How long for esa3 form to b processed

mrmca

Hi, can anyone please give me some advice on how i get a straight answer from the job centre?

i was moved over from IB, to ESA, i wasn't informed there was CONT based or IR based, i was just put on CONT in the wrag group. i received a letter saying you may be entitled to IR and ask for a form if you would like it, no info on what it was or if it was better! so i thought nothing of it.

I was then reading up on Esa online and found out there were premiums if you received DLA, so i rang up to ask them about it as i met all the criteria, after a month of ringing up with them telling me i could have the EDP and the SDP but they couldn't understand why i want getting them, they then decided that it was coz i was in the wrag group and because of that i had to apply for IR, but at the same time they couldn't tell me why i was receiving the EDP premium even though i was in the wrag group! as they sent me a break down of my money and it was on there, as if you qualify for one, you should qualify for the other! Any way they decided i needed an ESA 3 form which would get me onto IR then received the SDP.

I filled the form in and sent it back recorded delivery, i rang up to see if they received it and they said yes. They have now had it in processing for 8 weeks and i have heard nothing. i rang up after 4 weeks and was told i was accepted, i then received a payment a few days later and it hadnt changed, so i rang back and they said no i was still on CONT and it was still being processed! and to ring back in 2 weeks they would have a decision by then, so i wait 2 weeks and ring back, i was told they think im receiving it but he cant check properly as they cant access my money break down which must mean they are working out the money for the IR, could i ring back in a week, I just rang back, she could access my break down, im still on CONT based, theres no note on the system,
so i said, they have been processing the form for 8 weeks how long does it take? to which i was told, she couldn't possible tell me that, there was no timescale!
She then said, the problem is when you get accepted onto ESA, in your case CONT based, you usually stay on to till the award is up! to which i said, i wasn't given a choice i was just put on it from IB, i wasn't even told you could choose! And when i was accepted i was actually posted a letter by you saying i may qualify for IR as a top up! so why would i have been given that if i couldn't have it!
To which she replied , yes well the thing is IB doesn't exist any more which is why people are assessed for ESA, i then said, i Know that's why ive been moved onto esa!
I then said, im really confused, i meet all the criteria for IR and everywhere i read it says you can have IR as a top up to the CONT if you meet the criteria, which i do. i keep ringing up and every time i do im told something different, so what am i supposed to do!
To which she replied, i havent told you anything different, and i said no, you havent told me anything!
She then said the problem is im in a call centre in Derby, i don't get to see you application or speak to the people who do, all i can do is get the specialists to ring you back!

(These are my questions, does anyone know how long an ESA 3 form should take to process? Does anyone know what im supposed to do when i keep getting the run around and different answers? as the problem is, like the woman who i just spoke to said, i ring the number and supposedly speak to someone in the ESA department, but they are nothing to do with the people who deal with the questions and applications who are referred to as the "specialists" but the only way to speak to them is to ask for a call back, so the original person i speak to in the ESA department, writes a question on the computer but they don't ever seem to write the question properly, so if you are one of the lucky ones who receives a call back they don't have the info to answer your question anyway, so they say they will call back again, but more times than not they don't call back, so you then have to ring the ESA number which has nothing to do with them, and then the whole process goes round and around again, but the more confusing thing is that every time you ring up you are told something different!, its really stressing me out, and i feel like im just being fobbed off. All i want to know is a time scale for the application and someone to tell me what stage the application is at, but 8 weeks on im still non the wiser!
Does anyone have any suggestions?)

I was actually one of few people who thought the sound of ESA was good, if you got accepted onto it,it meant you deserved to be on it, as i found incapacity to be a dirty word now, the dirty campaign against incapacity had made you ashamed to be on it, where as it had been well published that ESA was so hard to get on, if you did you deserved to be, and also it proclaimed that they were going to help people who found it hard to get jobs because of illness that they would give them the extra support which they might need, which i thought was a good thing.
But it hasnt worked out like that, They havent thought it through or implemented it well, its all about figures and i still believe we get treated like scum, from the medical stage, all the way through to the support when we are accepted!

When i was accepted i didn't get my medical report until it was too late to appeal, which i wish i did, my examiner had marked me down in so many places so that i would go in the wrag group and not the support. I went for my wrag interview with my advisor (after being accepted onto ESA) at the job centre and she said to me, ive had a look at your file and after reading it, theres no point in me talking to you about jobs as that's not an option for you, i will have to call you back in 6 to 7 months! surely that alone should tell you i should be in the support group and not the wrag!

i feel a little better now anyway after this rant, if anyone has any advice on my 2 questions about application times and how to get a straight answer, i would really appreciate it. Thanks

mrmca

i requested a call back yest, stating, could someone tell me how long my claim is likely to take, and 2 how long has its been processing for, ie, has it just started, is it half way through or nearly there! i was told i would be rung by 12 mid day the day after, (today). It gets to 1.30 no call, so i ring them, have to go through everything again, they look on comp say ah yes there is a note, i have good news for you, i am pleased to tell you that they have received your application and its being processed!
I said i was told that 8 weeks ago! can they not give me any indication of what stage its at or how much longer i will probably have to wait, i was then told, all i can do is put the question on the system and get them to call you back on monday!
havent i heard this before! ( they never call back, and they never answer your question)
To me it sounds like if they cant give you a timescale, then they dont have to chase it up and its much easier to fob you off!
when they transferred me onto ESA, they processed my form, sent me for a medical and gave me my decision all within 4 weeks, yet to apply for IR as a top up to what im already on (CONT) has already taken 8 weeks and they still cant tell me if they are near a decision.
im really confused and run down about it, if theres no time scale and i dont keep chasing it up, could i just be waiting and waiting and waiting.
Has anyone else experienced this?