Support group mix up - advice etc wanted please :)

Retrovertigo

Perhaps not so much advice, as reassurance. I have already been looking and asking around the internet, but this place is the most popular I feel. Apologies to anyone I have asked elsewhere about this, it isn't that I doubt you, I am just trying to find someone in similar circumstances to see how it played out.

Anyway - at the end of November I received written confirmation I had been placed in the support group, and that it took precedence over any other letters I might have had about my benefits.

This was just as well, as on that same day, and dated as being printed the same date, was another letter I received - only a much more generic one (two pages long as opposed to the support letter which was 5 pages) saying my payments were changing because of changes to the benefits system and I was now receiving WRAG payments.

I took this to be a coincidence that they arrived the same day, as the wrag one seemed more inline with informing me that the Dec changes were coming, And that the support group one, which stated they had looked at my claim and found me unfit for work, had everything detailed out - and like I said, told me to ignore any other letters.

BUT, I did call the benefits people and spoke to a lady who confirmed I was in the support group and was due a review in two years time. All good.

Fast forward to today (after months of worrying about all this stuff, and finally feeling more relaxed) and I get a letter asking me to go for a compulsory interview at the job centre because I receive WRAG!

Sods law that they are closed and I couldn't call them straightaway of course. I'm sure, and have been reassured by some nice people, that it must be a mix up - and that the dating of the two letters (both support group and wrag) being on the same day, won't have helped matters.

Now, they have done their best to reassure me it must be a mix up as I have only been in the support group a month. I have it in black and white, and when I called them the day the letters arrived (some where around the 26th Nov) the lady confirmed this, and even told me my review date, so she couldn't have made a mistake? She even said I didn't have to do anything further and didn't need to attend any interviews or such.

So really I'm just looking to see if there is actually anyone out there who this has happened to? I can't be alone, and this long weekend wait is going to kill me Thanks for reading.

rogerblack

Retrovertigo wrote: »

So really I'm just looking to see if there is actually anyone out there who this has happened to? I can't be alone, and this long weekend wait is going to kill me Thanks for reading.

The systems aren't really all lined up in all cases.
It sounds likely that you were granted the support group after the work-related machinery about WFIs had already been set in motion.
It is however a good idea to phone them and confirm.

Retrovertigo

Yeah now I have relaxed a little I can see how perhaps, the job centre received the WRAG letter because they would need to sort out and interview, and then may well have not received the notification that actually, I now don't need the interview at all, as almost immediately, I was placed in the support group.

I usually like weekends, but I'm wishing this one away Thanks for your reply.

Indie_Kid

You need to get the confirmation in writing.

Retrovertigo

Yeah I do actually have a letter here saying I am in the support group It just so happens that the same day a letter arrived saying that IB was changing and I would be receiving WRAG from mid December. I'd been waiting on the reults of the ATOS form and I think it was just bad timing that a letter was printed put saying the system was changing, and at the exact same time they made the decision to put me in the support group. Heck the lady I spoke to back then even told me my review date for the support group payments.

GirlFromMars_2

Something similar happened to me ... when I was first migrated from IB to ESA I was told by telephone that I was in the WRAG then when my letter arrived it said in black & white that I'd been placed in the Support Group.

As I was seeing a Benefits Advisor about a DLA tribunal at the time I asked her opinion and she rang up & discovered that they really had placed me in the WRAG and that the letter was wrong ... a year and a tribunal later and I am finally legitimately in the Support group, but still have no apology or explanation from the DWP about why they sent out the wrong letter ... my tribunal decision even mentions how bad it was that I've not had any correspondence from the DWP explaining that I was really in the WRAG and my appeal rights.

... in fact as the tribunal dragged on so long I had letters from the DWP dated after my tribunal win explaining that my WRAG 365 day limit was coming up and that all my benefits would be stopped ... I did eventually get them to send me an actual letter stating the correct information, but it took a lot of effort on my part!

It sounds as if you really are in the Support Group, but that the Jobcentre was told that you are in the WRAG ... hopefully they will sort it out for you! ... I'd advise getting another letter from the DWP stating clearly that you are in the support group though!

Retrovertigo

Yeah as I say, I spoke to someone there and she looked up my NI number and told me it was the support group. I did explain the two letters, but she just repeated what was said on the support group one, that it over rode an other letters I may have had.

I think the fact she could tell me it was the support group without me mentioning it by name, and also the fact she could give me the review date, bodes well. Plus she did specifically say I didn't need to do anything else and didn't have to attend interviews, so it was definitely in their computer system that I was in the support group. As I say, it is the wait over the weekend that is the worst.

Your experience has made me a little nervous though!

GirlFromMars_2

... I think what I would advise you from my situation is that it takes a while for the computer system to update itself, I know after my tribunal win it took ages to stop receiving the wrong letters, and at the start it said on the system I had been in the support group but moved to the WRAG ... so I'd call again and check to see that the computer system was right when the lady told you you were in the support group!

... you will absolutely need to talk to someone about the jobcentre letter as that's not something you can ignore ... if you are for some stupid reason in the WRAG they won't let you skip that and going by my experience won't allow you getting the wrong letter as an excuse to skip it!

... hopefully you are indeed in the Support group and the jobcentre are the ones that are wrong, but if they aren't then you need to know so that you can appeal and take the appropriate action!

... if the DWP confirm that you are in the support group get them to send you a new letter stating the situation so that you have black & white proof that you do not need to attend the jobcentre!

Retrovertigo

Yeah if there is a monumental screw up and the worst has happened, I'll be annoyed that the 30 days for appeal has passed as well. I know you can still appeal, but I think I lose out somehow. Thanks for your responses

GirlFromMars_2

... yup, you can still appeal up to 13 months after the original decision ... and given you have a letter stating very clearly that you are in the support group, there's obviously grounds for your appeal being late, so that shouldn't be a problem at all!

However, appeals are currently taking an age ... my appeal was only a couple of months before my 365 day WRAG money was due to run out, and if it had been any later I'd have been getting really nervous ... so even though you can still appeal you are losing time, as I don't imagine the appeals system will work any faster than it does under normal circumstances!

If you are in the WRAG and you don't feel you can attend the jobcentre it's worth asking if you can have a telephone interview instead ... that's what I was able to do, and in the 10? months I was wrongly in the WRAG that's the only contact I had with the jobcentre.

Good luck! ... hopefully you are indeed in the support group, but it's definitely something you need to talk to them about, as I know very well those letters can indeed be incorrect!

Retrovertigo

Can I ask one last question of you? When you appeal are ou just left on whatever the WRAG money would be (both letters I received started exactly the same amount of money - just broken down differently). I get £112 per week. I have to pay for opticians, dentist, prescriptions etc. That amount is the total I am given, and the WRAG letter stated exactly the same money.

I just fear getting even less as I live alone and couldn't cope. I manage without the heating as it is. Thanks so much.