DWP Official Errors

NeilB

Hello,
I’ve had absolute nightmare with the DWP over the last five weeks or so since being reassessed for IIDB.
I had been waiting two years for the assessment as they couldn’t do it due to Covid.
The issue is that IIDB originally told me that they informed ESA that I was in receipt of IIDB and ESA had also wrote back informing them that no arrears needed to be taken out of my Lump sum payment, this was on the 9th March 2022.
This meant that IIDB Department paid the gross lump sum into my bank account, this worried me as originally back in 2020 when I was last in receipt of IIDB it was taken from my ESA payments.
I next rang ESA to see if they knew or had been advised of me receiving IIDB, they knew nothing or hadn’t any notification from any other departments.
I advised them of dates and what had transpired thinking that they would contact IIDB to sort this mess out, but no nothing still happened, I received no updated paperwork from ESA showing IIDB deductions.
Still concerned I then rang IIDB again to see what was happening and explained that ESA had no knowledge of me receiving the lump sum or a monthly payment.
The lady I spoke to put me on hold, but didn’t place her headset on mute. I heard her say  “****” and then she returned.
She now advised the official form had never been emailed to ESA informing them in the first instance back in February 2022 when I was reassessed. 
I asked to speak to a manager, later that day a manager called John rang me back, he explained not to worry this would most likely be classed as an official error on the DWP behalf and not be recovered, but would need to be investigated.
It’s has been investigated by the DWP and classed as a official error.
Now on to my question, with this being classed as an official error is it disregarded as income when it comes to working out council tax reduction. 

I have read on the government’s website that’s if it’s an official error and it’s under £5000 it’s disregarded as capital for 12 months and if it’s over £5000 it’s for the lifetime of the claim, I just want some clarification on the matter.

Best Wishes,

Neil.

ps Sorry for the long story.

Ross_Alumni

Hi @NeilB

Thanks for making your post, I hope you are well today. 

Sorry to read of what you have been through, it sounds like a very frustrating situation and I imagine you're relieved that it has been investigated and you're finally getting somewhere. 

As for your question, I am not completely sure of the answer but I'm glad that you were able to find some detail on the matter from Gov.uk. Have you considered contacting your local authority to enquire about how this will impact your CTR? 

Sue_Alumni

Hi @NeilB

You’ve had a really stressful time dealing with the DWP but that you’ve eventually have got things sorted. To help me understand your question can I ask whether you are claiming contribution-based ESA topped up with income related ESA or just income related ESA? Are you receiving the correct amount of ESA now?

Council Tax Reduction

You ask whether you will still get Council Tax Support.

This depends on whether you are getting contribution-based ESA, income related ESA, or a combination of the two.  It seems that the DWP incorrectly assumed that your ESA claim was entirely contribution based.  As you know, IIDB is taken into account as income for means tested benefits and is disregarded for contribution-based benefits. If you had a contribution-based ESA claim the IIDB weekly amount would be added to your personal allowance. However, for irESA the IIDB payment would be taken into account as income as would your cbESA. You would receive your irESA personal allowance and any relevant premiums.

It is possible that depending on the rate awarded to you of your IIDB that you may still qualify for irESA. Your award notice from the DWP should be able to conform this. If you have an increased award of IIDB it is possible that you no longer have an entitlement to irESA.  This will affect your entitlement to Council Tax Support. Given the difficulties you have encountered with the DWP it might be worthwhile checking the figures and I would suggest using an online benefit calculator to check the position. If it turns out you’re not entitled to irESA you should advise your Local Authority and ask to be assessed for Council Tax Support. You should check with the DWP whether the amount they’re paying you is ir or cbESA.

How are the arrears of IIDB treated ?

Unfortunately, only arrears from certain benefits are disregarded in the manner you refer and IIDB is not one of the specified benefits. I don’t know, and can’t find any authority for, whether the capital disregard of personal injury compensation includes arrears of IIDB. I am hoping one of our community members may be able to give further input on this otherwise I can only suggest you contact your Industrial injuries Benefit Centre for further information.

Overpayment

I am assuming the overpayment related to the period from when your IIDB was eventually paid until the date the DWP accepted their official error and agreed not to recover the overpayment.  As a result the ESA overpayment seems to have been ignored for income and capital purposes.

Capital disregards are a complex area for benefit purpose and I hope I have at least given some help.

Sue

Sue_Alumni

Good morning,

Just to clarify a few points,

1.      I thought it would be helpful to contact the relevant IIDB office as (a) this is mentioned a point of contact on the gov.uk web site and (b) this cannot be an uncommon situation and must be something that crops up frequently.

2.     Assuming the arrears of IIDB are taken into account as capital, for the purposes of income related ESA, capital under £6,000 is ignored completely.  If the arrears are over £16,000 you will not be entitled to irESA. For irESA if you have between £6,000.01 and £16,000 you may be entitled to benefit but it is assumed you have some income “tariff income”.  The tariff income is £1.00 per week for every £250, or part of £250, of your capital between  £6,000.01 and £16,000. This tariff income is taken into account in calculating your irESA.

3.     Your capital is completely ignored for the purposes of contribution based ESA.

4.     Local Authorities devise their own council tax reduction schemes although they do share common characteristics.  Council Tax Reduction is not a social security benefit, and you will need to check the capital limits applicable to your local authority.  Many local authorities have an upper capital limit of £10,000 and some even less than this.

5.     Given that you mention that you had a lot of stress with the DWP previously with dealing with the ESA overpayment I understand that you do not want to risk a further overpayment.  I do not know the amount of the arrears of IIDB due to you but if the DWP pay them without taking into account the matters raised above I think it would be prudent to raise this with the DWP.  As you did previously make a note of the time, date and name of the person at the DWP you spoke to and the contents of the conversation and ideally follow up by email or letter.