I .have to attend a esa support group compliance interview

finn27

I .have to attend a esa support group compliance interview, phoned the office they said its a review about circumstances and take bank statement id.Ive been on esa support group for 4years and never been asked to do this before. I'm also on high rate P.I.P please advise

Ami2301

Hi @finn27 welcome to the community! I am unsure however another member of the community will know and will be in contact with you soon

anna17

Hi I had to have one of those meetings before. I also didn’t know what to expect. But here is a bit of advice if u have someone who is very close to u such as a friend or family member who knows u well take that person with u. It helped me. 

angiefitz

Hi, it is a random check done automatically by the system. It is not personal. It is more for their records to show that random checks are performed for their record and quality control purposes. Try not to worry.

jan119

Hi I've just had one of these compliance to go to my local benefits office while I was there I was asked questions on who my carer was and due to it being my x partner who gives me care especially at night due to medication and suicidal bouts they have stopped my esa saying he works so I don't need benefit 

Pippa_Scope

Hi @jan119, and welcome!

I'm so sorry to hear this. Are you appealing the decision?

jan119

Yes waiting for dwp to send appeal form out I called them to find Out why my benefit had stopped and they was rude I asked if there was any other help I could receive and they just replied I had to fill in the appeal form and checked my address and said bye I feel depressed and upset as I don't know how I'm going to live my x partner has said he would leave but this would leave me without care 

Pippa_Scope

I'm so sorry to hear this, @jan119. We have lots of experienced members here on the community so please do ask any questions and we'll do our best to support and advise. You might also like to consider contacting your local Citizens Advice to see if they can offer any support. 

Do you have any other people around you who could be there for you in the meantime? I'm afraid I'm not sure how to advise on finding the right care, but I'm tagging in @Jean_Scope in the hope she can offer some guidance here!

jan119

I have contacted cab and they have said they would get a member of their team to ring me within 5 days I only have my grown up son but he is disabled as well so carnt really ask for too much help. I just feel lost and alone and seems every corner I try to turn I hit my head I have direct debits bills to pay but nothing to pay them  and with christmas coming it makes it worse 

Jean_OT

Hi @jan119

Thanks to @Pippa_Scope for inviting me to join this conversation.

Just to be clear I am an Occupational Therapist not a benefit specialist, so please do pursue getting benefits advice from the CAB.

Some compliance meetings can happen due to 'random sampling' as mentioned by @angiefitz but they can also occur because the DWP believes that there is something suspicious about a persons claim that they want to investigate. In this instance it sounds as it they feel that you and your ex are still effectively living as a couple and that therefore he should financially support you rather than you being in receipt of means-tested benefits.

It is possible for two people who have formerly been in a relationship to live together under the same roof and be recognized as single people with their own benefit claims  but the DWP will need to be convinced of this in each case. They normally want to see evidence of people living socially and financially independently of each other. Which is presumably the content of your appeal.

If a carer has their own separate home and just attends the disabled persons home to provide care it is normally a lot easier to establish that they are no longer living as a couple.  

Lets hope that your appeal will be successful. However, if your ex-partner moves out and is no longer willing to provide your care and you don't have anyone else to step into his role, then you will have to contact the Adult Social Care Department at your local authority and ask them to conduct an Assessment of your Care Needs. If they agree that you have care needs they can arrange care or direct payments for you to buy in your own carers.

I note what you are saying about having bills to pay and no money to pay them. The CAB may be able to arrange Debt Advice for you or you could contact Step Change: https://www.stepchange.org  Until you start getting some money coming in again you might also want to check out it you can get any support from your nearest Foodbank: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/

Please do ensure that your GP and any other professionals who support you know how you are feeling at this time and consider reaching out to voluntary sector sources of emotional support, such as: https://www.samaritans.org/

I hope you are able to resolve the issues with your benefits soon,

Best Wishes

Jean

jan119

Thank you Jean that was really helpful and thank you for your advice and time to reply 

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @jan119 The advice above is good, I would just add that the first stage of challenging a decision is to request a mandatory reconsideration.  You can do this on the phone, by letter or by completing a DWP form - a link to that form is here if you wanted it:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

You cannot appeal until the mandatory reconsideration is completed and you have the written notice of this.  You have 1 month from the date of decision to request the mandatory reconsideration.  All the best with it and I hope you are able to get some specialist support with this.

jan119

I have telephoned dwp where I was spoken to rrudely  and asked for the form I am waiting for cab to ring me back also I telephoned dwp yesterday again as I found out I needed a letter from them as to what date my esa was ended also a letter with the reasons the guy I spoke to yesterday was polite and for once I felt a little better I asked what would happen if my carer moved out but he wouldn't tell me. I also called  the council who said there well fare trust wasn't taken on any more people as it was currently full. I am worried sick over all this as I've never been in this position also 3 years ago I had a compliance meeting in my home and the situation was the same and I told the compliance lady about my x being my carer and she asked for bank statements and every thing went ok I lost my independent living part of the benefit but that was it is it worth putting this on the Mandory reconsideration form 

sipcia

My son has the opposite problems he has never had a medical assessment throughout his claim 2015/2018 so has never been put into a group. we were told he is owed arrears from an advisor, but when I phoned to ask what he needs to do they have said he cannot have the arrears unfortunately he was overlooked. Surely its their fault not my son's and he should be paid arrears.

poppy123456

sipcia said:

My son has the opposite problems he has never had a medical assessment throughout his claim 2015/2018 so has never been put into a group. we were told he is owed arrears from an advisor, but when I phoned to ask what he needs to do they have said he cannot have the arrears unfortunately he was overlooked. Surely its their fault not my son's and he should be paid arrears.

Hi,

I'm assuming it's ESA your son is claiming as that's the thread you've posted on?

Is he still sending sick/fit notes to DWP? May i ask how much per week your son is claiming? Has he ever filled out a work capability assessment form?

sipcia

My son was claiming JSA originally and at one of his signing on days the advisor was concerned about his health and said that he would be better on ESA. We were called by the DWP and Reuben was switched onto ESA in march 2015. For the whole of that period he never attended a WCA and was getting £148.60 a fortnight. Reuben was also getting DLA now changed to  PIP and had a face to face assessment for that in June this year. He Has Autism, Learning disability and depression and anxiety. In July this year Reuben started a job with Tesco 2 days a week but only managed to complete two weeks and was unable to cope so finished. He reclaimed ESA on the 10th August and at this point was told that he had not been placed in the support group which she stated that would be the appropriate group and not work related group due to his mental and physical state. He completed the WCA and was awarded the support group and now gets £254.30 a fortnight. I was told that someone would be in touch about the arrears. this has not happened and when I have challenged it over the last 3months I was told last week that it has been declined. I have spoke to many advisors to be passed from one to another, I have asked for written confirmation with regards to the decision and was told that it might be possible.......The lady who called me last week said she had written a letter of complaint on my behalf and said that Reuben would not get the arrears because its law?????? I asked what law??? she could not answer. but she had also made an assumption that I was Reubens appointee since he first claimed and said that was the reason he had been over looked because they are done manually when a new claim is sent. I explained that I was his appointee form June this year. She said she would send in the letter to her supervisor and see if she could get some compensation for Reuben. I told her he didn't want compensation but the underpaid amount of benefit the had overlooked..... sorry for the long drawn out garble. My son is very naive and would not understand or have a clue how to go about claiming back money owed I'm angry that they can treat vulnerable people like this. 

poppy123456

I think the problem here is that he reclaimed ESA and they're saying they don't owe him any backdated money because he reclaimed. Was it a new claim from scratch? Or was it a rapid reclaim? There's a difference in the 2. If you're unsure then you need to find out and then speak to your local CAB or welfare rights for further advice.

jan119

Further to my original post I've asked for a letter from the dwp to say when my benefit was stopped from also the reasons as I shall be doing a Mandory reconsideration and had not received any of these but today I received my letterbox reasons and too be honest the reasons are ridiculous because I was being honest and said I cook my own meals if I'm well enough and if not my carer (my x) does me a micro meal also I shop online for myself and we both shop individually and often he contributes to food of fuel for the car (he is a second driver on my moobility car)
And I go to see his mother whom I'm very good friends with.... to add to this my son who is also disabled lives next door to me I often help him by nipping not door and make him get a wash or prepare dinner for us ( possibly a sandwich ) just to make sure he eats) he suffers  manic depression  these are just some of the reasons...
I've also tried to contact well fare advice to be told no help available my direct debits have started to come out my bank leaving me overdrawn I suffer from c.o.p.d and asthma  dengererative bone diese also depression axeity  and fibro and have prepayment metres I cannot afford to top up  ive asked for  help from c.a.b last week but still waiting for a call back 

Jean_OT

Hi @jan119

Thanks for the update.

So reading between that lines I would assume that the DWP are saying that because you are sometimes well enough to feed yourself and to assist your son they consider that you are not disabled enough to justify needing a  live-in carer. Therefore, they question the motivation for why your ex continues to live with you.

Also that they are questioning that you and your ex are not financially independent, i.e. he gives you money towards the fuel in the car, since the mobility car should only be used by you (as driver or passenger) it will be difficult for them to see why a person who is purely a carer would be paying towards your fuel expenses. He should not be driving the car unless you are in it and he is assisting you in getting where you need to go, he should not be using it for his own purposes.

Also with food costs their expectations is normally that people not in a relationship but sharing a house demonstrate how separated they are by having separate food budgets (evidenced by receipts etc, separate food cupboards, items in the fridge labelled with the individuals name). A person contributing towards your food budget, implies that the relationship isn't a formal carer/client relationship but that you are living more communally as a shared household and that he is financially supporting you by assisting with your food costs.

Harsh I know, but these are the sort of assumptions that you are going to have to counteract as part of your mandatory reconsideration.   

Do  keep trying to pursue this with CAB

Best Wishes.   

Jean

jan119

Thank you for your info jean the car is only used when I am in it but if we go out to benefit both of us he does pay towards the fuel that the only reason he does  the fridge isn't lables but he has his own shelf and draw within it also his own receipts for shoping ect  thanks everyone jan