Ill health, fitness to work and ESA issues

crystalrose5

hi.i am michael.i was on incapacity benefit 2011 till they changed over my benefit to E.S.A.and it is contribution based E.S.A.i was forced in chronic pain to sign on after having an assessment that redeemed me fit for work.i then decided to appeal against there decision that took over a year.i was successful and won my appeal as i am limited to walking and breathlessness.the D.W.P.said i should not be signing on and then put me back on E.S.A.that changed over from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance.i have all my paperwork explaining my esa contribution based and the change from incapacity benefit to E.S.A.allowance so please tell me am i a disabled claimant in line for backdated refund payment that i have lost out on through the dwp error of judgement  yes health comes before any amount of money so please can you answer my question as its playing on my mind due to my failing and ill health / with thanks 

steve51

Hi @crystalrose5

Welcome it’s great to meet you today.

I’m very very sorry ? to hear ? about your current situation.

We have got some great “Benefit Advisors” here on our Website/Community. 

I will pass your post onto them for you.

They help us Mon-Fri  for one hour per day.

@BenefitsTrainingCo

Can you please help me with this post?????

Sam_Alumni

Hi @crystalrose5
I have asked @BenefitsTrainingCo to take a look at your post to see if they can help.

crystalrose5

thank you for your help in this matter 

poppy123456

Hi,

Being entitled to any Income related top up on your Contributions based ESA will totally depend on your circumstances. Do you live with a partner that works, have any savings/capital? other household income will all go against you when claiming any income related top up on your current ESA claim.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hello crystalrose5

Poppy123456 is correct that eligibility for an arrears payment will depend on your circumstances.  

The DWP are currently contacting people who maybe eligible for arrears.  They are particularly looking at those cases where when converting from e.g. IB to ESA there was no evidence about the claimant’s financial circumstances before the decision was made.   The DWP are thus contacting people asking them to complete a form so that they can reassess the ESA award with the full financial details.  If it is found that ESA should have been a higher amount then arrears will be paid. 

Kind regards

Maria

crystalrose5

thank you for your advice