Possible ESA underpayment

bcfc

my wife had a visitor who filled in the esa 3ibr form July 12th.  2018 she passed away August 2019 she had no savings lived alone ( we were still married & i looked after her for 10 yrs not as a carer) all they keep saying now about possible esa underpayment is they have not got her records. so does anyone know what happens now. surely they cannot say she wasnt underpaid or say she was paid correctly. with no proof either way i am a bit confused

poppy123456

Hi and welcome,

I'm one of the community champions here on scope and i'm here to help and advise others.

I'm sorry to hear this, it must be an extremely difficult time for you. You say she was your wife but also say she lived alone, is that correct please? You didn't live with her?

I don't understand what they are saying by "we don't have her records" are you sure they told you this, if so then what records are they talking about? Usually they will ask for bank statements etc as well as all the questions that are on the form.

The underpayments concern those that were previously claiming Incapacity benefit and transferred to ESA. Whether she will be owed any money will depend on her circumstances during the dates stated in the letter. The things they look at and take into consideration are living with partner that works or claims any other means tested benefits. Savings/capital, works pensions and any transitional support protection she may have been claiming when she transferred across from Incapacity benefit.

bcfc

Hi poppy i have noticed that your knowledge is very good on here. yes my wife lived alone but as i said the last 10 yrs i sorted out all her problems for her she had 2 carers 4 times a day & couldn't do anything for herself i went to all of her appointments with her . her mind was sound & we communicated with a transboard ( a to z ) she was on high rate pip & i think she got £276 a fortnight esa plus her pension credit £76 a week which started in 2015 i am phoning dwp this afternoon to ask what they mean by not having her records information  etc . i i  next of kin & have a letter of probate from hrmc & have so far dealt with funeral utilities council tv licence sky etc 

poppy123456

@bcfc pension credit? this can't be correct because you can't receive pension credit and ESA at the same time. Are you sure it wasn't some other kind of pension, like a private works pension?

The amount of ESA she was claiming tells me that she was claiming Contributions based with an Income related top up at least. Unless you were claiming ESA as a couple? or what he claim a single claim?

I'm afraid without knowing all of her exact details then it's impossible to help you further.