DWP admit to confusing facts

cleoblackcat

I had my IB stopped after a PCA in November 2007 which I took further and had an appeal hearing in April 2008 which was not allowed. By that time my health had deteriorated so much I couldn't cope with the situation. Several months later, with much encouragement and support from friends and my gp in October 2008 I made an appointment with the CAB and was advised to reapply for IB and ask the DWP to backdate the application. This was successful, I was awarded the lower rate of IB - the day the payment went into my bank account an IB50 arrived :eek: ......... I was called in for a PCA in February 2009 (the usual farce, the opposite of my responses to the questions recorded) and my IB was stopped again. With the aid of the CAB I asked for another appeal hearing - which is still in the process of going through their convoluted system.

I have recently been informed that I am finally to be paid arrears of IB that I had reinstated when a tribunal hearing in June 2009 allowed my appeal. I was told by the judge at the hearing that I would receive payment "within 2 - 3 weeks", unsurprisingly it didn't happen that way and after several telephone reminders from me they paid me some arrears 5 weeks later but it was the wrong amount, they'd referred to a subsequent appeal I had made which has not yet been heard at tribunal and reinstated my fortnightly IB payments.

I could have just left it at that but I knew they'd made a mistake and rang to tell them - it wasn't until I read the judge's notice to them that they realised they'd made a mistake and said they'd have to investigate the situation and get back to me.

it transpires that their computer system doesn't go back as far as 2007 so whoever dealt with the clerical processing only had access to the still unheard appeal so just went from that..........

If the people in the payment processing dept of the dwp don't have access to the relevant information how can they be expected to do their job properly? Is what I was told about their computer system true?

No wonder the benefits dept of the dwp has such a poor reputation

Or am I too trusting and gullible to belive what I was told?

cleoblackcat

Has anyone else had a similar experience?