ESA after a year

gillbo64

I have been on ESA in the Work related activities group for a year now. I received a letter to say that this would come to an end & to apply for income related ESA. I was advised at my interview with my benefits advisor to inform them my circumstances had worsened & ask for my grouping to be looked at again. I did this & filled in all forms & returned them all in good time, before the dates they had to be returned by.

I was lead to believe that once the date I'd been on it a year came (Sept 7th) I would transfer onto the income related payment, however having checked my bank account this has not happened and I was only paid around £15. As a result there is no money in my account to pay bills!

I don't know what to do next! Is this correct or should I have received a payment? HELP! :undecided

Horseunderwater

Ring the number on your letter & ask them what is happening - because you seem to be saying you should be on income rel ESA while at the same time you are going for a supercession as the illness has worsened.

Indie_Kid

Did you ever fill in an ESA3,for income based? which is the form to apply for income based. At the start of the claim, did you apply for income based and contributions based?

gillbo64

Indie_Kid wrote: »

Did you ever fill in an ESA3,for income based? which is the form to apply for income based. At the start of the claim, did you apply for income based and contributions based?

Yes I filled the ESA3 in - but having phoned them it appears they "never received" the form & are going to send me a new one out :-/

epitome

When did you post the ESA3 ?

Did you get a callback to confirm they have not got it or just fobbed off on the call that you made in to them?

If it has been 8 working days or more they are supposed to get you a callback to look through their post-room (for want of a better description). You should phone back and ask for that callback to be made and a complaint against the person who took your call (as long as it was 8 work days or more since posting.......if it hadn't have been 8 work days there would be no reason to send you a new form either).

TELLIT01

epitome, the call centre wouldn't know if the ESA3 had been received or not so the information about non-receipt can only have come from the Benefit Centre.
What is the basis of the complaint against the person who took the call??

epitome

keitht53 wrote: »

epitome, the call centre wouldn't know if the ESA3 had been received or not so the information about non-receipt can only have come from the Benefit Centre.

If it has been received, the BC is supposed to put in the notes that it has been received. So the call centre is able to tell that it has been received. If there are no notes, then the call centre does not know if it is received or not.

What is the basis of the complaint against the person who took the call??

Because the person who took the call has a duty to arrange a callback from the BC if it has been 8 working days or more since posting and the notes do not say if it was received. This is not an option, if it does not say "xxxx received" and it has been 8 working days or more they are REQUIRED to arrange a callback.

I aksed the other poster if it had been more then 8 working days and if they had gotten a callback - because that would be the only way to be sure. If it had been more and there was no callback arranged, just a fob off from the call centre, then a complaint is justified.

gillbo64

Yes I did receive a callback