ESA denied due to 'form not received in time' i got proof they did - help!

psammead

Please can someone give me any reassurance? My hubby got a remewal form for his ESA in June and we sent it back recorded with admittedly 5 days to spare (we've been having lots of work done for an extenstion for him and struggled to find the time to do it early as he needs lots of care normally!).

I have got proof they got it back before the cut off date which according to the original letter was the 8th of July. (They got it on the 5th)

Today we got a letter saying his ESA had been stopped and he was fit for work because we didn't send the form back and this letter said the date was the 5th of July not the 8th as orignally stated.

Now which ever date they insist on they still got it back on the 3rd of July so how can they stop his benefit by saying they didn't get the form back at all when i have proof they did? Any ideas what to do next, other than ring them as i can't do that until 8am Monday!

Has anyone else had this and was it easily sorted? Praying it is as hubby has a very bad heart condition on top of physical disabilities and the stress is making him very poorly - he only has 12 months tops left and thats only if he keeps all stress to a minimum!!!!

Think i am after reassurance that everything will be sorted ok Monday

Thank you

psammead

Sorry it should say they got the form back on the 3rd of July not the 5th

nannytone_2

theres nothing you can do until monday.
you have proof they received it so the have no alternative but to reinstate his ESA

psammead

Thank you, i hope you're right!

psammead

Had a thought though overnight - what if they flatly deny receiving it even though i prove they did? Also if they accept they got it how long will it take to process and what happens whilst it does!?

Sorry just getting worried into a frazzle this end

rogerblack

First thing to point out - any letters you send them typically take a week to be acted on.
They do not unfortunately delay making decisions until they wait out this delay, so this means that if you don't get things back in plenty of time, they can make a perverse decision in the meantime.
If they flatly deny it - then in principle, you ask for a reconsideration of this decision.
Then if this is turned down - you would proceed to a tribunal, where it's finally decided.

However.
Do you have the original letter, giving you timescales to respond by?
Did you get a second warning letter that you were getting close to the limit?

In addition.
'He only has 12 months left tops' - that leads to the thought that he should not be applying on the basis of his condition, but on the basis that his condition is terminal.
Whatever his actual likely life expectancy, it seems reasonable from what you say that - in the same way that there may be a reasonable expectation of rain in cloudy weather - even though the forecast is for it to hold off - that there is a reasonable expectation of death within 6 months.

This would trigger the rapid 'special rules' route - would his doctor be willing to sign this off?

But this is probably only a sensible route to go down if you can't get a rapid response from ESA, or if he is called to a medical.

epitome

Firstly, you should not expect them to re-open his case when you phone on Monday - they will not do this so quickly.

What you should do...in this order

• Make photocopies of all your letters stating the date of return for the ESA50
• Make sure you know what address it was sent to
• Print out the PostOfiice tracker result for the recorded delivery
• Get the name of the person who signed for it (I think you can do this online)
• photocopy the recorded delivery slip
• Write out a letter from him to the ESA BC (address is on the ESA letters he gets) Explaining all of the above and what happened to cause you to send it close to the deadline and that it was sent recorded and was signed for as delivered on 3rd July
• PHONE ESA and ask for an appointment at the local jobcentre to have the letter and documents (take your originals to the JC with the photocopies or the JC will photocopy them for you, keep your originals) scanned and emailed to the BC for consideration.
• Anyone, you, him a friend etc can take the letter & docs to the JC appointment.
• Give the JC person a phone number and request a callback on the email to confirm receipt of docs and to give you a timescale for a decision - so you know when to start chasing it.
• Wait for the callback which should be within 24hours.

If you send the letter/docs by post there is no need to call ESA on Monday and you will have to wait up to 8 - 9 days for your letter to arrive. If you email from a JC appointment it will arrive within 24 hours.

rogerblack

epitome wrote: »

If you send the letter/docs by post there is no need to call ESA on Monday and you will have to wait up to 8 - 9 days for your letter to arrive. If you email from a JC appointment it will arrive within 24 hours.

It's perhaps a bit soon to do all this - rather than calling them.
Yes, in principle there may be real hastles - however the primary thing is that the ESA50 is presumably working its way through their system, and will soon, if not already - have turned up.
If it was received on the 3rd, I would have expected it to be fairly likely to be in the system as of the 10th or so - shortly after the letter went out.

If it has in fact been now noted as received, then the decision should be overturned as a matter of course.

Phone them up on Monday, and see if there is a note on the file.
If not, ask for a callback from a decisionmaker.
If this doesn't result in action - then the above mentioned steps may be a good plan.

starlight29

Hi
My uncle got this letter rang up was told its an automated letter thatbyes they had his form but it can take 10 days to reach right department and inbetween mail room and correct department the automated letter was sent.

Dont panic yet ring up monday and explain

Starlight

epitome

I would say... do as I suggested now, and it could save a lot of time in the long run.

The letter says the claim has been closed. This means ATOS has sent a failure to return ESA50 message to the DWP. If ATOS receives the ESA50 now (in their post room) they will forward it to DWP as the claim is already closed. When ATOS subsequently forward it to DWP it could take a while to arrive at DWP, and who's to say what date of receipt stamp it will have on it?
The claim is closed, the DWP are waiting for one thing and one thing only. They are waiting for Fail To Return Questionaire reasons to be written by the customer to the BDC, for consideration to re-open the claim.

You can if you wish (I recommend you do) phone ATOS 08002888777 option 3 and ask why they have not got it seeing as you have a recorded delivery slip...this could start them to start looking for it.

If you phone ESA, the frontline staff do not have access to ESA50 information, even if they did it most likely says not received. ESA staff will say these 3 things
1. "Phone ATOS"
2. "If ATOS say they still don't have it then you will have to write a letter to your ESA BC explaining what happened. If ATOS say they now have it, ask them what they are going to with it."
3. "We can't pay you until your claim is re-opened, we can't re-open your claim unless you write in a letter of explanation or until ATOS tells us they made a mistake."

psammead

Blimey think i'm more confused now!

I do have proof of the date change as i kept all the letters, don't understand why the date changed though?

I realise there is a time delay between them receiving it and it getting to the right dept but i would have thought that 10 days starts the day after the deadline for getting the form back to them. So if they state on the letter the form must be back 'no later than the 8th July 2013' they then allow another 10 days after this for it to reach the right dept? Otherwise the date it should reach them is in fact not the 8th but 10 days before that?! Then again that sounds like common sense which i don't think these companies have lol!

I will ring the number on the letter tomorrow to start the ball rolling if nothing else and see what they say and will probably end up ringing ATOS anyway. Thanks for the phone number btw, that is really appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply and help, there are more ideas and routes i can take that i wouldn't have thought of so again thank you.

I'll let you all know what happens.