Late ESA payment - Lost medical certificate?

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Monkeyballs wrote: »

Hi,

The last doctors certificate which I sent to Jobcentre + seems to have gone astray (I sent it almost 2 weeks ago) which means my ESA payments have stopped (first missed payment was on Monday this week).

I have called and spoken to Jobcentre + and they have told me to keep calling back on the off chance it has arrived and they'll ensure a same day payment...

Surely if it's been a couple of weeks this isn't the best course of action as I could be doing this for days? Is this standard process or have I just had a duff advisor?

Cheers,

MB

You should not have been told that you would get a same day payment (SDBP), at the end of the day that is decided by whoever is processing your payment. It is not guaranteed to happen.

The standard process is to tell the customer to wait until the 8th working day after posting before calling to check if it has arrived..Working day 1 is the working day *after* it was posted. If customer gets a payment or a text to confirm the med3 has arrived within those 7 working days then no need to call on the 8th working day.

Putting your mobile number on the top of the med3 will or should always result in a text message to confirm recpt. They have 2 text message options:
"Med 3 recvd and you will recv your money today" or
"Med3 recvd and you will recv your money on your normal payday"

When they refuse to do a SDBP they may send the 2nd text message eventhough your normal payday has already passed.

How to avoid this from becoming an issue....
Write down the dates of your med3 that you are sending in, and note on your calander the day it expires, so It may expire Sept 29th....

When the DWP get it, if it is for longer than 2 weeks they will extend it a max 10 days to your next payday, so your next payday after 29th Sept is 7th October... So they will extend it to the 7th October.
You *might* get a reminder letter close to the 7th October to tell you it is running out. But you should already know this and have booked your appointment at the doctor to be on the 30th September, so they can write you a new one. You can then post it to the DWP it will arrive 7 working days later, well enough in time for your following payment on the 21st October.

If your cert runs out more than 10 days before your next payday, it won't be extended. So, if, when you renew the cert, you are now within 2 weeks of your following payday, phone ESA and ask for a jobcentre appointment to send it by email.

As was said above, do not take any bull from Jobcentres who say "we don't do faxing" anymore, if you phone ESA and they give you an appointment to have it emailed, it's because that is the ONLY way you will be paid on time and the jobcentre cannot refuse to do it.




A message to TAL,
You said

I have read the law today and it says, in summery that as soon as a payment is duebit must be paid by the fastest administrative method.

Where did you get that law from? I'd like to read it myself.

The callback you received who said "we don't have the facility to do SDBP anymore" is either lying or bending the truth, depending how you view it. They can recall the payment (if they want to) but they won't do it the day before it is due to credit. (there's not much point)
Their managers may very well have instructed them not to do SDBP if the sicknote is late, and instructed them to refuse to do recalls and SDBP if the customer calls to ask for one.... As they have been instructed not to do them, he could be said to be telling the truth when he says "we don't have that facility anymore"