If this is your first visit, check out the community guide. You will have to Join us or Sign in before you can post.
Anyone else having a delay with ESA?
System
Posts: 519 Scope community team
This discussion was created from comments split from: Backdated ESA payments.
Replies
Very frustrating. Anyone else going through the same?
Scope community team
I have heard they were taking close to 20 weeks but June 2019 - March 2020 is a long time to wait! Please let us know when you hear and fingers crossed for you.
Scope
Your feedback is really important to the development of the online community, so please remember to complete our online community annual survey.
Thanks for welcome! Yes it is a long time to wait. I was told the reason why is dwp have to check everyone's financial status which for me would not take long as I told them I had no savings at all!
They must be seriously behind to take up to 9 months to make decisions. I will of course update as and when I hear anything. My advice - don't hold your breath waiting!
I can help you there. BeX is a computer program called Business Explorer. It can analyze data amongst other things.
This link may clarify things better for you -
https://www.google.com/amp/s/searchsap.techtarget.com/definition/BEx?amp=1
In particular there is a sentence that mentions that BeX can be used to analyze financial data between fiscal years. Basically the DWP are checking your financial history on the dates when you are wanting a back payment and just want to confirm that what you have told the on the form they originally sent to you is matching their records on BeX.
I believe this checking is causing a lot of delays with everyone as it is not a fast process. When you have 500,000 people to check and limited staff to cope, it is leading to extreme delays like for me and you.
If you hear any good news please let us know. The more positive news regarding back payments is most definitely needed!
I think they have processed a lot of the 500,000 I check the government website for updates if this link helps:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-progress-on-checking-october-2019/october-2019-esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking
I will update you if I hear anything
I don't even understand this process to be honest. Looking at what the requirements are, it looks like you need to be seriously disabled or be entitled to other premiums yet the form I had originally was mainly just asking me what savings I had. I fail to see how they can make decisions based just on that form. Doesn't look like many people are getting any back payment now, maybe 10% of all people who have been checked recently.
I will of course let you know if I hear any good news. I wouldn't worry about the BeX busibess. As I say, they will just be checking your form and see if it corroborates with what you said originally when you were on Sickness Benefit/ESA. Then an arbitrary check with your bank to see if you had a secret stash of savings!
Looking at the gov.uk site, to get income-related ESA, it looks to me you need more than the basic sickness benefit and need to be on extra premiums or at the very least be eligible for them. I do recall for a brief time I was on disability living allowance (low component) but pretty sure I was always on contributory sickness/esa.
Below is from gov.uk. That's why I'm confused with the form they sent to me originally when they mainly concentrated on savings. Apart from a few questions about who I was living with and rent/mortgage arrangements, none of the questions were related to how disabled you are to possibly qualify for premiums or income based ESA.
1. Extra payments, called premiums, are available only to qualifying customers who are eligible for income-related benefits. These include the Enhanced Disability, Severe Disability, Carer, and Pensioner Premiums.
2. Largely between January 2011 and October 2014 some people receiving Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance had their claims converted to contributory ESA. However, the possibility of whether they may also have been entitled to income-related ESA was not considered for all cases. This means they may have missed out on the payment of premiums, such as the Enhanced Disability Premium.
The amount of tax payers money for this is beyond a joke.
I also hope the dwp provides the punchline when they finally get round to finishing this debacle as I'm struggling to find anything amusing with this joke.
my son turned 18 so apparently you can’t get the severe disablement amount and my area moved me onto UC when he turned 18
Right I have had another in-depth look at the difference between contributory and income related. You get put on contributory if you have paid enough National Insurance stamps but I'm not sure whether that's in total or a certain period prior to receiving ESA.
I was actually on Sickness Benefit/ESA for mental health related issues including severe depression, anxiety and one other disorder I'd like to remain private. I was on these benefits for at least 10 years. The period they are checking for me is near the end of my time on ESA. Suffice to say I wasn't doing any kind of work to pay any NI and hadn't since around 1997/1998. It's making me second guess as to whether at some point between when I was put on contributory sickness/ESA and coming off it around 2013 whether I would have been eligible for income based. It's all very confusing!
I tried in August 2014 to return to work. I was in the support group but wanted to try and I had suffered PTSD and mental health issues following a violent sexual attack whilst out by a stranger. It didn’t work trying to get back to work and I was put back on esa, I was on pip then not DLA and suddenly when I returned to esa in March 2015 I was given the premium that I didn’t get before trying to get back to work.
I don’t get CB for my son he is now looking for work and on UC which provoked a housing benefit change/tex credit and I was told I had to go on UC.
Or have I completely oversimplified matters and there are lots of hidden clauses that might make you eligible for income based ESA?
Personally I don't think I will get anything. I've been living with my parents and there wasn't an option to include what contribution to rent I pay towards so had to include it in any extra information page at the end.
Is living with two parents who work classed the same as living with a partner who does? My parents income is none of DWP's business and hope that has no bearing on whether or not I get back payment. I pay my way fair & square and my father is only part-time now and mother just retired.
I know you've said it's very difficult to say in an open forum the reasons why someone might/might not qualify for back payment but is there anywhere that has a detailed list of things the government check?
I put down no savings, no other income, I had to pay for 4 prescriptions a month because I was on contribution based IB, in fact I gave a very good impression I was destitute yet I just don't see me getting anything back. My circumstances are just not out of the ordinary enough.
If the main factor was income & savings then you would find 80% of claimants would be getting back payment yet clearly it is a minority who gets them.
I feel there is a much bigger underlying factor as to what makes someone eligible and I don't think savings/income is it.
Thankfully I am not suffering with the issues I had previously and successfully returned to work. I am currently unemployed and claiming the ever so popular Universal Credit. I get £321 a month with that.
I did not know you could claim for free prescriptions due to hardship? I remember once purchasing the 12 month subscription for prescriptions and had to resort to getting an exemption NHS card which allowed reductions with certain NHS procedures such as dentistry otherwise I would not be able to afford that as I had to pay for that too on IB.
I could cope very well indeed if they told me I am not eligle for anything but the wait until possibly March next year with nothing certain is extremely frustrating. I would love an opportunity to engage direct with the people making these judgements and just provide whatever information they need so I can move on from this.
I really feel for rhe people who have to cope with life changing disabilities who are also waiting for possible payments knowing that payment could very well find a more comfortable life. I am pleased that forums like this exist to help people deal with their frustrations and hopefully get to speak to other disabled people who are going through the same and can really sympathise. This site and others like it are certainly the unsung heroes in this government made debacle.
Just know your help, support and genuine concern does not go unnoticed ☺️
That's the thing Poppy. The dwp just send a form out and say you will hear something after 6 weeks and all you have is an ESA hotline number where you spend upwards of an hour listening to Mozart only to be told that the ESA back payment has a new line where you spend another hour listening to Mozart only to be informed they know nothing about where your process is at, whether it's actively been looked into or provide any useful information apart from 'check in every month with us'. Im sure they only want me to check in to make sure I've not died of boredom or the lack of will to live waiting for any concrete information!
Right that's rant over! I refuse to allow them to grind me down anymore than they already have ☺️
I may have to actually apply for ESA pretty soon as I'm starting to suffer with insomnia due to the nightmares I was having hearing repeated automated messages about the .gov.uk website, that I am still in a queue and all agents are busy and I'm getting very proficient with my piano skills practising Mozart when I leave my phone on speaker!
One more phone call and if I ever appear on mastermind, my chosen subject will be 'ESA general hotline June 2019-March 2020'!
The bit I hate about being on the line is just before you get the repeated automated voice messages every 2-3 minutes, it sounds like a glitch so you actually think someone is actually manning the phone and have decided to pick up and actually talk to you. Then you realise it was all just wishful thinking and you really are in a nightmarish setup where you will swear blind the government is trying to punish you personally for daring to have the nerve to be ill at all by taking any will to live from you by repeatedly playing the same classical music over and over and over and over!
😂
You will soon get used to my sarcastic humour, I was of course making jest of the hotline and I will not be applying for ESA due to the government's new policy of making sure ill people do not waste the day in bed sleeping when they suffer with insomnia!
Your post is the most informative I've seen anywhere about ESA and makes the government's techno babble on their website designed to make it as difficult as possible to even have the desire to make any claims by confusing you into doubting yourself that you are indeed eligible for anything.
They should employ you to speak on the automated messages on ESA hotline as there is more co?on sense on your post than there is altogether on .gov's website!
You have obviously been to the Plain English school and passed with flying colours - well done 😉☺️
Oh I will be sure to let you know. Just don't hold your breath waiting! I shall give them my monthly call in 2 weeks and listen to how I'm still waiting in a queue and rest assured I will be dealt with quickly and then spend 2 minutes listening to the spiel about that it is an enquiry line only and there will be no-one to help me along with every other poor soul who calls up in the lost hope someone like yourself is on the other end of line and actually cares ☺️
I enjoyed reading your post about the new ESA. I'm assuming the only benefit to having this new ESA is that you won't have to attend appointments at the job centre where your advisor only has 10 minutes available for you so it is best not to test their job title of advising as there is very little to advise in such a short amount of time.
Yes I'm being sarcastic again! My way of dealing with life's little problems that come along. 😉
Sleep well. Do not dream of Austrian composers who were born in the 18th century 😉 j
Thanks for all your help it is very much appreciated.
I managed to get a decision about backpayment ESA! If you check my initial post here it was 15th October 2019 and if you recall, the ESA backpayments hotline informed me it would take until March 2020 to get a decision as (and I quote) 'having backdates' to the lengthy list of people waiting to hear about the backpayments.
28th October I get a brown envelope that you know can only come from DWP to inform me that I will not be eligible for backpayment ESA. Amazingly between 15th October and 24th October (the date the letter was printed) , my details were not only found but acted upon yet it was supposed to be March next year I heard!
Just in case you do not know @poppy123456 along with the decision, you get a detailed page of all financial concerns that the DWP have taken into consideration to make a decision. Mine had quite a few different amounts of money coming from ESA such as what they class as my living expenses based on my NI contributions which was £71.00 per week, extra money for being in the Work-related activity group which was £28.15 per week and a top-up payment of £11.70 per week to get me to the £110.85 per week which the DWP say I was entitled to. Because I did actually get £110.85 per week, they have deemed it necessary to not allow me to have a backpayment.
I am not actually upset about it because I have the attitude of 'you can't lose what you never had'.
Just going through all the data they sent me, there is a lot they check up on with regards to incomings and outgoings. Luckily I lived with my parents at the time so I had no bills etc which has made the DWP's life easier to sort it out.
Anyway Poppy I just want to say how grateful I am for all your assistance, advice and seemingly a never-ending supply of information about the benefits system and what help there is out there. It's been a pleasure 😊
I will check back in from time to time to see if anyone needs any help that I've gone through myself.
😉
I must admit I am confused by what you have said but it is not your fault as you described it perfectly clear. I do not recall having any confirmation from DWP I would be going from contribution based to income related. I always thought I was on contribution based. What you say makes sense that after a certain amount of time i.e 365 you're assessed to see your income but I do not recall any checks or paperwork being done.
Can I ask you about the dates I've been given on the period they checked please as I am still uncertain why it it is only this time period and no time prior to that as I was in ESA a long time. The dates concerned are between 29th May 2012 - 9th April 2013. Why is the checks being carried out only start in May 2012? Is it the same for everyone? Just trying to seek some clarity to the muddy waters that the DWP like to throw out way!
Thanks in advance!