ESA 8 Months and still waiting

Drako69

Hi all,
I just wanted to see how long other people are waiting to get their ESA sorted,
My partner had to finish work through ill health in 2015 after over 30 years in employment. for the first year she received ESA. After 12 months we had a letter that her benefit would stop as she had now gone over to income related ESA and i earned too much. Ok fair enough. In December 2016 our G.P informed us and the DWP that she would be unable to work again because of her condition and that she needed to go into the ESA support group. We filled all the documentation in and applied. January the 26th a letter arrived stating she needed a medical assessment with themselves. We are still waiting for that assessment. She calls about every 10 days to get an update and is fobbed off every time. we were told at the end of March she was at the top of the list (lies). I wrote a complaint letter to the customer relations over a week ago and have just had a reply that the case hadn't even been prioritized with the Birmingham office and that WE need to go back to our local jobcentre plus. Once again the onus falls on us because of their incompetence. We are now over 8 months down the line and no nearer to an answer. We are not rich, i was made redundant and now run a start up business on a salary of £900.00 per month so things are starting to bite.
Anyone else in the same boat?

pmlindyloo

Drako69 wrote: »

Hi all,
I just wanted to see how long other people are waiting to get their ESA sorted,
My partner had to finish work through ill health in 2015 after over 30 years in employment. for the first year she received ESA. After 12 months we had a letter that her benefit would stop as she had now gone over to income related ESA and i earned too much. Ok fair enough. In December 2016 our G.P informed us and the DWP that she would be unable to work again because of her condition and that she needed to go into the ESA support group. We filled all the documentation in and applied. January the 26th a letter arrived stating she needed a medical assessment with themselves. We are still waiting for that assessment. She calls about every 10 days to get an update and is fobbed off every time. we were told at the end of March she was at the top of the list (lies). I wrote a complaint letter to the customer relations over a week ago and have just had a reply that the case hadn't even been prioritized with the Birmingham office and that WE need to go back to our local jobcentre plus. Once again the onus falls on us because of their incompetence. We are now over 8 months down the line and no nearer to an answer. We are not rich, i was made redundant and now run a start up business on a salary of £900.00 per month so things are starting to bite.
Anyone else in the same boat?

Was your wife put into the WRAG group of ESA after attending a work capability assessment and then this was stopped after a year (because of your income?)

Did you notify the DWP of a change of circumstances when the doctor said that she was unable to work again and they are now asking for a face to face work capability assessment.

Or,
has your wife never had a work capability assessment since she applied for ESA?

If it is the former and she was in the WRAG group for a year then 8 months waiting for an assessment for a change of circumstances is not that unusual. Not acceptable but not unusual.

If it is the latter and she has never had a work capability assessment then you need to get your MP involved as this IS far too long waiting to be assessed.

You could even get your MP involved about waiting for an assessment as part of a supercession (change of circumstances).

Sadly many doctors do not realise how ESA works. It is not about what work you cannot do but what work you can do. Which of the descriptors in the support group does your wife meet? Did you get help with filling in the forms?

You don't say what your circumstances are but are there any other benefits that you might be eligible for? PIP for your wife? Tax credits? Housing Benefit? Council tax reduction?

Put your details into the benefit calculator on https://www.entitledto.co.uk and/or come back for further help.

epitome

Ok, you said

I wrote a complaint letter to the customer relations over a week ago and have just had a reply that the case hadn't even been prioritized with the Birmingham office and that WE need to go back to our local jobcentre plus

,
That to me sounds like you have corresponded with Centre for Health and Disability Assessments. and they have said your case has not been fasttracked, and if you want it to be fasttracked you will have to ask DWP yourself. It does, however, sound like CHDA does have her on a live referral, which is something at least. It is not imperative to CHDA for you to have fasttrack status, a CHDA manager for example, can intervene without fasttrack status if they agree it has been too long.

Your local JCP office will be able to do nothing for you so don't go there.

You could phone DWP ESA enquiry line and request (insist if necessary) a HOTT sent to the ESA Benefit Centre to Maintenance / WCA department requesting a fasttrack WCA and a call back from a manager at the DWP ESA BC WCA department. The purpose of the call back is to speak to the organ grinder, i.e. only a manager at the BC WCA team can request a fasttrack WCA. They only do this in extremis, i.e. some ESA claimants get nothing at all while waiting for their WCA, and they don't have the advantage of having a working partner who is at least bringing in some money to the household they literally have no benefit and no income at all. So you will have to "sell your position" to them, why you need it to be fasttracked.

By the way, I hope that when she requested Support Group by letter she sent in medical evidence to support the request. Because if she sent evidence, then when she is eventually placed in the Support Group the arrears will go back to the date of request. If she sent only a letter and no evidence then when she is placed in the Support Group it will only be awarded from the date of the decision whenever that might be.


On a different subject, you should read this:
You will be angry to hear this but you should remember it is your responsibility to know what benefits you can claim. I don't frequent this forum very often but, had I seen a question from you a year ago, on "Is there anything we can do after 1 year of ESA Conts?" I would have told you this:

She is on ESA Conts WRAG. She was getting about £102 per week until it stopped after 1 year. She could have waited 13 weeks from the last day of ESA Conts payments (its actually 12 weeks, but I write 13 to avoid people going for it 1 day too early) then contacted ESA helpline and requested new RITYs (Relevant Income Tax Years) to be looked at for another 1 year award of ESA Conts payments.

She should do this NOW it may not be too late. She should request in the 1st instance that it is looked at from 13 weeks after the last day she was paid up to. This is a backdating request, if the backdating is refused they should consider it from the date you phoned them i.e. 07/08/2017. either way it may be too late, the backdating to 2016 may be refused and when they look at it from 2017 the RITYS may not be satisfied.

What date was she paid up to? or What date did she claim from? If 13 weeks takes her into January then fine tuning the request to 12 weeks could take it from December which would be better.

Drako69

Thank you for your responses.

My partner was in the WRAG group until November 2016. The request for the support group was made in January 2017. We received a letter on the 26th January saying they have requested a WCA. I realize many people are worse of than us and we are grateful that we have a roof over our heads. It just seems a very long time to be waiting and keep getting given different information.
All relevant medical evidence was given at the time of application. We will call the DWP and ask for the HOTT tomorrow and see where we go from there. Thank you again.

epitome

All relevant medical evidence was given at the time of application.

Ok, I hope you mean, at the time of application for the Support Group, i.e. January 2017.

My partner was in the WRAG group until November 2016.

So her 13 weeks of nil payments will take her to about February 2017 maybe March 2017. When you phone you should also ask for New RITYs to be considered from the 13th week, and if that is not allowed then to be taken from "today" - 07/08/2017. And on your call back make sure that they say this is being looked at as well as your fasttrack WCA request.

Ensure the person who you phone first, the person who sends the HOTT makes a note of your request for new RITYs to be considered. . i.e. a note in "notepad" screen JA110 not just a note in the HOTT (which will be lost when the HOTT is cleared.)
Phone back after 1 week if you have not heard anything about the new RITYs and again request a callback about the RITYs.

If she stays in the WRAG, then request new RITYs again in 2018 after waiting another 13 weeks, should be about the end of November 2018...-assuming allowed this time from 07/08/2017- for a 3rd year of WRAG conts, this third year is likely to be the last time it will be possible to do this. You're lucky, you got in within the nick of time to request the 2nd year now and a third year still within 2018.

Regarding the request for new RITYs.... do not accept "no" for an answer, a lot of DWP staff do not know that this is possible, you insist that a Decision Maker looks at new RITYs and makes a formal decision.