ESA and UC for Autistic son

chappyandy

Hi everyone 
This is my first post on here so please be gentle!

I am looking for help and advice for my 18 year old son who has Autism with learning difficulties and who attends a local college on a full time interface course.
I am his Dad and his DWP Appointee.
He applied for ESA in October and after having anxiety In having to attend an interview at the local Job Centre to complete the claim and also at the doctors for a fit note to say he was unfit for work,we assumed the claim was progressing.
We then received a Health Assesment form in November which was returned ,after which we had heard nothing back.
I rang today to chase up the claim to be told a bizarre response.
They said he had been placed in the support group but he isn't entitled to any ESA as it was New style ESA which is contribution based,which,as my son  has never worked,means he won't get any ESA.
They told me I need to apply all over again through Universal Credit to which I replied that they had all the information  they need to do this but they said my son has once again got to attend a job centre interview and basically start from scratch.
It is all so frustrating 
Any help and advice on  this would be greatly appreciated.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi chappyandy,

It all depends really when the area that your son lives in became a full service Universal Credit area. If this happened before October then your son couldn't make a claim for Income related ESA and any ESA claim would only have been for new style or contribution based ESA, to which he is not entitled as he hasn't worked.
If it was a live service Universal Credit area in October then really they should assess his IR ESA claim providing that is what he applied for. If you fill in a paper form it would ask whether you wanted to claim ESA C, ESA IR or both and the same question would have been asked if it was done over the phone.
If it has been a UC area since before October I don't think your son has any other choice but to apply for UC online and start the process all over again, but you've certainly got cause to complain to the DWP as really if they were bothered they'd have told you or your son to have claimed UC from a much earlier date.

Lee