nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

ESA Change reported heard nothing back please help.

DawnXT

Hey all so i was previously living alone claiming ESA as a single person, my partner has now moved in and has become my full time carer so isn't in employment anymore and as such is being added to my esa income related support group benefit,

anyways ESA etc have been informed of the change i also got my bank details updated at the same time i've received corrispondence regarding my bank details being updated from ESA and that any future payments will go into the new account however the letter failed to state what amount or anything would go in i assume this is because they were still working out what my new entitlement would be, anyways i've heard nothing since and my normal general ESA payment as it would've been would be due tomorrow, however given i haven't heard anything back from them if no money goes in my account tomorrow morning is there any hardship payment temporary payment i can access in the meantime? (in case they still haven't come to a decision or it hasn't been looked at yet) as realistically it's going to leave me and my partner in a rough patch financially if they haven't sorted the money out as we were both surviving off of my last ESA payment that i got pretty much 2 weeks ago and that money is streching very thin by now, any advice on anything i could get in the mean time if no money goes in tomorrow would be greatly appreciated. thank you

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

calcotti

This isn’t an answer to your question but are you claiming any other benefits?
Ignore that, just realised we’ve been through that on your other thread!
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/78357/esa-income-related-support-group#latest

DawnXT

yes i get pip.

and housing benefit which is currently being reassesed due to the change but that goes directly to the housing association

DawnXT

hey calcotti, yes i've spoken to you before on the other thread

calcotti

DawnXT said:

hey calcotti, yes i've spoken to you before on the other thread

Realised just after I posted!
I think you are just going to have to wait and see what you get tomorrow and, if nothing comes in, ring them.

DawnXT

ah ok, and yeah i'm hopeful that something will go in, in the early hours of the morning as normal and that the letter is going to turn up tomorrow too, if it doesn't then i think i'll have to ring them again.

janer1967

Hopefully as you haven't heard anything they may not have auctioned the change yet and at least you should get your normal payment . Which is better than nothing ar all

But I kay be wrong let us know the outcome as we may come across the query again

DawnXT

yeah with any luck i'm hoping the normal amount might at least come in with any luck, i'm just concered incase it doesn't as they cant expect me to finacially survive off of no money at all

janer1967

I think they can make same day payments if there is an error try not to worry it may all be worry over nothing

DawnXT

i've just been checking my account i can only assume despite being informed of both changes around 10 days ago they still haven't looked at it or something as while the bank details have now been updated as requested and they were informed of my partner moving in which in turn would slightly lower my entitlement by around £37 every 2 weeks they've gone ahead and paid the usual £395.20 in so i'm just thankful that eitherway i know we'll be able to manage through the next 2 week period although it does make me question what the hold up is why it hasn't been changed, but i've done my bit by informing them so i'll just leave it down to them to sort now i guess, thank you for the advice @janer1967 i really appreciate it

janer1967

That's good at least you have been paid

There are lots of backlogs so hopefully it will be auctioned by time of your next payment

Thanks for the update

DawnXT

ESA Update: so 1 week ago i received a text from the DWP on a saturday morning asking me to contact ESA regarding my claim stating that i needed to contact them immediately as they needed to ask some questions about my partner for my esa claim so we contacted them on monday, due to the fact i really struggle speaking to the benefits department due to severe anxiety etc i passed security then eventually put my partner on the phone to them, they basically stated that they wanted to know what date my partner moved in (Again) despite the fact this was previously stated to them upon reporting that my partner had moved in, and also they wanted to know my partners employment status, anyway because there was generally some confusion between me and my partner as to how much notice my partner had to give to leave his current employment of which he handed in his notice on the 27th of febuary he didn't move in until the beginning of April anyway, so he stated to benefits that his last work date was the "1st of april" as intially is manager said that would likely be that date anyways it conspires that now we have received the p45 that his employment offically terminated on the 28th of febuary again a date before he even moved in anyway although my partner didn't receive his p45 until the 31st of March, he hasn't received any money since moving in with me since he quit his job his last ever payment was at the end of Feb he was forloughed anyway due to the lockdown as the premises was closed, so we informed them of that information they requested and the guy my partner spoke to tried saying that "oh it seems like UC would be appropiate" which to my knowledge is completly innacurate... but he would pass over the information and we should then hear back via post ESA's decision

on to today i received the most horrendous letter from ESA stating that from the 26th of March i would no longer be entitled to income related ESA (no reason given) and i Also wouldn't be entitled to contribuition based ESA either worked out between the years 2008/2009 i dont want contribution based benefit anyway and wouldn't be entitled to it anyway, so i phoned them in tears also thrown up whilst on the phone several times throughout through all the stress shaking crying a right mess i honestly cant cope with things like this, anyways the guy i ended up speaking to i asked him how they reached this decision he couldn't tell me he said it seemed like a very rash decision and couldn't understand why i'd just been sent that, and to try and not worry about it they're now sending some kind of form out to get everything down on paper then they can try and reasses everything and try and get my claim back properly open, so i stated my partner handed in his notice on the 27th and his employment offically terminated on the (28th of Feb obviously now having received the p45) to which the guy said oh we have the 1st of April down here, so i just stated about the confusion which to be frank is only a difference of 1 day nevertheless... we've now got to complete this form and send it back, ESA never once asked for my partners p45 or any previous pay slips or anything he did ask if my partner was currently claiming any other benefits which i said no as he currently isn't claiming anything, although it is our intention eventually for my partner to claim carers allowance for me as he does provide around the clock care and support to me so he would be entitled to that, and given he provides full support to me he Will Not be looking for any form of employment whatsoever, could anyone please shed any light on what is going on or what the best steps are, as surely they cant say i'm not entiltied to any money to live on i'm long term sick and disabled physhically incapable of working so just because my partner who is my carer with or without carers allowance being paid and being unemployed before he moved in they cant say that i'm now entilted to nothing?

my partner is going to help and fill in the form once it arrives housing benefit now hasn't been paid over 2 weeks so rent debt is stacking up council tax too but they cant have what i dont have and we're down to very little money to last us god knows how long

can they do this why is this happening? i'm so confused mentally and emotionally exhausted i just dont know how much more of this i can take any advice would truly be appreciated thank you in advanced.

Ross_Alumni

Sorry to read about what you're going through at the minute @DawnXT, it sounds stressful but hopefully your persistence will pay off soon

If you want help with the form, or any other aspect of your benefits, you could always contact Advice Local, Welfare Rights or CAB. It's not always easy to do these things without support, especially when you're feeling as though the DWP are not making it straight forward.

I hope you have coping techniques in place to manage your mental health, and I hope your partner is supporting you. Please speak with your GP if you feel as though you need further mental health support, or you can access various kinds of support from Mind, Samaritans (on 116 123) and Shout (text "Shout" to 85258).

calcotti

Sorry you are having a hard time but would point out that the difference between 28th February and 1st April is a month, not one day, so please be sure that you have given ESA the correct dates.

The form they are sending may be an ESA3 which gathers information about your joint finances so that they can calculate income based ESA entitlement.

DawnXT

Hey @Ross_scope i really appreciate your responce my partner is supporting me through this as much as he can do it's new to both of us really as he's never delbt with benefits before, and i've never lived with a partner before, i usually always have help whenever having to deal with benefits either through a family member and now my partner, i dread to think what things this form is going to be asking i mean apart from the obvious information they already have well what more can i really tell them that they dont already know.. unless ofcourse they're planning on fully reassesing me again yay! >.< that's the last thing i need right now, but i guess only time will tell, i'm just really confused why they've cancelled my benefit claim it really makes zero sense, i just really hope for my own mental peice of mind and financially too, that it's sorted out very soon otherwise i'm likely to end up in allot of debt to add on top to everything else, and i cant feed me and my partner on thin air

DawnXT

Hey calcotti thank you for your responce, yes sorry i didn't explain it properly my head is completely in a mess right now, when i initally reported that my partner had moved in, they were informed that my partner was no longer employed and handed in his notice on the 27th of Febuary and was awaiting his p45 , so they knew that information and my partner told on the call (in relation to the text to call *before he had the p45*) that his last working day was the "1st of march" which is only one day difference as their was only 28 days in febuary and the p45 states on it the last date of employment was the 28th of febuary my partner moved in on the 2nd of March and ESA was informed on the 15th of March and now ESA are aware that the P45 states the 28th of Febuary, they also know that my partner has no money and last received any money from forlough employment back on the 26th of febuary and since the 2nd of march when he moved in has been living on my ESA claim ever since as any wage he did had went on paying off a prior family debt he had.

** please note where i said the ESA guy said they had the "1st of April" i meant to say the 1st of March, trying to type and keep my brain accurately functioning right now is pretty difficult.

DawnXT

they also know that my partner has no money ** they haven't actually asked how much money he got on his last pay check, or what day he got paid they never asked for any of that information which i thought they would've done, they also didn't ask for the p45 to be sent to them, so i said to the guy on the phone should i send a copy of that with this ESA form he said i could do, so i said i would but they've really not asked for much information at all or never stated anything about sending out a form until today when they've tried closing down my claim

calcotti

DawnXT said:** please note where i said the ESA guy said they had the "1st of April" i meant to say the 1st of March, trying to type and keep my brain accurately functioning right now is pretty difficult.

I guessed that was probably the case but just flagged it in case you had inadvertently said the wrong thing to ESA.

DawnXT

i just dont understand why they've closed my claim and making this into such a massive drama that it really shouldn't be, i've just searched up a ESA3 form that you stated and it looks pretty much like a full reclaim for asking for changes in disabilties and struggles and for all doctors information of which non of that has changed so i'm guessing from this form they're likely going to mess me about with yet another full reassesment *sigh*

DawnXT

i know the guy on the phone said he would send out a form then they can get it all on paper and find out my partners circumstances and relationship to me despite this is all things they've been told i'm so fed up of all this

calcotti

The ESA3 is primarily about gathering financial information. It will normally be sent out whenever someone wants income based entitled reassessed - which it has to be when you go from single to couple. This is completely normal for a change of circumstances.