Any advice about what to do

clare_1

Hello all.

I'm writing to see if anyone would be able to help me with a situation that's occurred today.

I have recently just been put into the surport group for ESA, I have a partner that worked 20 hours a week and that we put on the forms/sent in wage slips ect and they are awear of.
Today he has been sacked for a job he been at for 5 years, on unfair dismissal. I think Citizen advice will probably be best action to take for that.

But the help I need with is what now happens about our ESA.
What do they need to have, like P45 or any other information and what it will mean about payments.
Will they change ect?.

Any help/advice would be great

poppy123456

Hi,

Are you claiming New style ESA? or the old Contributions based or Income related?

clare_1

It says on the letter...
We cannot pay you contribution-based Employment and support  beacuse you have reached the maximum of 365 that you can get this benefit for.

A dission on your Capability for work. You have been moved from Work Related  Activity Group to the support group.

Your circumstances means you qualify for Christmas Bounse payment.

I hope that this is the information you need

clare_1

I have been off work for about 4 years now.
I fell I'll and the union helped me beacsue my employer of 8 years wanted to get rid of me on health reason.
So I have been on ESa for a long time but never been put in the surport group.
We have always told them of partners job but now just worried about what's going to happene now

poppy123456

As you've been moved from the work group to Support Group then Contributions based is paid for as long as you were in that group, so the letter really doesn't make any sense. Best thing you can do is to ring DWP and ask, the number will be on the letter you received.

clare_1

Ok thank you.

I had a review and had to go for an assessment not so long ago and then got the letter of this dission in September.

So beacuse my partner has been sacked today I need to inform them of this.
Will it mean that our money will go up or down, do you know?

poppy123456

Then you'll be claiming the old Contributions based ESA and it should be possible for you to claim this as a couple. You will need to ring ESA and report the changes.

If you need to claim for help with any rent then you'll need to claim Universal Credit because new claims for housing benefit are no longer possible.

clare_1

My paterner is already down on my forms and beacuse he was working 20 hours a week the payment we received was £111.65 a week.
Before I got the dission about changing from work related to surport group we was only getting £44 a week.
It says in the breakdown of payments 
Living expenses for you and your partner ect

That's why I thought I would ask to see if anyone would know what we both would be getting now that we are both not working.
Or if we would have to wait a certain amount of time before money changes

poppy123456

ESA Support Group couples rate is £177.50 per week. You will need to ring ESA to report the changes.

Do you need to claim for help with paying any rent? or do you own your own home?

clare_1

Ok thank you for that information.

We unfortunately lost our flat when I lost my job, living with parents atm but on the concil list and been waiting 3 years already.

Will have to inform the council of change also?.

Is there anything els we can claim, like carers ect.

Just a nightmare thing to happen and not been through this before so trying to get things sorted asap.

Appreciate the help 

poppy123456

You're welcome. I'm sorry to hear that. You will only need to inform the council if you're claiming housing benefit, which you won't be because you live with parents. If they claim housing benefit themselves then they should inform them.

Your partner could only claim carers allowance if you're claiming daily living PIP or mid/high rate care DLA. If they claim carers allowance then this will be deducted from your ESA £1 for £1 and a carers premium will be added. This will make you both £36.85 per week better off, than if carers allowance wasn't claimed.

clare_1

That's fantastic information thank you.

I'm in the prosse of waiting for PIP to get back to me. They sent me a text message on 10/9/19 to say they have recived my report from my written assessment. We will write to you once we have made our decision. As a guide you should hear from us in about 6 weeks. You dont need to contact us.
Then on the 23rd September 2019 they sent me a letter to say. We now have the information we need to decide if we can award you PIP. No need to contact us we will write when we've made decisions.

So safe to say I'm confussed about that beacuse I thought they said the same on the 10/9/19 ?.

I won my last one at a tribunal and got awarded enhanced for both living and moving around. The one before that I w9nt at a tribunal also.

So not to sure what to make of the dates, do I go from 6 weeks from the 10th or the 23rd Sept ?‍♀️

poppy123456

You're welcome. The text and letter you received is just standard procedure and doesn't really mean anything. The time scale you were given is just a guide because there's no timescales. Backlogs is just part of the reason a decision can be delayed.

You can ring to request a copy of the report, this will tell you what the decision is likely to be because they mostly go with the report. You'll still need to wait for a decision but you'll have some idea.

Hopefully not too much longer.

clare_1

Thank you Poppy.

I wonder if you could help me with more information please about the PIP letter I was waiting for.

As I said I'm waiting for a letter to see if they will be paying me.
Well the last two times I won through tribunal and was waiting  for a letter.
But today I check my bank and they have payed me.

My last PIP ran out in end of August this year and looks like they have payed me to months and a bit at the enhanced rate that I was reciving before it stopped.

Beacuse this has never happened before I'm confussed because evie had no letter about any dission made just the text and letter to recived all information needed to decided.

The last two times they have sent the scores out that I got 0 and then I had to MR it and then tribunal and took over a year. 
I didnt think they pay you untill you have decided if you want yo MR the dission, or could it be they have kept me on enhanced for both beacus ri did state in the form the last two time I've had to go through tribunal and got enhanced for both and just explaining that they should have all medical records for this ect.

Alot to read 8 know just my head going 100 to 1 atm and overthinking everything lol. I would ring but I have trouble speaking so have to get someone els to ring on my behalf, so thought I would see if you had any clue as to what could have happened.

Thank you in advance 

poppy123456

It looks like a decision's been made on your claim and they've backdated your money. Usually you'll receive the money in the bank before you receive the decision letter. I know you went to Tribunal previously but this doesn't mean this will happen again this time, lots of people successfully claim PIP without any problems at all and it looks like you're one of them.

Give them a ring and they'll tell you what the decision is, if you can't do that then hopefully you'll receive the decision letter in the next few days.

clare_1

Thank you.
Your so helpful.

So means that I will have the enhanced rate for both again, as payment would reflect that. If they changed it they would have to let me know incase saying to MR it wouldnt they?.
So confusing when your used to fighting for a dission, dosent feel real atm.

Thank you once again. Will wait for a letter.

poppy123456

You're very welcome.

If payments reflect enhanced for both then i will assume that's the award you've been given. Don't assume the worst, until the worst does happen, i know that's very difficult to do especially when you're so used to having to fight for what you're entitled to.

If the worst would have happened and you were refused then you would have still needed to wait for the decision letter. Looks like the MR won't be needed this time and that's fantastic news! Do let us know though when you do have the decision letter but i'm sure everything will be fine, they wouldn't have backdated any money if the decision was not to award you.

Chloe_Alumni

Thank you so much for your advice here @poppy123456, and please do let us know how you get on @clare_1.

clare_1

Ok so I have miscalculated and looks like they have changed dission to standard for both.

Are they allowed to do that when I got enhanced for both last time.
What happens to the payment that they have game me today. Will I have to do a MR if I dont agree with standard for both.

I'm going to get my mum to ring and just waiting but any information would be great

poppy123456

Any new decision overrules the previous decision made by the Tribunal. As you don't know what the actual decision is yet then i wouldn't speculate anything until you know for sure.

I'm not sure what you mean by "what happens to the payment you received today"

If you disagree with the decision then your first step will always be the MR followed by Tribunal if the MR decision remains the same and most of them do. Waiting times for hearings in most areas are huge so you could be waiting as long as 1 year for a hearing date.

If your mum is not your appointee then you will need to go through security before passing the phone onto your mum.

Do let us know when you find out the decision.

clare_1

Ok so mum has just rang for me and they have awarded me standard rate for both. 
I have to wait for the letter to do  MR and so on.
They will still be paying me standard rate throughout even if I do go down the MR route.
If they dont change and like you said it unlikely if I win at the tribunal they will back dated the extra enhanced rate for both back to this August.

When I asked about what happens about the payment today I meant will I still get payed if I do an MR and been told I will so answered that for me.

I dont know how long they have awarded me the dission yet but I will be fighting beacuse the dission is wrong. I have more things wrong with me now than I did 4 years ago.

So still have to fight but atleast this time I will be getting some sort 9f money instead of nothing like the last two times.

Now I have been awarded dose that mean when it comes to the end of the award, will it be a new claim I have to do again or will they just review it and send different paperwork out?