arrears.

Long story short, after the ESA3 was sorted they received a letter saying they are going to look into any arrears due from 2013 - 2018 and then a few weeks later the DWP decided to say because of some law they could only pay back arrears from October 2014 when there was no mention of this in any of their letters/phone calls about the arrears. Because of this "law" the person I am helping has lost out on about £5000 of arrears that they were entitled to all along because of an error the DWP made when they were transferred to ESA in 2013.

Good luck and I hope you are one of the people who will receive the full arrears and not just from Oct 2014. It seems even though this is a "law" they are still picking and choosing who they apply it to, which doesnt make sense and in my opinion proves to me that they are just being unfair and underhanded.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Luv44 snowdrop

There's an ongoing battle to get the DWP to accept it has to go back further. Not successful so far. The latest advice from CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) is to wait & see what happens. That's because there is a legal challenge which might end up with the DWP having to give in on the date they are willing to go back to. We'll have to see.

I really hope that the DWP will end up having to pay up. As you both say, it was their error.

Will

Luv44

Dwp paid esa underpayment into my bank account on 22/6/18
so I actually waited 3 wks from having filled in esa3 form by telephone conversation with Dwp on 1/6/18.. they did say it could take 12wks.. very surprised..
A brown envelope arrived the next day telling me that my esa underpayment was backdated to 21/10/14..
i actually transferred from incapacity benefit to esa support group in July 2013..
but because of that court ruling 21/10/14 they still owe me 15months enhanced disability premium which they say they can’t pay me because of that court ruling ?. . If the shoe was on the other foot and I owed them money they would expect it all back!!!!

snowdrop

Thank you for that information Will. I had planned to go ahead with a Mandatory Reconsideration and then appeal, but I now wonder if I should just leave it and wait for the result of the CPAG case

Luv44

I was also thinking on the lines of going through the farce of Mandatory Reconsideration regarding the underpayment prior to 21/10/14.. might be worth hanging on to see the result of the CPAG case.. if that goes well then i will definitely be asking for the 13 months enhanced disability premium they still owe me ..
The DWP knew the error existed yet chose to sit on their grubby little hands.. Now it’s drafting in extra staff at a cost of millions to put this right ?

snowdrop

Did you go ahead with a mandatory reconsideration?

We decided not to bother and then a few days after the 1 month deadline for an MR I see the news about the CPAG case and that the DWP will now pay arrears from prior to October 2014. Great news!

I wonder if we need to just wait to hear from the DWP about them now paying up the arrears from date of transfer to October 2014? Or should we contact them? (I understand it's only very early days since the DWP's decision to pay full arrears so need to be patient).
The person I am helping, had the arrears from October 2014 - 2018 paid into their bank in June 2018 so that's all been sorted about a month ago. The DWP didn't make contact with them initially about the ESA IR arrears, I read about it online and phoned on behalf of them and asked to be sent an ESA3 form, so I wonder if I'll have to do the same (contact them first) for them to sort out the arrears from before October 2014.

I won't go into detail about it, but after the ESA3 was completed and the case (backdating arrears) forwarded to the correct department let's just say the way it was handled was a complete joke. I was glad for it to be over with, even though it meant they missed out on thousands of pounds in arrears due to the October 2014 law. So unfortunately the thought of having to deal with them again re the new DWP decision doesn't fill me with confidence that they won't mess up again.

snowdrop

Luv44

Hi Snowdrop, I didn’t go ahead with the Mandatory Reconsideration.. last wk the DWP announced that they will now be paying underpayments prior to the 21/10/14..Esther McVey’s words..So that’s good news.
I was underpaid the Enhanced Disabilty Premium on conversion from Incapacity Benefit to ESA support group July 2013.I never knew this premium existed !!
i received backdated EDP from 21/10/14 to now..
Since the DWP have decided they will now backdate to 2011 I am due payments from July 2013.
I havent made contact with the DWP about it yet.. I’ve read somewhere that anyone who has received payment so far ( which is me) will automatically get their full entitlement in due course.. I will give them 4 wks then il be chasing them up on this matter..
look up DWP u turn on the internet and it explains things a bit better than my rambling on lol

snowdrop

Luv44 said:

Hi Snowdrop, I didn’t go ahead with the Mandatory Reconsideration.. last wk the DWP announced that they will now be paying underpayments prior to the 21/10/14..Esther McVey’s words..So that’s good news.
I was underpaid the Enhanced Disabilty Premium on conversion from Incapacity Benefit to ESA support group July 2013.I never knew this premium existed !!
i received backdated EDP from 21/10/14 to now..
Since the DWP have decided they will now backdate to 2011 I am due payments from July 2013.
I havent made contact with the DWP about it yet.. I’ve read somewhere that anyone who has received payment so far ( which is me) will automatically get their full entitlement in due course.. I will give them 4 wks then il be chasing them up on this matter..
look up DWP u turn on the internet and it explains things a bit better than my rambling on lol

Hi Luv44,

It all happened a lot quicker than I expected, I thought it wasn't going to be heard until October but just glad it's all sorted now and they will backdate arrears from date of transfer.

Yes I think I will do the same as you, give them 4 weeks and if they haven't made contact I will contact them about the arrears from date of transfer to October 2014.

Topkitten

When I was first granted DLA it was back-dated 18 months due to having to go through 2 appeals. I tried for 6 months to get back-dated payments from ESA for the same period and the responses were unhelpful, at times untrue and always I was berated for bothering them with such a situation, trying to make it go away by being basically rude every time I rang, After 6 months without making any progress at all I finally gave up which was exactly what they wanted but I simply couldn't deal with the lies and stupidity any longer. They, as a group, treat as worse than animals and have no interest at all in being fair or doing the "right thing".

TK

Duketrinity

If you get the backpayment won’t it affect the benefits you are on and housing benefit, so stressful?

poppy123456

Duketrinity said:

If you get the backpayment won’t it affect the benefits you are on and housing benefit, so stressful?

No, it's disregarded for 52 weeks.

Hockers

Including Housing benefit ?

poppy123456

yes, it's disregarded for all means tested benefits for 52 weeks. Backdated payments means you should have had the money anyway, so that's why it's disregarded.

[Deleted User]

And in fact for this exercise, Esther McVey has said that arrears will be fully disregarded - because this was a DWP error in law. If benefit arrears are over £5000 and the backdated payment has to be made to put right an official error, the arrears are usually disregarded indefinitely, and new legislation has extended this to errors in law - so these particular arrears are covered too.

(I am not completely clear about the difference between an official error and an error in law, but there is a difference apparently, or there would have been no need to amend the legislation).

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/932/made

Gill_Scope

deanjroach84

Luv44 said:

Dwp paid esa underpayment into my bank account on 22/6/18
so I actually waited 3 wks from having filled in esa3 form by telephone conversation with Dwp on 1/6/18.. they did say it could take 12wks.. very surprised..
A brown envelope arrived the next day telling me that my esa underpayment was backdated to 21/10/14..
i actually transferred from incapacity benefit to esa support group in July 2013..
but because of that court ruling 21/10/14 they still owe me 15months enhanced disability premium which they say they can’t pay me because of that court ruling ?. . If the shoe was on the other foot and I owed them money they would expect it all back!!!!

how long after your telling phone interview was you contacted by post/telephone (if applicable)

snowdrop

Luv44 said:
I was underpaid the Enhanced Disabilty Premium on conversion from Incapacity Benefit to ESA support group July 2013.I never knew this premium existed !!
i received backdated EDP from 21/10/14 to now..
Since the DWP have decided they will now backdate to 2011 I am due payments from July 2013.

I havent made contact with the DWP about it yet.. I’ve read somewhere that anyone who has received payment so far ( which is me) will automatically get their full entitlement in due course.. I will give them 4 wks then il be chasing them up on this matter..

Hi Luv44, me again...

It's been 4 months since our previous posts and I'm just wondering if you have heard anything from the DWP yet regarding the arrears that are now owed prior to 2014?

I understand the DWP have a lot of people to go through but the claimant I help hasn't heard anything yet.

Luv44

Hi Snowdrop, I haven’t received any backdated payments prior to Oct 2014..
I should really chase it up as they owe me money from July 2013 to Oct 2014.. I have received backdated payments from Oct 2014 to the present..which didn’t take too long.. think I read somewhere that they are busy having to trawl through everybody’s claims yet again prior to Oct 2014 ???????

deanjroach84

Luv44 said:

Hi Snowdrop, I haven’t received any backdated payments prior to Oct 2014..
I should really chase it up as they owe me money from July 2013 to Oct 2014.. I have received backdated payments from Oct 2014 to the present..which didn’t take too long.. think I read somewhere that they are busy having to trawl through everybody’s claims yet again prior to Oct 2014 ???????

how long did you have to wait for your 4 year backdated payment (roughly)

Luv44

After my telephone interview regards to answering questions for esa3 form I was told I would get my backdated underpayments in 12 wks. I got mine after 3 wks so I was lucky I guess.. just waiting for the rest as stated above... good luck everyone