I should've been entitled to SDP since 2019. My claim needs to be rebuilt. Will I still get ESA?

danro90

So I recently found out I've been entitled to SDP from the feb2019 ....I was told last week it had to be authorised by someone higher up as its a large sum of money and now today im being told my whole claim has "broken" (thats the term they used) and it needs to be rebuilt as its now "clerical" im so confused by what this all even means, the woman I spoke to was so rude about it all to me and its really caused my anxiety to go through the roof ...she said it could be weeks till its all sorted out and im stressing out and have to "just wait"....but they also said my backpay is "currently being checked"...how is my claim affected now? If anyones been through the same, will I still be paid my ESA as usual? & lastly, not as important but if anyone knows how long did it take before getting paid the owed money from SDP?

chiarieds

Hi @danro90 - welcome to the community. I'm sorry about the distress this must have caused. I would suggest calling again, as you could ring 3 of these call handlers & get 3 different answers. Hopefully you'll get someone more helpful, who can tell you more precisely what's going on. Your claim sounds like it's being looked at to authorise how much money you're owed, & your normal ESA payment will be completely separate from sorting out your SDP, so will be paid as usual. I'm afraid I don't know when you'll receive the money owed because of the SDP, but you can only enquire again.

danro90

Hi thanks for the response...I've spoke to 3 different people about it and 2 last week told me similar and told me to ring up this week if i hadn't heard anything & the 3rd person today was really rude to me and wouldn't tell me much which has left me confused...she said my claim has been removed off the system and needs to be rebuilt as it's now clerical...I dont know what that means? From searching im not getting good things, people having to ring up every pay day to request payments...its really stressing me out now...ill try ring again tomorrow 

MarkM88

Most people you will speak to when you call will be call handlers that are outsourced and wont be DWP staff, so the majority of the time they don't even know what they are talking about. 

Unfortunately it is a waiting game and you will just have to wait until they have done what is needed and then the claim for SDP will be processed. 

I don't see an issue with calling again, but just remember you will be talking to a call handler, and if you don't understand a term they are using, tell them so and ask for clarification. 

Ross_Alumni

Hi @danro90

Welcome to the community, good to see you join us. Sorry to hear of the inconvenience this has caused you, and hopefully it can be cleared up soon.

Hope the above replies have helped.

danro90

Thanks for your responses, im going to ring tomorrow and get a better explanation hopefully, im not fussed about waiting for the SDP it'll get to me when its ready, i just thought I'd ask about it while im on here..my main worry was about my esa claim, I dont want it to mess up on me, I struggle to cope with any slight changes in my life so its just threw me off abit...

danro90

Just thought I'd update incase anyone else goes through similar.....spoke to a proper DWP person yesterday and got everything explained properly then got another call again today saying its all been checked and processed and will be paid my arrears by tuesday and my ESA is being rebuilt back onto the system

chiarieds

Thank you for your update @danro90 - pleased things are getting sorted for you.

Ross_Alumni

danro90 said:

Just thought I'd update incase anyone else goes through similar.....spoke to a proper DWP person yesterday and got everything explained properly then got another call again today saying its all been checked and processed and will be paid my arrears by tuesday and my ESA is being rebuilt back onto the system

Thanks for the update, that's good news.