Advice needed please Re Incapacity Benefit

mellymoo3080

Hi,

Just looking for a little advice. To cut a very long story short my father had a brain haemorrhage back in 1995 and was medically retired from the prison service the following year. Since then he has been receiving his prison pension from the government which is index linked. He has been claiming incapacity benefit (now called ESA) since 2002. He received a letter this year saying they were cutting the amount he was receiving due to "a change in income". He wrote to them and asked them to clarify as other than his pension he has no other income. He then received a letter last week asking him to attend an interview as he was suspected of committing fraud! He is mega stressed about this as we all are. He has major health problems on top of the brain injury including most recently heart attacks so the stress is doing him no favours. Do you think he has anything to worry about? It sounds to me like the DPP didn't know he had a pension but is that our fault or theirs? I have looked through his paperwork and no where has it asked anything about income. Also the DPP say they don't have records before 2007!! Sorry for the rambling! Very stressful time!

nobby1963

If there is a telephone number on the letter give it a call and explain the situation and see if they will give an indication on what it's concerning.
Due to data protection your dad will need to give you permission to speak on his behalf.
Nobby.

pmlindyloo

Those people who were transferred from IB to ESA had their benefit amount protected so that they would not receive less than when they were on IB.

This transitional protection included the disregard of the pension if that is what was happening under IB.

Read this:

http://www.actionforme.org.uk/Resources/Action%20for%20ME/Documents/get-informed/migrating-to-esa-factsheet.pdf

Has your dad any information/paperwork/bank statements from that far back?

When was he transferred to ESA? Does he have any bank statements showing what he was receiving from his IB at the time? This amount should now be the same unless the ESA payment has now reached the same amount.

It would help if you could tell us what amount he is getting - look at the last award letter and see what it says. It should say something like 'transitional amount' as part of the award.

Any problems and since it is an interview under caution, you might need some professional advice. Take any paperwork and bank statements you have and make an appointment with CAB (choose one with a benefits specialist if you can)

pmlindyloo

Just had another thought after reading your post again.

When your dad was awarded ESA was he awarded contribution based ESA?

Was he placed in the support group?

Since his ESA award has anything changed? Did his contribution based ESA end? Did he move to income based? Was he awarded DLA?

mellymoo3080

Thank you - links are really helpful! Having looked at it he had tried to go back to work after the prison service and last job ended in 2002 when he then got his pension. He has DLA and was put in the support group. No one has ever asked about his income though. He had an interview for the ESA and they have written down that he pays council tax and a mortgage but thats all!!

Cheeky_Monkey

Hi OP

Can you clarify please.

The way I read it, it looks as though your dad was working from somewhere between 1996 and 2002 whilst claiming Incapacity Benefit - is that right or have I misunderstood what you are saying?

mellymoo3080

You have kind of misunderstood although reading back I have not been very clear at all!! Basically he had a few jobs between 1996 and 2002 and inbetween those jobs was on incapacity benefit. Then fully retired in 2002 as his health further deteriorated. Apologies for the garbledness as I was in my teens at the time he fell ill and dates are not strong in my mind.

mellymoo3080

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

Hi OP

Can you clarify please.

The way I read it, it looks as though your dad was working from somewhere between 1996 and 2002 whilst claiming Incapacity Benefit - is that right or have I misunderstood what you are saying?

I have amended my original post now. Thank you!!

rogerblack

Are you sure he was latterly on incapacity benefit, and not Severe disablement allowance, or income support?

In some cases, the intermittent work he did after first being entitled to IB would mean he did not have sufficient NI conts for IB, and would have had to make a fresh claim for IS or SDA.
Does he have any records of this?
Old letters, ... or copies of applications would be very useful.
I echo all of Pmlindyloo's comments.

As general points.
ESA entitlement does not depend at all on your outgoings, only your income.

xylophone

Did your father start receiving his prison pension in 1996 or 2002?

mellymoo3080

Hi all, thank you for the replies. My father had his meeting yesterday with the DSS so we are a little more aware of what has happened. My father was medically retired from the prison service in 1996 so received his pension from them. He had a few part time jobs after this, the last one being in 2002 for the NHS. When he was diagnosed with a further medical condition he could no longer work. He then filled out the incapacity benefit claim form. The form was asking all about his health conditions and his previous job. He filled the form out and there was a tick box on it that asked if he would receive a work pension. As the form has asked all about the job he had just left he ticked no as he thought that the form was talking about that job role and not in general. That never crossed his mind until they explained the form yesterday! So he has in fact claimed benefit he shouldn't have unknowingly. The person he spoke to said he has grounds to appeal being asked to pay it back as it seems an easy mistake to have made and since then no one has ever asked anything about it. We are still very stressed about it all. Within my career checking documents is one of the main things I do. I would have checked the form before it was sent at the time so I must have misunderstood this question as well!!