ESA Help large payment received im not entitled to

allison445

I claimed esa in December 2015 and was placed in the wrag in February 2017 I informed the dwp that due to an inheritance from my late mothers estate I now had savings over £16000 my payments were stopped, Out of the blue on Saturday I received a letter informing me I was no longer receiving esa from the 24th February 2017. It then went on to say I would receive an arrears payment of over £1000 to cover the period from December 2015 to February 2017 Im not owed any arrears I have tried to contact them to explain this 1st call was disconnected after an hour 2nd call I gave up after 55 minutes. I was getting a deduction of £16 a week due to having £10000 in savings and I think for some strange reason they have paid this money back. Is there any easy way of getting this sorted without hanging on the phone for hours the whole thing is stressing me out, Thanks in advance for any help
They have already paid the amount into my account

teddysmum

There's an 0800 number. Could you input that and leave your phone on speaker ? That's what I've done when trying to contact PlusNet.

TELLIT01

The alternative is to write to them explaining the situation. Obviously don't spend any of the money they have sent you. It is possible that there was an underpayment at some point and this is a legitimate payment, but better to be certain before touching the money.

ERICS_MUM

Write them a letter and send it by tracked or signed for postage so you can track it and get proof of delivery.

Me being short on trust would send another copy of the same letter, by regular first class mail. Hopefully they will receive and deal with one of them !

TELLIT01

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

Write them a letter and send it by tracked or signed for postage so you can track it and get proof of delivery.

Me being short on trust would send another copy of the same letter, by regular first class mail. Hopefully they will receive and deal with one of them !

This is one of the very few situations where I would agree with the idea of sending a letter to DWP recorded delivery. Speed of delivery isn't of any great importance. The alternative is to take a copy into the local JC and ask them to forward it. It may be necessary to make an appointment at the JC as many don't like people just walking in.

theronstar

If you make them aware of any potential error they have made and they do not act upon it, then you have shifted the burden onto them.

Don't stress over it.

The only time where a claimant has a problem is where they have hidden information from them - and this is clearly not such a case.

allison445

I finally managed to get through and as I thought when the claim was being updated with the inheritance details the savings deduction disappeared,
Not now as simple as just giving the money back they want bank statements from the begging to the end of the claim I can provide some of these unfortunately some of the accounts were closed and others with better interest rates were opened.
I still have letters received during my claim detailing the deduction and I will be photocopying and sending these as well.
Have a feeling this is going to take a while to sort out.