Does anyone know anything about the ESA3 (IBRD) 11/18 form?

ESABenefitsUK123

I just got this form through the post from the DWP.  I guess it was sent to me automatically, as I didn't ask for it.  It's ESA3 (IBRD).  The letter says - You were paid contribution-based ESA from Sep 2012 to Oct 2018, which replaced incapacity benefit.  You might also be eligible for income-related ESA for the above period.  If you are, you may be eligible to extra payments.  These are called premiums.

The form wants to know what my savings were, for the period above, but that's an awkward question, because they went up and down a lot, during that 6 year period!

Anyway, assuming that I am eligible, do you know, very roughly of course, what I might get?  Between that period, I got nothing at all from the DWP, only NICs.  Thanks for any comments.

poppy123456

Hi,

This form is being sent to everyone that transferred from IB to ESA, whether you qualify for backdated money or not. Some have been contacted and they haven't been entitled to any backdated money.

Are you receiving NI credits towards your state pension only? If so then you must be in the WRAG? If you're in the WRAG have you always been in this group? Do you live with a partner that works or claims any other benefits?

Whether you would qualify for any backdated money will depend on a few things. Living with partner that works or claims any other benefits, savings/capital and income from pensions.

ESABenefitsUK123

Thanks a lot.  

>> Are you receiving NI credits towards your state pension only?

Yes, I think so.  This has been the case from about 2013 to about 2018.

>> If so then you must be in the WRAG?

Here's what has happened: when I got switched from IB to ESA, back in 2012, I think the DWP then gave me one year's worth of ESA benefits money.  I guess this was contributions based ESA?  Then, after that year passed, I told them that I had over 16K worth of savings, so I think what they did was to just pay me NICs only, without giving me any ESA benefits money.  I believe that at that time, I was in the WRAG.  I certainly wasn't in the Support group then.

That was in 2012/2013.

Fast forward to last year, when these two things happened, more or less at the same time:

I told the DWP that my savings had gone below 6K, and also, my health had deteriorated.  So, what happened is that they started paying me ESA benefits money again, then they shortly told me after that, that I had been transfered over to the Support group.

>> If you're in the WRAG have you always been in this group?

Always in WRAG, but since late last year 2018, I got switched to the Support group.

>>  Do you live with a partner that works or claims any other benefits?

No partner for the whole time mentioned above.

Many thanks for any additional advice/thoughts..

poppy123456

Ah yes, now i remember you. Ok, when placed into the WRAG Contributions based is only paid for 365 days once that ends you're assessed for Income Related and if you don't qualify then you will receive NI credits towards your state pension only.

The reason you weren't entitled to any Income Related was because of your savings.

When place into the Support Group Contributions based is paid for as long as you remain in that group. Had you been placed into that group the you would have continued to receive money from Contributions based ESA.

As you remained in the WRAG then once your money dropped below £16,000 then you should have contacted DWP to report the changes. You would have had a reduction in your ESA but you would have received something. This is totally different to the DWP error that happened when people transferred from IB.

All i can say is fill out the form with all the information it asks and return it to them. You will need to send bank statements too. Decision times can be from 12-20 weeks.

At the moment it's impossible to tell whether you're owed any backdated money but DWP will assess you.

ESABenefitsUK123

Thanks a lot! I just had an interesting chat with a DWP phone rep about this.  The main thing he said was that they will def pay up if at the specified start date on the letter, your savings were <16K.  He also said that it's unlikely they will pay up if at the end of year 1 of the specified start date, your savings were >16K, even if your savings then went <16K after the first year of being on contrib based ESA, and before the specified end date.  He said it's still worth filling in the form though, which I will do...