ESA mandatory reconsideration appeal won

ScrFta · October 3

Hi,

My son has been in receipt of ESA for a number of years now due to a number of medical conditions. He was placed in the WRA group which we have disputed for a long time. Even the advisors at the jobcentre stated that they would not be able to help him find work with his conditions!

The last failed appeal was around the time of the first lock down and the decision letter mysteriously never arrived, because of lock down we left it too long to chase it up.

We were advised by a jobcentre advisor last summer to submit a new application to try and get my son into the support group, we did this and then had to wait almost a year for the assessment (July 2024)

After placing him once again in the WRA group we appealed requesting a mandatory reconsideration and they have finally overturned the decision.

He has received a letter stating that his rate will be changed from 31st July 2024! Surely this cannot be correct. It is not my sons fault the DWP cannot get their act together and carry out assessment in a timely manner. We have been fighting this for a number of years now and it seems they can just pluck a date out of thin air and change the award from that date!!

If this is correct then what is to stop the DWP deliberately delaying assessments to save themselves a bunch of cash?

Is this worth a further mandatory reconsideration appeal to get it backdated to the date the claim was made? I'm certain this is how it used to work years ago, all backdated payments were made dated from the claim date, not the assessment date.

My son has already lost out on years of money he should have been entitled to causing financial hardship so if he has even the slightest chance of winning this we will be appealing again.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks

poppy123456 · October 3

If you or your son contacted ESA last year to report changes to his health condition then the extra money should be paid from the date the phone call was made. You should contact ESA to remind them that changes were made last year by phone call and another form was sent out.

If it was another review started by ESA then I'm afraid it's correct that the extra money is paid from the date the decision was made.

ScrFta · October 3

We actually requested the review because we disagreed with the decision from 2020 that they didn't even send to us.

It wasn't a review requested by the DWP. We had been communicating with an advisor from the jobcentre who fully agreed with us that my son should be in the support group and they helped us arrange the review.

So from what you are saying, I'm guessing we should request another mandatory reconsideration based on the fact their dates are incorrect.

poppy123456 · October 3

Yes request the MR and explain that you reported changes to his health condition on X date, if you remember that date. Remind them that when changes are reported the extra money is paid from that date and not from when the decision was made.

ScrFta · October 3

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/917461#Comment_917461

Thank You. I'll be sure to come back to update how we get on.

ScrFta · October 28

Update:

Finally received a reply and they've backdated his award to July 2023. He's also received his backdated pay.

Not sure if we just jumped the gun and they were always going to pay it or if they were just hoping we wouldn't notice or query it. Either way it probably helped to request the mandatory reconsideration because it would have been too late to do anything about it had we left it.

All sorted now anyway and my son finally has the ESA award he should have been getting for quite some time.

Thanks for the help and advice.

ESA mandatory reconsideration appeal won

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