Question about ESA arrears payment

borgmanjayce

I put in a appeal for my claim for ESA back at the end of April as I got 0 points and I went for my tribunal on Monday which I won on the first attempt and received the results on the same day.

I've been told by the lady from the Welfare Rights department of my local council who helped me with my appeal case that it could take up to 8 weeks before I receive my arrears payment as a lot of the benefit offices have a huge backlog of benefit cases including arrears payments to be taken care of, and I was wondering if this is true or not although I've since been told by someone from the ESA section that depending on where I live, it could be a lot quicker depending on how busy they are.

To be honest, I really feel sorry for those who've won their cases against ATOS and the DWP and yet still have to wait a long time before they can receive their arrears payment.

jacques_chirac

That is correct - it can be anything up to eight or even twelve weeks, but that will vary between centres/ areas.

KxMx

Yes this is correct.
I waited 4 weeks for my arrears and sent a reminder.
Within another 2 weeks it had been sorted, arrears paid, back on correct weekly rate and first WFI booked (I am in the WRAG).

borgmanjayce

sonja33 wrote: »

8, 12 weeks whatever, why don't they just employ more people to bring the delay down to what they promise in their charter. I can't see what the problem is. If it were industry, with a company with a bulging order book with no staff to complete the orders, they sure as hell would employ more people?

I hope that I don't have to wait 12 weeks because that would be bloody stupid having to wait that long even if I've won my tribunal (and that goes for anyone else who've won their tribunal!)

I agree with you in that this stupid damn Coalition government which the majority of people didn't even want in office; especially the Tories could have hired more staff for cases like these, but of course it's bitten them in the !!! and what with all the successful appeals against the DWP and ATOS, it's going to end up costing them more than they're saving!

In any case, I'm looking at calling my local BC at least 2-3 times a week from next week to see if there's any updates until I get a letter saying when I get the arrears paid to me.

In all honesty, the old me would have either not bothered appealing against ATOS' decision or would have waited before calling the ESA, but in the past few years, I've changed in that I'm not willing to take any bullcrap from companies or organisations that screw me around.

epitome

What you should do is phone ESA and ask have you received the appeal win notice from tribunal?

If there is no note to confirm it has been received, ask for an appointment at you Jobcentre to have your notice faxed over.


DWP has lost/cut/not replaced about 20,000 staff since 2010

only_mee

Mine took a week from my appeal hearing to the money in the bank.I won the 18 Sept and was in the bank 25th.

Why was mine so damn quick i cannot tell you, a friend has been waiting since he won his appeal in August, for his backdated money.(same appeal building)

If they can do mine in a week, why can't they do others?

borgmanjayce

only_mee wrote: »

Mine took a week from my appeal hearing to the money in the bank.I won the 18 Sept and was in the bank 25th.

Why was mine so damn quick i cannot tell you, a friend has been waiting since he won his appeal in August, for his backdated money.(same appeal building)

If they can do mine in a week, why can't they do others?

Congratulations on getting your payment so quick as well as winning your appeal!

I feel sorry that your friend is still waiting for their arrears to be paid to them even if his appeal was held in the same building as yours and I take it that he's allocated to the same Benefit Centre as well.

Also, I'm not surprised that the Coalition Government would make things worse for the DWP and the people who use their services instead of making things better which is why I look forward to the day that I can help to vote these shower of losers out, and I just hope that people won't be so complacent the next time there's a General Election as this country can't afford to have the Tories run the country for another 5 years.

In the meantime, I phoned the ESA department today to see if they received my tribunal decision notice today and they haven't, so I've now decided to call them every other day until I find out when I'm due the payment.