HELP, support group esa stopped due to lack of NI contributions.

rjhspaniel

Hello,
I would be very grateful for any information or advice anyone could offer. My problem is as follows:

I received a letter from jobcentre plus on 16th August 2012 stating

"we cannot pay esa from 25th July 2010! we cannot award NI contribution credits for this period"

I have spent a week and over £15 in phone calls trying to sort this out. I am due to receive yet another call back from a manager sometime tomorrow. They said the tax years in question were 2007/2008 and 2008/2009.

This is my situation:
11/11/2007- Dismissed from employment due to ill health.

Incapacity Benefit awarded from 31/12/2007 to 08/02/2010.

Contribution based JSA awarded from 24/02/2010 to 24/07/2010 (This was due to being migrated from incapacity benefit. however during the 6 months my condition worsened and i was advised to re apply for ESA which I did on 25/07/2010.)

ESA awarded on 25/07/2010 (WRAG group to begin with but put in support group after medical.)
I have had 3 medicals since, and have remained in the support group.

They are saying I should not have been paid any ESA from 2010 at all, because I havent met the NI criteria. But how am I supposed to pay NI when I have been sick for the last 5 years???!

I have no hope of receiving income related ESA, as my husband works far more than the 16 or so hours that qualify you for it.

Please help!

Thanks in advance
From
Rachel

rogerblack

The fundamental problem is that if your ib-esa transition had gone normally, without a period on JSA, then you would have been using the original contribution years, and would qualify.
However, your claims did not link.
I am unsure it is possible for them to link In the above circumstances.
You need to get specialist advice as to if it was possible at the time you reclaimed ESA for them to link the claims.
If it was, you can ask for an anytime revision on the grounds of official error.

If it was not, then you were indeed not entitled from 2010.
If they argue you must have known this, then they may attempt recovery.
Get a full copy of your file.
IB and JSA and ESA.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/privacy-policy/data-protection/
Were you advised at the time you were entitled to conts-based?

rjhspaniel

My Incapacity benefit was stopped on 09/02/2010 after the migration to ESA medical said I was fit to seek work. I requested a reconsideration on their decision after receiving a letter from job centre plus on 19/02/2010. This didnt succeed and I DID go onto to a formal appeal.
During this period i had received NO payments whatsover and was told by job centre plus the only way I could get any money was to claim JSA. Which is what i did., Even though they WERE aware that I was NOT fit to seek work!
The appeals process started on the 19/03/2010.
My tribunal date was set for 15/04/2011. this is why I had to claim JSA in the meantime!!

During the long period of waiting for the tribunal date I came to the end of the JSA claim and Successfully (or so i was led to believe) was able to claim ESA payments again, which began on 28/07/2010.

I had been using my City council welfare rights department who assisted me with the appeal. And it was on their advice that I did not proceed with the Incapacity Benefit Tribunal, as I was now in receipt of ESA payments. The appeal tribunal was therefore cancelled.

I am now faced with this situation, after I have taken advice and done what I was told to do by DWP and Job Centre plus. So who is WRONG???????? Them or me?

Cpt.Scarlet

Get advice and from someone other than the City welfare rights office who appear to have offered poor advice.

My immediate thought is that it is down to the DWP to decide whether you are eligible for contribution based ESA not you, so any fault would lie with them.

Would you have qualified for income related ESA?

PS ignore Greg... he's a troll and hopefully won't be here much longer.

rogerblack

rjhspaniel wrote: »

I had been using my City council welfare rights department who assisted me with the appeal. And it was on their advice that I did not proceed with the Incapacity Benefit Tribunal, as I was now in receipt of ESA payments. The appeal tribunal was therefore cancelled.

As I understand it, this was a major error.
If you had proceeded with this tribunal, then your claims of ESA would link together without a problem, as your JSA claim would have been reterospectively cancelled, and it would have been as if ESA ran continuously. (you would even have gotten the support group payments for the time of your JSA award back).


As I understand it, by not continuing your appeal, you now do not have any way to argue that you still had 'limited capability for work' during the period of your JSA claim.

This means that you are reliant on the 'linking rules' - two periods of illness may 'link' into one.
If this was possible, and was not done at the time (I do not know if it was, as I've not really investigated them), then as above, there is a possible appeal.

Otherwise, the only course of action would be trying to get compensation from the council welfare rights organisation.

It is possible that they were thinking that it was a good idea not to proceed with the tribunal, due to your new award of ESA - if the tribunal had ruled against - this may raise issues with your new award, though it would not automatically cancel it.

They should have considered your contribution position - though they may also have been mislead if the DWP had wrongly accepted you were eligible for contributions based ESA.

It's unfortunately not a simple case.

rjhspaniel

Thanks capt, scarlet.
No i would not and still dont qualify for income related ESA because my husband works more than the hours that qualify.

rjhspaniel

Please if anyone else has any other helpful or useful information on how to proceed with this situation, I would be most grateful.
Thanks
Rachel

Cpt.Scarlet

When was your appeal cancelled? There may still be time for you to re-activate it, you will need to contact the Tribunal Service on Tuesday.

If you do then you should receive the ESA assessment rate while you wait for a hearing. You will need to provide a Fit Note(s) from your GP to cover you until the hearing is held.

epitome

When did you cancel the appeal?

Even if you reinstate the appeal succesfully it would only look at your condition as it was in Feb 2010

In Feb 2010 were you able to get sick notes from your doctor to support your appeal?

You got JSA C because you passed the tax year contribution requirements of 7/8 & 8/9 (having last worked in Nov 2007, and been on benefits ever since) nothing to do with migration from IB.....at least I don't think so.

You were correctly advised to go back onto ESA at appeal rate....Or were you advised to make a new claim to ESA back in July 2010?....making a new claim is the only way I can see that you got a medical in 2010, I don't think you were in WRAG to begin with, I think you would have been on assessment rate first (about £63 per week) then put into support after passing the medical. You could not have been in WRAG without a medical.

When you withdrew the ESA appeal........ your ESA payments did not stop?, this must have been because you had made a new claim and been given a medical and placed into support group, but this new claim had been granted in error, the most you should have been on, was ESA assessment rate on appeal...with sick notes.

Answer the question in red, as this is really the crucial question

rogerblack

epitome wrote: »

You were correctly advised to go back onto ESA at appeal rate....Or were you advised to make a new claim to ESA back in July 2010?....making a new claim is the only way I can see that you got a medical in 2010, I don't think you were in WRAG to begin with, I think you would have been on assessment rate first (about £63 per week) then put into support after passing the medical. You could not have been in WRAG without a medical.

As I understand it, this may not quite amount to error.
While it is usual DWP practice to apply the 13 week assessment period, there is nothing in statute to stop a decisionmaker, on receiving an initial claim in immediately granting the WRAG or support group. They don't even need to wait for an ESA50.

However, I note the phrase 'my condition worsened' in the original post.
If a fresh claim was made on the basis of a worsened condition, and the old appeal not proceeded with, that may explain most of the above.
The 'straight to WRAG' is a significant anomaly, unless as epitome mentions, were at any time you unable to provide doctors notes?

rjhspaniel

28/01/2010- Medical assessment PCA whilst still on Incapacity Benefit and national insurance contributions.

19/02/2010- letter received from job centre plus saying not entitled to incapacity benefit and ni contributions has only scored 10 points on PCA. Letter clearly states " if you decide to claim another benefit you must do so straight away. to claim JSA will not affect any appeal.
I have notes on this letter where they have told me i can only claim JSA.

22/02/2010- I sent them a letter requesting reconsideration.

5/03/2010- Letter received from job centre (on 11/3/2010 because it had been redirected has sent to wrong address to start with) stating decision stands and details of how to appeal.

17/03/2010- backdated claim for JSA allowed from 09/02/2010

23/06/2010- letter received from job centre regarding sickness whilst on JSA. Advised to claim ESA. told to tear off form in jobseekers booklet and return it to job centre.
JSA stopped on 24/07/2010
ESA claimed 25/07/2010
Form returned on 26/07/2010 plus i informed them by telephone of the situation on this date.

30/07/2010- letter from jobcentre stating claim for JSA. we cannot pay you an allowance from 25/07/2010 bacause you have claimed another benefit (incapacity benefit)
your final payment of JSA will be on 24/07/2010

16/08/2010- letter from jobcentre re ESA claim. We cannot pay you ESA from 25/07/2010. to continue to receive ESA you may need to attend a work focus interview. you will be notified of this if you need to attend.
To continue to receive ESA you may need to attend a WCA. you will be notified if this is required.

28/10/2010- letter from jobcentre- We have looked at your claim following a recent change. we cannot pay you ESA from 25/07/2010. this is because a decision was made about a doubt.(????) we cannot award NI credits for this period.
From 28/07/2010 your ESA will be 65.45 a week
From 26/10/2010 your ESA will be 96.85 a week
We will credit you NI while claiming ESA.

Total confusion ???????????