Received ESA letter for my dad (I'm his next of kin)

niki4daz

Hi I received a letter back in October for my dad (he passed in 2018) as I’m his next of kin, it was about money he might of been owed due to an esa error from 2013 to 2018. I filled it in and sent it back and I’ve just received a letter this morning saying he was due some money. I’ve phoned and they can’t tell me how much so I’m just wondering what this is for if anyone can help at all. Thankyou 

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

This must have been very difficult for you to have to go through this after your father passed away.

This will be because of the Incapacity benefit to ESA error when some people transferred across. People were placed on Contributions based ESA and weren't assessed for the income related top up.

You can read more here in this link. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45903514

If you're claiming means benefits yourself, then any money owed is disregarded from all means tested benefits for 1 year. This means that it won't affect any means benefits you're claiming.

niki4daz

thankyou for your reply poppy, it was quite uncomfortable doing the interview over the phone to be honest. I was wondering how much he would of been entitled too. I’ve seen some comments saying thousands. I’ve sent the form back now anyway just wait and see now how much as they have already said he was owed money. Thankyou so much x

poppy123456

You're welcome. I can't imagine how awful that was for you.

How much he may have been under paid will depend on his circumstances during those dates. Some have been owed thousands, while others have been owed much smaller amounts of hundreds. Usually they do make a decision on these claims for those that have passed away much quicker than other claims, so hopefully you should know in a few weeks.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @niki4daz. I'm sorry to read about your father.
It's difficult for us to give an estimate as to how much might be owed, because it's really dependant upon his personal circumstances and income/savings etc while he was claiming. I hope they manage to process this for you quickly so you can know what's going on. 

niki4daz

Hi everyone, 

Really hoping someone can help. In September I received a letter off esa for my dad who passed away in June 2018 which said “ we need to look at your fathers esa this replaced the incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance they were getting. We need to decide if they might have been able to get income related esa from may 2013 to June 2018, my dad was on £220 a fortnight esa and on pip middle rate mobility and high rate on the other 1. 

So last week I received another letter saying he was owed some money and very basic form asking if I was his next of kin and if I payed for the funeral If not who was and obviously I am his next of kin and I payed the funeral so I put my bank details down and and signed it. It said it had to be sent back ASAP so this morning I phoned to see if they had received it and they said yes they had but then said he might not be owed money that the letters are generated by a computer so I feel very confused. Has anyone had this form? It’s seems very strange to me because I thought once you give your bank details the matter has been dealt with. Thankyou in advance 

woodbine

When people were transferred from incapacity benefit to ESA many should have been given an income related top up and this didn't happen in a fairly large number of cases, they will now look into your fathers payments and see if they owe his estate any money.

poppy123456

HI,

Whether he'll be owed any money from between those dates will totally depend on his circumstances during that time. Letters from DWP can often be very misleading and sometimes make no sense. Unfortunately, until you receive a decision letter then it's impossible to know either way, whether he's owed money or not. Some have and some haven't.

Hopefully, it won't be too much longer. I can't imagine how stressful this must under these circumstances.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @niki4daz. It does seem very strange for them to send you a letter saying he was due some money and then to tell you on the phone now, that he might not be.
Unfortunately, without seeing the letter it's difficult to know what's going on for sure. Do you know if it was a decision letter or was it more general?
It could be that the letter was more generic and misleading and they are still looking into his claim, or it could be that the person you spoke to on the phone advised incorrectly and didn't look properly into the claim when you called. 
I'm really sorry as I imagine this is all really stressful. Hopefully you find out for definite either way soon. 

niki4daz

Thanks for the reply everyone, 

I wish I could show it to you Adrian but the letter was attached to the form I had to send back. I should of got a picture of it but I didn’t think to be completely honest and just sent it back.

it just said we have looked at your dads case and have decided he was owed some money. Then it asked some questions on the next page like who is next of kin, where he died (home or hospice) who payed for his funeral and then bank details and on the last page was for the signature. 4 pages in total but all attached if you know what I mean. 

Thankyou 

Chloe_Scope

Hi @niki4daz, how are you getting on?