esa appeal from wrag to support

nashly

My wife hates phoning them as she is such a bag of nerves, she thinks if she can talk to them then they will think she can work in a call centre so I have to be gentle with reminding her to phone them, I will update after she gets info from them

nashly

Well she made the call and got confirmed that if appeal takes longer than 1 year her ESA will stop, DWP say recon letter arrived with them in Sept and no timescale was given to her, 9 months and counting.

Confuseddot

My understanding which isn't as good as others, so apologies if incorrect, is that the ESA payments will continue but it will be income based.
I believe its an ESA3 form that needs to be filled in to claim income based.

nashly

I hope that is correct, my wife went for a pip medical with capita today only to be told that an admin error had happened and no appointment was available today, this left her in tears as she has such difficulty going to unfamililiar places and sounds, they person from Capita we saw told her to book a home visit which we will do.

TOBRUK

nashly wrote: »

I hope that is correct, my wife went for a pip medical with capita today only to be told that an admin error had happened and no appointment was available today, this left her in tears as she has such difficulty going to unfamililiar places and sounds, they person from Capita we saw told her to book a home visit which we will do.

That is a really cruel thing for them to do - an admin error! It is no joke going to such an appointment (with all the difficulties you have physically/mentally) and you have worked yourself up, wondering what is in front of you and then waiting for a decision!

With regard ESA, when I was transferred from IB to ESA, they placed me in WRAG. In the decision letter it stated that I was on contribution based, but I do not have a partner or any other income, so I rang the department and after I explained, they said there had been a mistake and I should be on income based ESA and sent me a form - as a result I was placed on income based.

Also I disagreed with their decision as I (and GP) felt I should be placed in the Support group, I wrote them a letter asking if they would reconsider (giving reasons why I disagreed with their decision - with extra information and examples) and received their decision within a month. They did reconsider and placed me in the support group.

If you call (or write) to the department explaining the situation they might place her on income based ESA. If this is the case thenn that will take some pressure off you while you await the appeal.

Good luck.

HB58

Nashly, your wife needs to request an ESA3 which will ask about your joint finances and, from what you have said, will enable ESA to continue in payment after the 365 days has passed. Income-related ESA can also 'signpost' to other benefits (such as free prescriptions).

nashly

Thanks for kind replies everyone they really are helpful, my wife's overall feeling about the whole process of Incapacity ESA and PIP is it makes her feel like she is on trial all the time therefore making her feel very guilty all the time, so sad for her.

epitome

Just to be sure,,,,

How much is your wife getting on ESA per week at the moment?

Did you recieve a bundle of documents which said your case has been refused and has now been sent to Tribunal?
Did you then subsequently get a letter from Tribunal asking if you wanted to continue with the Appeal?

If it is at tribunal then it is not a DWP decision anymore and your enquiries should be to Tribunal service 0300 123 1142

If it is still with DWP at recon then that is a very unusually long time ( a year ago it would not have been so unusual but these days recons are done much quicker, you should ask for an update phonecall from DWP ESA appeals department, for all you know what with the new Man Recon system your case has been buried and lost behind a filing cabinet.

nashly

My wife gets about £115 a week but I would have to check the exact amount, her reconsideration request has yet to be decided by the DWP and is in a queue according to the DWP who she phoned this week.

sh1981

nashly wrote: »

When my wife was migrated over from Incapacity to ESA she was placed in the WRAG group which she appealed straight away as she fits more than one descriptor of the support group, the DWP have not made a decision in the 11 months since appealing and we are worried that after a year her payments might stop due to the year limit on WRAG payments.
Am I correct in thinking this might be the case ?

Claim Hardship Payments.