Help!! Will I go to prison?

jan83
jan83 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
edited November 2022 in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
I'm worried sick, I can't sleep 
I suffer with severe anxiety and the Dwp have told me today that I have not informed them that I was claiming carers allowance for my daughter.    I called them today to notify them of a change of circumstances, that my daughter had changed from dla to pip.  While on the phone they mentioned that carers allowance was not on the system.   I also claim esa and have since been told that I can't claim the two together.     I am out my mind with worry.  Will I go to prison? I have 6 children 2 of them are babies.   

I

Comments

  • life
    life Community member Posts: 526 Empowering
    You won't go to prison. Seems like an honest mistake. Hopefully someone on here can give you some advice later on today. Try to keep calm 👍
  • calcotti
    calcotti Community member Posts: 10,005 Championing
    jan83 said:
    …While on the phone they mentioned that carers allowance was not on the system.   I also claim esa and have since been told that I can't claim the two together. I am out my mind with worry.  Will I go to prison? 
    You can claim CA and ESA at the same time but you cannot be paid CA and contribution based ESA at the same time. Normally contribution based ESA would be paid and not CA. If the ESA is entirely income based ESA the amount of ESA would be increased because you are a carer and entitled to CA but the ESA paid would be decreased by the CA payments.

    You will not go to prison however you will almost certainly have received incorrect benefit payments and will have been overpaid. Any overpayment will be in most cases be treated as a debt that you owe DWP unless you can argue ‘official error’ because DWP should have known. When you claimed CA were you already receiving ESA and did you declare that when you applied for CA?

    What type of ESA do you receive?

Categories