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ESA underpayment

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bling
bling Community member Posts: 6 Connected
in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Hi new to this so please be gentle ! 
A few weeks ago I received a letter saying my late uncle could of been under paid etc I've done the phone interview and filled the form asking who paid for his funeral etc (it was me ) anyway apparently he is one of the people who have passed who were owed money , .....
My question is is it just the enhanced premium that was underpaid  (currently £16.50 ) or were the other premiums underpaid also do you get say the enhanced and the severe ???  He had motorneurones so pretty sure he should've been getting the severe premium , the only confirmation I've had so far is there is money owing and it's for 115 weeks 
Any information at this point would be great as I'd really like to get him a nice headstone for his grave .
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,985 Disability Gamechanger
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    HI and welcome,

    This must be a very stressful time for you and i hope they make a decision quickly but the waiting times are around 20+ weeks for a decision to made.

    DWP are in the process of contacting everyone that transferred across from Incapacity benefit to ESA but it's doesn't mean he's owed money. Some have been owed and some haven't been, it's really depends on his circumstances during the dates stated in the letter you received.

    Firstly there's 2 disability premiums available when claiming ESA Income related, the first one is the Enhanced disability premium which is automatically paid to those that were in the Support Group claiming Income related or Contributions based with an income related top up.

    DWP will asses his circumstances during those dates and the things they will look at are savings/capitol, income from pensions, living with partner that worked or claimed other income related benefits and which group he was in when he transferred across, whether it was WRAG or Support Group.

    Next there's the severe disability premium which isn't awarded based on any conditions. There's very specific criteria to this premium and for this he must have been claiming either DLA mid/high rate care or PIP daily living, no one must have been claiming carers allowance for looking after him and he must have lived alone or be classed as living alone. If any of those didn't apply then he wouldn't have been entitled to the SDP.

    I hope this helps. Unfortunately, it's not possible to give a definite answer to whether he's entitled to any back dated money on an internet forum. Once DWP have assessed him then they will send you a decision letter.

    Hopefully it won't be too long.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
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  • bling
    bling Community member Posts: 6 Connected
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    Hi poppy thanks for the rapid response !!  They confirmed this morning he's owed  money  and have sent it to be calculated , it's quite the quagmire all this , I'm just intrigued to know what I will get back, hopefully it'll be enough to buy him a decent headstone , he deserves that at least x
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  • Adrian_Scope
    Adrian_Scope Posts: 10,938 Scope online community team
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    I'm really sorry for your loss @bling. I hope you receive a decision soon. 
    Community Manager
    Scope
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  • bling
    bling Community member Posts: 6 Connected
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    Thank you @Adrian_Scope in fairness they have so far been really fast with getting to the "processing the payment " stage it's been 1 calendar month , I have no idea what benefits he had , I do know after he died I received £30.44 into my bank account but it had JSA next to his NI number , this is what has caused most of my confusion ! 
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  • bling
    bling Community member Posts: 6 Connected
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    Also @Adrian_Scope I've found some paperwork and you may be able to shed some light on it , it seems he was being paid  £70.95 per week late in 2011 and another payment of£191.51 rising to £216.10 every 2 weeks this is as clear as mud to me !!
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,985 Disability Gamechanger
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    The JSA payment just means that the money that you received was a manual payment and doesn't mean anything.

    Very difficult to give any exact answers without knowing all of his details and we could be here all day,  therefore i'm afraid the best thing you can do is wait for DWP to make a decision. Hopefully not too long.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
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