Ill health pension and IB/ESA

markmarkmark

The end of this particular story - had a phone call from the DWP decision maker.

He agreed I was under transitional arrangements from Invalidity Benefit through Incapacity Benefit and therefore my pension is disregarded. Also I now appear to be in the support group with a review in 2 years, so that appeal must have worked too, and ESA is reinstated, backdated to when incorrectly first put in the WRAG. I await written confirmation from the DWP.

I would like to thank everyone who replied. It took many hours of googling, in between painkillers, to come up with the relevant info to justify appeals. I hate to think what poor old folk on their own make of this system and accept whatever is told them.

So my message is, do your research for the facts, learn from the experts who give up their time on these forums, and don't give up.

HOWMUCH

So glad that you got it all sorted.

markmarkmark

Finally got a letter confirming ESA is restored (support group) and backdated as per telephone conversation. What I don't understand is the decision maker told me over the phone the prognosis of the award is 2 years. But in the letter it says the amount paid is from Apr to Nov 2013. Does this mean I can expect another ESA50 in a couple of months?

Richie-from-the-Boro

markmarkmark wrote: »

Finally got a letter confirming ESA is restored (support group) and backdated as per telephone conversation. What I don't understand is the decision maker told me over the phone the prognosis of the award is 2 years. But in the letter it says the amount paid is from Apr to Nov 2013. Does this mean I can expect another ESA50 in a couple of months?

Prognosis is a word used in medical predictions, I can't see how its used in this context unless your medical condition had changed. AIP is an acronym for the pre-determined period before they re-check your case unless you notify a 'change in circumstances', it sounds like the telephone person has simply used the wrong noun. I would read it as you have an AIP of 24 months.

Anyone can have a re-issue of a ESA50 at any time .. .. the infamous 'revolving door'.

markmarkmark

Hi Richie, sorry, I think I mislead you, prognosis was my word. On the phone I think I asked what the review date was, and the decision maker said 2 years. I just don't understand what Nov 2013 has to do with the amount of payments, since I thought the increases were always in April? I won't be getting increases anyway because of the IB top up for some years. Maybe I should just phone and ask?

rogerblack

markmarkmark wrote: »

. I just don't understand what Nov 2013 has to do with the amount of payments,

It's when the christmas bonus is paid.

It is part of the hideously broken letter generation system - what it should say is something like "ESA until December 2015, which is currently paid at £x and usually increased in April. In addition, you will be paid a christmas bonus on ..."

markmarkmark

Ah! - palm hits forehead! (but not too hard).

The letter mentioned Xmas bonus on a completely different page! I did not put 2 and 2 together. Thanks for that. It makes a kind of sense now.

jdoe

markmarkmark wrote: »

The end of this particular story - had a phone call from the DWP decision maker.

He agreed I was under transitional arrangements from Invalidity Benefit through Incapacity Benefit and therefore my pension is disregarded. Also I now appear to be in the support group with a review in 2 years, so that appeal must have worked too, and ESA is reinstated, backdated to when incorrectly first put in the WRAG. I await written confirmation from the DWP.

I would like to thank everyone who replied. It took many hours of googling, in between painkillers, to come up with the relevant info to justify appeals. I hate to think what poor old folk on their own make of this system and accept whatever is told them.

So my message is, do your research for the facts, learn from the experts who give up their time on these forums, and don't give up.

Hello.....I am in a very similar position except that my IB dates from 2001 and DLA at high rate care com. from 2004 .
Would you tell me if your OP is over the £85 quoted and has it been disregarded now that you are on ESA support ?

So position is that the IB dates from 2001 and OP was under the £85.Sent in pension pay slips each year.Did not know about DLA till told by welfare rights who applied for me as they did with IB.

Awarded DLA high care in 2004 and told not to sent in sick notes or pension updates and that NI credits would be automatic.

Come April 2005 on the yearly updates they asked about change of circumstances so rang them to say about rise in pension.They said....yes,its on the system that you are on DLA HCR so its disregarded so no need for you to send in pay slip as before.

So from 2005-2009 kept ringing on on yearly prompt and they kept saying your pension is disregarded/exempt etc so no need to inform us about that because we know you are on DLA. Basically said stop calling and no notifications required.

So now been placed on ESA support.

Only problem now is they seem to have the pension record frozen at 2004.At when i was awarded DLA HCR and told that it was exempt and no need for updates or sicknotes .They don't seem to have all their own records and regulations to hand.

I followed your story and want to know if your pension is protected with the ESA support group and if its over £85.

Reading everything on welfare rights,capg,focusondisabilty and getting in touch with the benefit agency.....I feel its protected if you were on DLA HCR proir to conversion but it would be nice to know in real terms and you are a recent case with exp.

Its difficult enough wading through all these names IV to IB to ESA.My head is spinning.

markmarkmark

Hi jdoe,
commiserations with the head spinning. It is confusing and I had to spend a l-o-n-g time googling (in between painkillers) to find the facts which were not at all easily available or understandable from the legislation.

First congrats on getting the support group, you are lucky.

I think you are fine with the pension. The relevant rules were on the previous page of this thread. If you were on Incapacity Benefit before 6 April 2001 and continuously since then and moved to ESA without a break your pension is disregarded.

You don't mention your 2001 date, but it should not matter anyway if you are on High Rate of DLA Care Component, then pension is also disregarded.

You need to get this info to a decision maker, either by phone or letter, quoting decision makers handbook chapter 45 - section 45465, that "my case comes under these transitional arrangements".

Also IF you have a top up to your ESA because your Incapacity Benefit was higher you will not get yearly increases from now on until the ESA reaches the value of your additional top up. Only then will the "inflation" increases come in again. If you are on the "normal" ESA rates, then you should get the April ?1%? increases.

I fully agree that many DWP workers do not know the rules sufficiently, and worse, their computer systems are not up to the job of having the records at hand to make sure the correct decisions are made by operators. At least that was my experience.

Good luck, and calm down if at all poss, you should be ok

jdoe

markmarkmark wrote: »

Hi jdoe,
commiserations with the head spinning. It is confusing and I had to spend a l-o-n-g time googling (in between painkillers) to find the facts which were not at all easily available or understandable from the legislation.

First congrats on getting the support group, you are lucky.

I think you are fine with the pension. The relevant rules were on the previous page of this thread. If you were on Incapacity Benefit before 6 April 2001 and continuously since then and moved to ESA without a break your pension is disregarded.

You don't mention your 2001 date, but it should not matter anyway if you are on High Rate of DLA Care Component, then pension is also disregarded.

You need to get this info to a decision maker, either by phone or letter, quoting decision makers handbook chapter 45 - section 45465, that "my case comes under these transitional arrangements".

Also IF you have a top up to your ESA because your Incapacity Benefit was higher you will not get yearly increases from now on until the ESA reaches the value of your additional top up. Only then will the "inflation" increases come in again. If you are on the "normal" ESA rates, then you should get the April ?1%? increases.

I fully agree that many DWP workers do not know the rules sufficiently, and worse, their computer systems are not up to the job of having the records at hand to make sure the correct decisions are made by operators. At least that was my experience.

Good luck, and calm down if at all poss, you should be ok

Thanks Mark for that response !
Its so good to know that people actually follow up the story when on these boards.

The IB was from later in 2001....July perhaps.So from 2001 to 2004 they were getting pension updates.Sending the slips in and getting them back.

Then Welfare Rights applied for DLA for me and I got DLA HCR and lower rate for mobility.

And thats where I think this pension sum has been frozen .2004.
Up to that point the pension was slightly under £85 and now its well over what with the increases and the tax threshold being raised.I got decent yearly increases in the early years.Less so now but still.

So from 2004-2009 they didn't ask me to send anything in.When I rang in they said its on the system and its disregarded/exempt etc. Not a problem because we know you are on DLA.

I actually asked about the prompt on the letter asking for any changes.They said its generic but we know that yours is overlooked now.

So thank you for your response.I will try to calm down and quote all this info I found but you can't help worrying.

And lastly would you tell me if your current pension is over £85 and is it disregarded for ESA ?

Thats another key and worrying issue so would appreciate that.

I will definately come back to check your reply and also to give an update as I feel there must be other people in the same boat.Your posts helped me.Thank you.