ESA Underpayment rebate

Majickal

Hello. I'm one of those affected by the error in being moved from incapacity benefit to contribution based esa (support group) in 2011. I received a letter and form some weeks ago informing me that I may have been entitled to income based and after filling it in and returning it, I received an award notice and a rebate of £629. I phoned the dwp who couldn't give me a breakdown of what elements the payment was for other than "underpayment of income based esa"  It's my understanding that the crux of all underpayments are because people who should have received the enhanced disability premium didn't because they were incorrectly denied income based esa and therefore were receiving these premiums as backdated rebates. If that's the case, surely I should have received closer to the £8000 mark? The amount I actually received seems to be very odd! Can anyone shed any light on the ins & outs? Thanks

messedhead

Watching 

poppy123456

Hi,

It will totally depend on your circumstances over all those 7 years. Living with a partner that worked, other household income, savings/capital all count for means tested benefits.

Majickal

poppy123456 said:

Hi,

It will totally depend on your circumstances over all those 7 years. Living with a partner that worked, other household income, savings/capital all count for means tested benefits.

Yes, that makes sense but there hasn't been any other income in the household throughout the whole period. Our only income prior to 2011 was incapacity benefit and DLA. Then it switched to esa and later dla changed to pip. The only extra income is my wife's carer's allowance which she started claiming last year as she looks after her mum. 

poppy123456

You say your wife? Does she work? if not then is there any reasons why you're not claiming as a couple because you should be and she should be added to your ESA claim.

Majickal

poppy123456 said:

You say your wife? Does she work? if not then is there any reasons why you're not claiming as a couple because you should be and she should be added to your ESA claim.

Hi, yes afaik my wife is a named on my claim and no, she doesn't work. When I was claiming incap I received a disability premium of some sort (don't remember the exact name!) and when I was moved from incap to esa, my new award included a top-up amount to ensure that the amount I received weekly was not less than I previously had on incap. It comes to around £33 per week. Could this be why I'm not getting full backpay of the enhanced disability premium? Because the top-up basically covered it? It's very confusing!! 
*Edit* I put my wife's name on the original claim form and on the form the dwp sent me a few weeks ago however, they've not put her name on reply letters where it shows their workings... The section where her name should be (dependants) is blank. My wife or children are not named anywhere on the reply letters which seems odd too! She was named on my original claim when she moved in with me and when we married in 2012 I called them to tell them we were now married and was told it made no difference but thanks for letting them know. 

poppy123456

If you're claiming as a couple then it will be Income Related. The reason your wife's name isn't on the part where it says dependents is because she's not a dependent, she's your wife. Dependents are children that you receive child benefit for. Nothing odd about your children not being added onto the claim either because the ESA isn't for them and they shouldn't be on there anyway.

Couples rate ESA Support Group is £176.05 per week (£352.10 fortnightly), you may have slightly more than that with the transitional protection from IB but it will be approx that amount. If this is what you've been receiving then your money is correct.

Seems like to me that the only money you're owed is from when you transferred to ESA from IB in 2011 up until you moved in with your partner and added her to your claim. Enhanced disability premium rate was £13.65 per week back in 2011. The payment of £629 you received from DWP sounds correct to me.

Lisa1985

I get 248 fortnightly am I on the right money for esa and will I get a refund for esa refund 

poppy123456

That's Income Related Support Group amount. You didn't answer my question, do you claim either DLA or PIP and if so which one and what exactly is the award?