ESA re-assessment letter and compliance interview
hello! Slightly confused, been on the support group since October for new style esa (in receipt of PiP since November 23) and have received a letter today saying following a recent change I am entitled to the Christmas bonus and I will be paid in December (letter dated 21/1/25) and it says this decision was made from the tax years 2022 and 2023. It mentions no other amounts. I also got a compliance interview letter which was dated the same day but the telephone number they have said they will call me on is years old and not the number I’ve had work coach appointments/assessments in the past couple of months etc so I am kinda confused! Has this happened to anyone else? I’m baffled why they have noted the change after looking at 2022 and 2023 tax years? I only claimed from june 2024 so I’ve not been on was for long at all and my PiP was declared when I did my esa application etc?
Comments
-
sorry to add, they have also not paid me my payment which was due last Friday!
0 -
When you claimed ESA last year the relevant tax years were 2021/22 and 2022/23.
Compliance interviews are not usually from job centre phone numbers they are usually other numbers. I’ve known them to be from mobiles.
Is the compliance interview for your ESA? This ESA isn’t means tested so capital, working partner and pensions of up to £85/week are ignored. For every £1/week of pension over that amount the ESA would reduce by 50p/week. Are you receiving a pension income that they don’t know about?
0 -
thanks for the reply, sorry I didn’t make it clear re the number, it is an old number of mine, it states we will call you on 07xxx but that number has not been in use since pre covid. So I’m confused why they have an old number for me when they have called me so many times on my current number. I don’t really understand how they work it out looking at 22/23 are they now saying something in that record is showing something? I did earn quite abit in 2022 but again not sure why that’s coming up now? No I got refunded my pension contributions last year it was only £1200 as I was made redundant. I have another pension from an old employer which I am not entitled to until pension age and that’s like 3k so nothing major. I don’t have any money from it. Just confused as the letter literally just mentions the £10 bonus. It mentions no other rates, there is no breakdown and it just says due to a change in circumstances (again so confused) why am I not entitled to payment but would be entitled to the bonus?
I do get PIP but this is about my ESA and as far as I’m aware they are separate? My pip isn’t up for review until end of 2026 either so it’s not even like that’s due?0 -
It seems like there's some confusion between the £10 Christmas bonus and something else. You would have been entitled to the £10 because of your ESA claim.
I wouldn't have expected the compliance letter to be linked to the £10 Christmas bonus
Is there a telephone number on the compliance letter for you to ring? If so then I'd advise you to ring them and ask what it's related to and tell them that they have the wrong number for you.
If they have an old phone number for you, have you previously claimed any benefits that were linked with the phone number?
0 -
yeah that’s what’s so confusing. One letter is about the amount payable and a change (which literally just mentioned the Christmas payment, yet we’re in January and I got it in December) the last letter I got was back in October confirming my date after being put in the support group, then I didn’t get a payment last week and now these letters have come, but if I’m not receiving payments why would I still get the bonus?
The compliance letter doesn’t mention anything about what benefit it’s for but I’m assuming that as they were sent on the same day and dated the same, that it’s ESA related.
I’ll try and call but I’m not holding out much hope. I was on hold for 90 minutes and got cut off and that was after many attempts of being put through to an advisor then it going silent and cutting off!0 -
Compliance letters are intentionally vague to keep you on your toes and prevent you from fabricating before the interview, it is akin to an interview conducted at a station under arrest.
0 -
Is the phone number for compliance interview ,ever be online / use for work in the past ? I got pulled in for a compliance interview, for a number, they had ,which was old , and use to advertise for work before becoming ill, I just had to explain it was a old number not in use ,they sometimes do a internet search of your number , so I could possibly be that
0 -
Well I spoke to ESA today and they said my claim has dropped as I didn’t pay enough contributions in 22 and 23 which I have as I was in same job full time since 2016 - 2023 so I need to send proof. Anyway on the claim letter it looks wrong, the logo, the number they’ve asked me to call is 03000824963 which when you call is an American voicemail just saying nobody is available. If you put the number in google it brings up no search results. Tried in different variations. The way they’ve addressed me is different to a standard letter and it’s really poor grammar etc. I’ve googled all day trying to find any details but it literally brings up nothing, I asked the esa advisor and they didn’t know what I was going on about? The number on the letter is so old probably from 2015-16 maybe but I think it’s strange that for example, when I had to confirm security today they asked for my number and gave them my current number and that was fine it’s not like they said oh we have a different number etc - super confused how this all happened!
0 -
sorry I meant to say on the compliance letter it doesn’t look right.
0 -
As posted above, I spoke to ESA today and they paused my claim due to NI contributions but I can proove they have got it wrong. The contact information and that on the letter doesn’t work, when I ring the number it’s American and an 03000 number, but it’s got loads of errors in it, random grammar, addressed me by a different name so I can’t ring the number on the letter as it doesn’t work.
0 -
When did you finish work in 2023? For the compliance interview the ESA helpline will not be able to give you any information about that because they do not deal with those and there wouldn't be any information on the system for them to see.
Did it come as a separate letter to the other one from ESA?
1 -
yes it was a separate letter but just seems wrong and the number don’t work so I can’t even ring them to inform them of my correct number.
move worked non-stop from 2016 all the way to May of this year when I was made redundant. But both my records for those years show as full and paid on my HMRC tax account.0 -
may of last year that should have said. But yeah I’ve had continuous employment with the same employer from 2016 to 2023 I left and started a new job in the same month and paid full NI again for 23-24 so can’t work out what’s happened there. They have said they have sent me a free post envelope out so I can provide evidence which I have printed.
0 -
That compliance letter could be a scam, I'm not saying it definitely is but could be. Usually on those letters there's a working phone number for you to ring, if you can get someone to answer the phone that is.
You can see the requirements for New style ESA here. It says contributions based ESA but it's the same thing.
0 -
Yeah that’s it, I have searched high and low and cannot find any record of the number anywhere. I’ve called that number at different times of the day in opening hours and had the same each time, sounds like a weird dealing tone, straight to a voicemail and it’s an American anutomated voice saying person is not available, doesn’t sound particularly formal and there is no other way for me to contact them, so whoever is ringing me on that old number of mine won’t be speaking to me and I have tried to make contact. I thought it was weird as it’s a 03000 which also seemed abit strange? Like I have esa and pip and don’t think I’ve ever had any 03000 call me. I’ve also missed calls before from dwp and when I call back it’s an English automated message saying dwp tried to call you today we will call you back. All my records are up to date with DWP and HMRC. The job centre on the letter (Nottingham) is random as it’s not my local job centre nor anywhere near but when I doodle the details and that number nothing is matching up. I’m flummoxed? At least the payment issue has been sorted and I can get that resolved but I’m still baffled about this compliance letter. Happy to have one by all means but something is telling me this isn’t genuine.
0 -
I go into your local job centre, with the compliance letter, they will be how to tell you if really or a scam
0 -
yeah I am going to go shortly, I rang the Nottingham job centre and nothing came up for them (it wouldn’t as I live nowhere near there) so I’m going to ask my local job centre to verify but have been doing some digging and it is identical to a confirmed scam letter which was confirmed by the dwp. The number is still doing the same thing aswell weird dial tone, American robot voice.
0 -
Yeah I hope it's fake, as a compliance interview not nice, even some reported you to the the fraud line or they expect you of fraud, sorry don't mean to worry you, my ex would forever ring the the fraud line, maliciously and I had a few compliance interviews in the past , fingers crossed allis good, sound odd with a job centre nowhere near where you like and a an American voicemail, but I definitely just check, good luck 🤞
0 -
Thank you.
No I imagine it happens all the time. I mean nobody knows I claim and it’s not even been that long but I imagine the calls they must get from people and as I say I’m not remotely bothered if they were inviting me to one as I have nothing to hide, my concern was the letter, the number being non-dwp, the zero search results on Google, the fact the contact number they have is so so old and I’ve had 2 numbers since and only ever had this number since I’ve claimed, I’ve not even been on benefits for even a year but obviously concerning how they would have got my info which was my main concern. Plus now this letter is identical to a confirmed scam letter it’s just frustrating. I’ll see what the local jobcentre say. Thank you.1 -
hi, I’m in the same situation, got the latest uprating letter with the £10 bonus on and also a compliance interview, I have checked and I get new style esa which is contributory so my savings do not effect my award, only thing I can think of is I did cash in a pension which I got the payment in jan of this year, I did check and was told as it was a lump sum it’s classed as capital so wouldn’t make any difference due to being in contribution based, on checking I have found a few people are getting the same letters, wonder if it’s a glitch and those on the contribution are being flagged up as income related, could this be possible
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 14.5K Start here and say hello!
- 7K Coffee lounge
- 77 Games den
- 1.6K People power
- 65 Announcements and information
- 22.7K Talk about life
- 5.2K Everyday life
- 115 Current affairs
- 2.3K Families and carers
- 844 Education and skills
- 1.8K Work
- 472 Money and bills
- 3.5K Housing and independent living
- 957 Transport and travel
- 676 Relationships
- 69 Sex and intimacy
- 1.4K Mental health and wellbeing
- 2.4K Talk about your impairment
- 854 Rare, invisible, and undiagnosed conditions
- 907 Neurological impairments and pain
- 2K Cerebral Palsy Network
- 1.2K Autism and neurodiversity
- 37K Talk about your benefits
- 5.7K Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- 18.9K PIP, DLA, ADP and AA
- 7.2K Universal Credit (UC)
- 5.3K Benefits and income