Never rains but it pours. ESA stopped.

What are they trying to do to me? Normally i am the person that looks on the bright side of everything until Thursday.

I received a phone call late Thursday to say they are stopping my ESA immediately. Phoned from a withheld number and would not talk about why it had been stopped but said a letter would be sent out.

He asked if i would be appealing and i said yes, he then said do i have any other income and i said no. So he put me through to the job centre side to arrange a date to sign on. Utterly stupid.

I have had a google over the last few days and most of the stuff seems to be from around 2012 so unsure how upto date that is?

Seems i should have asked for a mandatory reconsideration, but i didnt know that at the time and the caller refused to give any information.

Seems there will also be conflict when going to the job centre where i must agree and sign that i am fit for work and will be actively looking for work. As long as that work doesnt involve sitting for long or standing for long or walking any distance and no carrying and i am very close to the toilet and can have extended toilet breaks with extremely flexible hours due to that also.

Stupid thing is i seem to be stuck in the system where the doctors only offer more tablets. Had spinal injectors where the last one went bad and i couldnt walk for several days.

Been like this for some years, previously on incapacity benefit. Early this year i finally qualified for PIP (low rate care) and my partner has only very very recently received carers allowance for me.

Inbetween the PIP notice and carers allowance award i get the ESA appointment and now thats stopped.
All the guy said is my money stopped as of Thursday the day of the call and that it will affect my rent and council tax.

Will my PIP also stop?

Thanks.
Desperate and worried.
«1345

Comments

  • NeilCr
    NeilCr Posts: 4,430
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    edited 2 October 2016 at 6:21AM
    Your PIP won't stop.

    You can still ask for a mandatory reconsideration. Information on this and how to do it here

    https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/while-youre-getting-esa/challenging-an-esa-decision/

    Even if you ask for an MR your ESA will cease and you will have to "sign on" However, if the MR fails and you then appeal your ESA can be paid during the appeal. Bizarre I know -I've never got the logic of that one!

    ETA. If you follow the link at the bottom of the page there is then information about benefits during the MR period - and appeal

    If you can, it might be worth going to your local CAB for help through the process

    Good luck
  • Not_Me
    Not_Me Posts: 74 Forumite
    edited 2 October 2016 at 7:02AM
    Is it better to just appeal rather than ask for a MR? I was told i need to appeal within a very short space of time 5 days?

    An appointment with the CAB around here is more like weeks.

    Thanks.

    PS.. How will all this affect my council tax and rent benefits? Until i got the PIP payment i had to contribute towards that. But we no longer have to do that since getting the PIP.

    Seems stupid that i qualify for PIP but not ESA?

    Thanks.
  • NeilCr
    NeilCr Posts: 4,430
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    You have to do the MR before you can appeal. That's the way it goes. I don't know where 5 days comes from - you get 30 days from the date of the letter to do an MR

    If you follow the links I gave you, you will see that HB and CTR may be affected and you should contact your local council to explain what has happened

    While I understand that it may take ages to get to see CAB I would still get in touch. This could be a long process and you may well need ongoing support plus advice on benefits. And, to be honest, it's hard to get the full story online - I always prefer face to face in these situations. For example I don't know why your ESA was stopped. Have you recently had an assessment? Did you miss one? Etc etc

    Think I'd ring DWP and say that you want to do an MR and how long have you got. And to find out when the letter is coming

    PIP and ESA are two different benefits with different criteria
  • Not_Me
    Not_Me Posts: 74 Forumite
    I had an assessment yes, this was only weeks after the PIP one and nothing has changed.

    The person i saw seemed more interested in why i didnt help with the housework than my health issues. They asked me to lay on the bed thing and lift my legs which i couldnt. When having tests with the pain management i could normally lift them slightly but not hold them there.

    Seems i am penalised for getting stuck in the system where all they offer is more tablets which i dont want. Already on high doses and do not want to be a vegetable.
    Twice they have tried new tablets which ended up sending me to A&E due to a reaction. So i tend to avoid the doctor if i can help it.

    Do i need to visit the doctor with every tiny ailment? Is that what they want? I have scars from sitting on the toilet for extended times and i dont visit the doctor i buy a tub of E45 from the £1 shop and get on with it.

    Thanks
  • Diary
    Diary Posts: 591 Forumite
    While this isn't ideal and I have no idea of your circumstances if your girlfriend lives with you and gets carers allowance you could jointly claim income support. Income support carries the same restrictions as income based ESA. Claiming income support is one fairly long phone call.

    No assessments, no hassle and you have one interview at the job centre every 3 years. Same money as income based ESA and simply left alone. We did this route when neither of us were well enough to go through assessments on ESA and I had had continued unrelenting incompetence and lies from DWP.
    Master Apothecary Faranell replied, “I assure you, overseer, the Royal Apothecary Society dearly wishes to make up for the tragic misguidance which ended so many lives. We will cause you no trouble. We seek only to continue our research in peace".
  • Alice_Holt
    Alice_Holt Posts: 5,921
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    edited 2 October 2016 at 9:57AM
    Some info on ESa appeals here:

    https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/benefits-introduction/problems-with-benefits-and-tax-credits/challenging-a-benefit-decision/challenging-a-dwp-benefit-decision-on-or-after-28-october-2013/appealing-against-a-benefit-decision/appealing-against-a-dwp-benefit-decision/

    http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-appeals

    This is a very helpful guide to the appeal process (it covers PIP but the process is virtually the same for ESa):
    http://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/how-win-pip-appeal

    ESa descriptors:
    http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/med2/indexxx.php

    Don't forget Reg 29 & 35:
    http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/making-exception

    Proforma for the Mandatory Reconsideration request:
    https://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/178163/mandatory-reconsideration-request.pdf

    As Neil has said let your council's housing benefit dept know, so that your HB & CTr doesn't stop. It's likely they will ask that you complete a nil income form. Tell them about the PIP award, as this is relevant (and helpful) for HB.

    Your NI credits will continue after a successful PIP appeal, this may not be the case if your partner claims IS.
    Your partner will now be credited NI as she is claiming CA.
    Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.
  • Not_Me
    Not_Me Posts: 74 Forumite
    The rent was paid in full but we contributed to the council tax approx £20pm until the PIP was awarded then the council tax was refunded until the PIP claim date.

    Yes partner lives with me. I did get £300 something until the carers allowance was awarded. That dropped but still a slight increase in our weekly money.
    If the carers allowance and PIP is still going to be paid then at least we can eat.

    Speaking to a neighbour not long ago and they admitted they had to goto food banks due to benefit issues. Naive me thinking how does it get that bad. It seems i may find out soon enough and i can see why people have breakdowns when dealing with benefits.

    You dont want to know what my thoughts were when the guy told me the benefits were stopping as of the day of the call and refused to tell me anything.

    I claim for the both of us, she used to goto college but finished a year or so back. She doesnt get called up at the job centre?

    Thanks.
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 12,945
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    as a carer, she would only be called to the job centre infrequently, if at all.

    as has been mentioned already, one answer would be to stop the ESA claim and your partner could claim income support for both of you ( she would qualify as a carer).
    you would receive the same amount, but you NI credit would not be made
  • Alice_Holt
    Alice_Holt Posts: 5,921
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    edited 2 October 2016 at 4:19PM
    However Income Support is dependent on the PIP award continuing. If PIP is stopped at a future re-assessment, then Income Support would also stop (as the OP is no longer in receipt of a qualifying benefit).


    If the OP doesn't appeal the ESa decision now, it could prove difficult to reclaim ESa in future:

    "If on or after 30 March 2015, after failing the Work Capability Assessment, you will now not be able to reclaim ESA again for the that same health condition.

    There are some exceptions when a new ESA claim will be allowed, the main situations are where;

    your current condition has got significantly worse
    you’re claiming for a new condition
    There are other exceptions that may apply in certain circumstances.

    If you have failed the WCA and you want to reclaim ESA it is essential that you seek advice from an experienced adviser before making a new claim to check if you fall into any of the exceptions groups which would enable you to reclaim."


    I would suggest the OP appeals the current decision to stop ESa in the first instance, and only claims IS if the appeal fails. If ESa is re-instated on appeal then that will continue even if PIP is stopped at a future re-assessment.
    Plus the OP will be getting NI credits towards his state pension.
    Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 16,366
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    Alice_Holt wrote: »
    If the OP doesn't appeal the ESa decision now, it could prove difficult to reclaim ESa in future:

    The OP should request a mandatory reconsideration and provide any supporting information about why they think the original decision is wrong. They can't do that until they receive the letter explaining why ESA has been stopped.
    The quote above is somewhat misleading. There might be problems claiming ESA again for the same incapacity but there would be no difficulty if claiming for a different one.
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