ESA 12 months up, what now?

pmlindyloo · 8 March 2018 at 4:51PM

aussiesbird wrote: »

My husband is in the exact same position. He has been ringing nearly every month and more recently every 2 weeks, as his CB-ESA is due to end this month. When he applied he was told he would need to have a health assessment but the DWP have not been forthcoming with an appointment. Every time he rang he was told 'there is a back log but it's in the system to be dealt with' Over the last 3-4 months he has been ringing them on a more regular basis, as he knew this type of benefit only gets paid for 365 days, he is told on every call that it is in the final stages and he will hear very soon. Nothing ever materialised and the other day he received a letter stating the benefit will stop and if he wants to be considered for IR-ESA he has to ring them and request it!??? We are totally confused as to what is going on. He claims PIP and had an assessment for that which didn't go in his favour, he appealed and it went to tribunal and the original decision was overturned. Can they not use the assessment and tribunal decision from PIP?
Any advice would be appreciated before we manage to get through to speak to an advisor.

To answer your last question first.......no, they don't use the PIP decision to assess a claim for ESA. They are different benefits. PIP is about how a disability affects your daily life and ESA is about your capability for work.

Are you eligible for income based ESA? If you are then your partner needs to make a claim. Otherwise they need to wait for a WCA (Work capability assessment)

You could contact your MP and ask them to query why it is taking so long. Sometimes this has the effect of speeding up the assessment date.

aussiesbird · 8 March 2018 at 5:07PM

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Are you eligible for income based ESA? If you are then your partner needs to make a claim. Otherwise they need to wait for a WCA (Work capability assessment)

You could contact your MP and ask them to query why it is taking so long. Sometimes this has the effect of speeding up the assessment date.

Sorry I didn't explain this correctly.
He is currently in the 'work related' ESA group and to get into the 'support' group needs a health assessment, which he is still awaiting.
When the 365 days are up what can we do as without that income from ESA we are going to be short on paying bills etc.
We have sent an email to our MP but haven't had a reply only an acknowledgement of receipt.
We are starting to panic a bit now.
Sorry for my confusion in explaining originally.

Alice_Holt · 8 March 2018 at 6:31PM

aussiesbird wrote: »

.
He is currently in the 'work related' ESA group and to get into the 'support' group needs a health assessment, which he is still awaiting..

I would suggest if the DWP have failed to assess your husband within 365 days, then they should not end ESA, but place your husband in the SG.
Otherwise the DWP are disadvantaging your husband for their failings.

I suggest you get help from your local CAB / advice centre with the letter, and then copy it to your MP.

skcollobcat10 · 8 March 2018 at 6:49PM

It seems a shame that the OP has worked and contributed to this country and only gets 12 months esa as help. He has been medically retired from his work. Others who have never worked get IR esa and rent and council tax paid with no time limit.

aussiesbird · 8 March 2018 at 7:04PM

Thank you for reading and responding to my post.
Whilst writing this thread I was on hold to speak to someone at DWP about the case. After being told 'we are extremely busy, someone will take your call shortly' for 50 minutes I finally got to speak to an advisor who was stuttering and stumbling around with her words looking for excuses. She disappeared twice to seek advice elsewhere then came back and said that she would send an ESA3 form and that would allow my husbands contributions to continue to be paid. I don't think she expected me to challenge this but I latched onto the word contributions and asked if he would still get paid his benefit to which she replied 'no'! I told her that we would not be completing that form as we feel we have been failed by DWP who haven't provided a date for a health assessment. She then said she would have to pass the case to the department who deals with it as she is in a call centre and as the department closes in 20 minutes its highly unlikely someone will be there to take my call so they will ring me back tomorrow!! One excuse after another. My husband is very mild mannered and accepts whatever he is told but I won't I'm afraid I'm a bit of a dog with a bone and won't give up until I am satisfied with the outcome. I have asked to be called back in the morning so that I have all afternoon to hang on the phone and start the whole argument again!! :mad::mad::mad:

Alice_Holt · 8 March 2018 at 7:08PM

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

It seems a shame that the OP has worked and contributed to this country and only gets 12 months esa as help.

It does.
Prior to 2011/12 CB ESA was not limited
This change to a 12 month limit was introduced under the Conservatives austerity programme.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220156/eia-esa-time-limit-wr2011.pdf

It affected many families where the partner was working at a low paid job for at least 24 hours a week. Many such families went down from two earners (prior to illness), to a single low paid wage and ESA, to just the wage of one partner.
For those who had worked and contributed for 30 odd years, and then were struck by illness it was particularly unfair. Especially when illness afflicted the main wage earner.

Sadly, although some charities made representations in the consultation period - it wasn't picked up by the public at large. This was the time of the Shirkers vs Strivers message, and many people did not understand the potential impact.

skcollobcat10 · 8 March 2018 at 7:28PM

Alice_Holt wrote: »

It does.
Prior to 2011/12 CB ESA was not limited
This change to a 12 month limit was introduced under the Conservatives austerity programme.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220156/eia-esa-time-limit-wr2011.pdf

It affected many families where the partner was working at a low paid job for at least 24 hours a week. Many such families went down from two earners (prior to illness), to a single low paid wage and ESA, to just the wage of one partner.
For those who had worked and contributed for 30 odd years, and then were struck by illness it was particularly unfair. Especially when illness afflicted the main wage earner.

Sadly, although some charities made representations in the consultation period - it wasn't picked up by the public at large. This was the time of the Shirkers vs Strivers message, and many people did not understand the potential impact.

I find this government absolutely disgusting and if people working at the moment realised what they would be left to live on if they become ill they would be truely shocked.

Pity it wasn't advertised more, and especially focused on working people there would have been more uproar. I can't imagine how I would feel if I had worked from 16 and possibly at 56 became disabled, that's 40 years contributing!

Danday · 9 March 2018 at 12:32AM

I presume that you would have been proud of yourself in making 40 years worth of contributions to help pay for those that didn't work and had to rely on benefits.

aussiesbird · 10 March 2018 at 9:44AM

UPDATE:
No phone call yesterday from DWP :mad::mad: What a surprise!! Monday morning I will be back on the phone and I will not give up this time. :mad:

epitome · 10 March 2018 at 11:56AM

Dan1961 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I'm guessing this question has been asked numerous times but need advice on my particular circumstances etc.
I was retired medically from my driving job of 32 years, I was advised to go on to ESA which I did and have been in receipt of payments since May 2017.
I received a letter recently stating that the 12 months were nearing and I would no longer be entitled to these payments.
I knew this anyway but my question is what do I do now?
Will I be entitled to a different benefit?
I have never claimed benefits and at a loss as to what to do next
My wife works part time and we just about get by with the adition of ESA to her salary but when it stops it will be a diffferent story.

Thanks in anticipation for any help with advice.

If you worked full time for many years and you claimed ESA immediately after stopping work, then you should be able to renew your ESA for another year and possibly when that 2nd year runs out for another 3rd year. The catch is there has to be a 12 week gap between each year but you don't have to close the ESA claim and you will remain in the same group after your medical.

How many hours does your wife work a week?
Have you had your medical yet? What was the result? Support Group - no need to renew for another year as ESA Conts will not stop after 1 year. If you are in WRAG (or fighting an appeal or making new claims on worsening). Your ESA will be like this:

May '17 - May '18 <12 week gap>

Aug '18 - Aug '19 <12 week gap>

Nov '19 - Nov '20 <12 week gap>

March 2020 = impossible to renew for a fourth year...unless you also claim Carer's Allowance -to care for someone else- in tax year April 6th 2018 - April 5th 2019 The Carer's Allowance (CA) need only be open for 1 week whether or not the CA pays you does not matter. It only matters that the CA claim is allowed and is live..... and then you can close it. You could claim CA during your 12 week ESA gap May '18 - Aug '18.... otherwise CA would not pay you any money, but if claimed in the ESA gap they would pay you money.

If you have not been assessed for medical yet, you need to understand this before making a fuss:
WRAG rate (£73.10) is exactly the same as assessment rate (£73.10)
You may fail the medical and then you have all the hassle that this will bring
Support Group rate £109.65

So you don't make a fuss and DWP continue to pay you assessment rate as long as provide sick notes.
Or you do make a fuss and DWP assess you
You either fail, pass for WRAG or pass for SG..... You would only be better off if you pass for SG and statistically SG is the least likely outcome for a medical.

Although it is unlikely anyone would have to wait more than 15 months for a medical, if you did renew your tax year and continued on assessment rate in year 2, then had a medical, the group WRAG or SG would be applied from the 92nd of your year 1 and would continue into year 2.

If you feel certain that you will get SG, you can make a fuss by contacting Medical Services and speak to their managers, there is not much DWP can do for you, except in exception the DWP managers could phone the Medical Services managers, for example if you made a formal complaint to DWP. But the first thing you should try is just phone Medical Services managers yourself.

If you are already in WRAG and have worsened such that you think now you should be in SG and thus getting SG ESA Conts payments. You don't have to make a new claim (if you did make a new claim you would first have to close your existing claim). You just write a letter with medical evidence of the new condition and ask to be reassessed for Support Group. If you supply no medical evidence -just a letter- your SG will only be applied from the date of your decision (i.e. possibly 8 months or so after you wrote your letter). If you do supply evidence with your letter your SG will be applied to the claim from the date of the letter even if the decision is not made for another 8 months.

FINALLY....
If you want to apply for another year of ESA Conts after your first year has run out... wait the 12 week period then phone ESA helpline. Say you want to apply for new year of ESA Conts and that you want it to start from the day after the 12 weeks gap, and you want a call back from the processing centre to confirm this will be actioned. You DO NOT have to make a new claim, and the helpline CANNOT refuse this request and SHOULD NOT redirect you to make a new claim. When you get the call back the processing centre may or may not send you an ESA1.

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ESA 12 months up, what now?

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