ESA Help & Complaints Procedure

DeanM56

I am currently in a fit of rage so please be understanding if this post reads a little irate and isn't as well structured as it should possibly be. The truth is I don't know where to start this post with all my anger and frustration at present so I'll just get straight into the point.

At the start of January my partner went to the Job Center to claim JSA (Or whatever it's now labelled as) and was told that she was not suited for JSA and they felt she needed to be on ESA due to depression following the recent loss of her mother. We was both a little stumped by this as my partner was willing to work and felt that getting back to work would of been possible.

However, we followed the Job Centre's advice and applied for ESA and since then have had nothing but hassle, very little support, and more hoops to jump through than a bag of Hula-Hoops crisps!

When we first applied (early Jan) my partner was still living with her Grandmother and was stopping with myself on regular occasions. During the course of the application (mid Feb) we decided it would probably be more beneficial to have her move in on a permanent basis so I could give her support and help her to cope with the depression. We informed all the benefits agencies about the changes (I was & still do claim housing benefit, council tax benefit & working tax credits).

We reported this change to the JC+ who where dealing with my partners ESA claim and they told us that due to the change there would be more paperwork to now fill in and the claim would have to be changed due to my self employment, all of which was expected and made sense due to the change of circumstance.

We have filled out each and every form we have been sent, sent in all the possible information that we can regarding my self employment, however I have been trading less than 12 months so there really is not much information available.

It's now the middle of March and there has still be no help. We have been ringing each and every week, sometimes multiple times a week and each time we just get told to call back the following week.

A fortnight ago when we called they said they needed more information from myself regarding the self employment and asked me a series of questions which I had already answered on the B16 form they sent. I provided them with all the information and at this point they said they now had everything needed to take the claim to a decision board (the claim was to go to the decision board on the 12th March).

We still have heard no news regarding this, we called back this morning to ask why we hadn't heard anything and we was told they needed more information from myself again regarding my self employment and that they needed it in paper but they didn't tell my partner what information is needed or where to send it too.

I called back myself and after waiting on hold for over an hour got through to an someone who asked my partner a series of security questions which he claimed she had gotten wrong. I asked him what we need to do next and he said we need to call back again so that we can go through the security check again. At this point I said that I am unhappy about having to ring back as I had just been on hold for over half an hour, and I asked him if there was anything else that could be done. I also asked about how to complain about the way we have been treated at which point he hung up on me.

As you can imagine I am furious now... I had been very calm about the whole situation as the last thing I want is to cause any more upset, stress or pressure in the house as I am trying to help my partner overcome her depression, not add to the problem.

I cannot help but feel like we have been treated unfairly and given the runaround, we have tried to do everything in the correct way. I feel like if we had just kept quiet about her moving in until after the claim had been sorted we would of probably got all this sorted months back.

We are still at a loss now in regards what to do next...

We still don't know if my partner will be eligible for her ESA and (or) when the decision will be made. We don't know what info to be sending off or where to send it.And if she isn't eligible for ESA then we have basically spent the past 3 months chasing up a claim that she never wanted to make in the first place but was told to do so by the job centre.

As I'm sure you can imagine all this extra stress is not helping with my partners depression either and if anything has made her worse since we have been having to make the claim for ESA.

Is there anyone out there who can help us and give us some clear advice on what to do next. We have been struggling financially since the beginning of Jan and now it's getting to a point where we need help and cannot wait any longer to find out about the ESA.

I have so many questions, should we make a new claim for JSA just incase, can we make a back claim for JSA based on the Job Centre tellings us to claim ESA months ago which has caused all this hassle, is there anything we can do to speed up the decision making process, and many more questions all buzzing around my head constantly.

We have gotten behind with rent payments, bills are starting to pile up and we are having to borrow from family members whilst we await this decision.


I would be grateful to any and all help, so if you do know anything about ESA, JSA, or any of our situation please, please help!

Thanks

Thomas_Hardy

Calm down, "rage" will not help anything.

Has your partner been in work over the past few years?

Do you earn more than £110 a week?

Have you applied for HB/ LHA and CTB also?

epitome

Has she worked in these tax years
6th April 2010 <-> 5th April 2011 or
6th April 2011 <-> 5th April 2012
Was it self employed or employed work?

To answer the immediate problem, you do have to phone back and answer the security qu, again.
When you phone,... first thing you should ask (politely), before discussing anything else before getting into the security questions, is what is their name and what office they work in. Their first name - you don't need surname.

If you fail again you could ask for a callback to be booked and you will take your chances with the BC asking their security questions when they call you. They might refuse to do this in which case ask to speak to a supervisor, the supervisor might come onto the phone or might call you back later. Ask the supervisor why they are refusing to book a callback and you will answer security with the BC as you would have to do anyway....

You should also ask if the previous call has been recorded in notes, and you would like to make a complaint against that agent -complain that they hung up on you or they would say there was a fault on the line in which case they should have called you back- and a complaint for them not addressing your complaint and getting their team leader to speak to you either on the call or by calling you back.

DeanM56

Thomas_Hardy wrote: »

Calm down, "rage" will not help anything.

Has your partner been in work over the past few years?

Do you earn more than £110 a week?

Have you applied for HB/ LHA and CTB also?

By the time I got to the end of writing I had calmed a little, your right it gets you nowhere gettin annoyed but it is sometimes so frustrating that it can't be helped. I did maintain a polite manner on the phone at all times though, even if I was boiling inside.

My partner had been claiming JSA towards the back end of 2012 and gained employment in November/December as a temp position.

I am currently earning around the £100 a week mark although this varies slightly from week to week.

I already claim HB & CTB and they have been informed about my partner and have adjusted the claims accordingly.

benefitbaby

Hi, sorry to hear of your difficulties.

You have a number of options and if it were me I would do them in tandem, firstly (and deep breath here) you need to call Jobcentre Plus and ask for a call back from someone in the processing department. You should receive the call back within 4 working hours (if it does not happen call again tell them you had a failed call back and they should re-book it for within an hour).

When you do get the call ask the following:
- What information is needed?
- Has a decision been made on your partners original claim (pre-moving in with you)? If no, ask why not.
- Ask for the name of the person you are speaking to and make a note of this.

You can make a written complaint to the benefit delivery centre manager, this should set out a history of the claim, all your contacts to JCP, all the evidence you have sent and that you have been hung up on. Sign this and send:
- 1 copy to JCP
- 1 copy to your MP
- keep one copy safe.

You can also visit your local CAB or advice agency to intervene if you need help with any of this.

You should also visit the benefit calculator at www.entitledto.co.uk to work out what you and your partner will be entitled to - it may be that there is no/minimal entitlement to ESA and so this needs to be taken into account with your budgeting etc, you may find that you are entitled to increased HB etc.

Good luck

DeanM56

benefitbaby wrote: »

Hi, sorry to hear of your difficulties.

You have a number of options and if it were me I would do them in tandem, firstly (and deep breath here) you need to call Jobcentre Plus and ask for a call back from someone in the processing department. You should receive the call back within 4 working hours (if it does not happen call again tell them you had a failed call back and they should re-book it for within an hour).

When you do get the call ask the following:
- What information is needed?
- Has a decision been made on your partners original claim (pre-moving in with you)? If no, ask why not.
- Ask for the name of the person you are speaking to and make a note of this.

You can make a written complaint to the benefit delivery centre manager, this should set out a history of the claim, all your contacts to JCP, all the evidence you have sent and that you have been hung up on. Sign this and send:
- 1 copy to JCP
- 1 copy to your MP
- keep one copy safe.

You can also visit your local CAB or advice agency to intervene if you need help with any of this.

Cheers for the help, will get on with this immediately. I may need a little help with the letter to send to the benefit delivery centre as I want to make sure I get everything on there that is needed. Would it be ok to PM you a copy of this for a little feedback before posting?

Thanks for the help so far... I hope this can soon be put to bed once and for all

epitome

DeanM56 wrote: »

My partner had been claiming JSA towards the back end of 2012 and gained employment in November/December as a temp position..

So the answer to the questions I asked is "No" ?

DeanM56

epitome wrote: »

So the answer to the questions I asked is "No" ?

Other than the temp position at the end of 2012 it's a NO.

Before that she was a student at college until last summer.

benefitbaby

DeanM56 wrote: »

Cheers for the help, will get on with this immediately. I may need a little help with the letter to send to the benefit delivery centre as I want to make sure I get everything on there that is needed. Would it be ok to PM you a copy of this for a little feedback before posting?

Thanks for the help so far... I hope this can soon be put to bed once and for all

Sure, but you may still want to get an advice agency involved as they may have escalation routes to enable them to contact the customer resolution manager team.

DeanM56

epitome wrote: »

Has she worked in
April 2010 - April 2011 or
April 2011 - April 2012
Was it self employed or employed work?

To answer the immediate problem, you do have to phone back and answer the security qu, again.
When you phone,... first thing you should ask (politely), before discussing anything else, is what is their name and what office they work in.

If you fail again you could ask for a callback to be booked and you will take your chances with the BC asking their security questions when they call you. They might refuse to do this in which case ask to speak to a supervisor, the supervisor might come onto the phone or might call you back later. Ask the supervisor why they are refusing to book a callback and you will answer security with the BC as you would have to do anyway....

You should also ask if the previous call has been recorded in notes, and you would like to make a complaint against that agent -complain that they hung up on you or they would say there was a fault on the line in which case they should have called you back- and a complaint for them not addressing your complaint and getting their team leader to speak to you either on the call or by calling you back.

Will follow all these points up too. Thanks for your help.

DeanM56

benefitbaby wrote: »

Sure, but you may still want to get an advice agency involved as they may have escalation routes to enable them to contact the customer resolution manager team.

Yea I will be doing, had to remove that part from the quote though as I do not have the rights to post links on here yet haha.