is Severe Disability Premium time limited? claming approx 12 years backdate

bill_rogers

is Severe Disability Premium time limited? *claiming approx 12 years backdate

Does anyone know if Severe Disability Premium (SDP) is "time limited"?

I'm helping a claimant with a claim for SDP to add his ESA claim. This was processed but the ESA department haven't sent out any letter regarding the backdated SDP.

As far as I'm aware, he has been entitled to SDP for approx. 12 years (not sure of precise date, but he has been receiving DLA at middle rate care since around 2004/5) He has a mental illness so had relied on CAB / other advise agencies to complete form / claim for DWP benefits on his behalf in the past.

No one had claimed carers allowance for looking after him and no one over 18 had lived with him during this 12 year time frame. And as I wrote he has been receiving DLA at middle rate care since 2004 /5

The DWP / ESA and prior to ESA the IS had not included the SDP onto his claim, so there has been an official error. He has been underpaid.

When I called the ESA they said was looking into the backdate, but he has not received any letter regarding backdate. And does not know how long the backdate will be. He did receive the SDP award of benefit from 10th Jan 2018 and received 2 weeks money in his bank today but nothing about the backdate.

Does anyone know if SDP is time limited? i.e. can it be backdated for as long as 12 years or thereabouts. The DWP would know the date from when he would have been entitled to SDP.

I called again for him, but the ESA didn't want to provide any further information. Said didn't know what was going on. (seems like that on each occasion I get to speak to different people working there) But someone at ESA did say that claim might be backdated from when it was claimed, i.e. end Dec 2017, (only 4 weeks backdate!) so 2 weeks so far has been paid, as I wrote from 10th Jan 2018. So the DWP was saying backdate might be from when it was claimed on phone i.e. Dec 2017 but didn't say anything about before this time i.e. when it should have been applied to his ESA / IS during the 12 years.

Any information will help. If someone knows how long can SDP be backdated and how long this may take to process? AND if I will need to fill in any other forms for him, or write any letters stating any points are quoting certain laws/rules??

I wrote a letter to DWP to chase things up. Note they don't provide any email address on their letters and that their phone number is wrong. Though when called was a recorded message giving correct number that we called. They don't always answer phone, many times have to hold for ages and no one answers.

Thanks, Bill.

nannytone_2

Was DLA middle or high rate care in payment for the whole of that time ?/B]

bill_rogers

Thanks for replying, sorry forgot to include, DLA has been middle rate care during the whole period of time, about 12 years.

butterflies56

If he has met all the criteria for SDP which includes DLA at higher or middle rate care and more recently PIP at standard or enhanced daily living then he will be entitled to SDP. If it is indeed an Official Error then he will be entitled to backdated SDP BUT.....

The problem is that The DWP have just recently been using a particular Upper Tier tribunal case known as the lead case(LH v SSWP) to limit backdating to 21 October 2014 to minimise their loses where there have been many cases of Official Error in awarding Enhanced and Severe Disability premiums especially since the migration from Incapacity Benefit to ESA.

There are a lot of cases going to Appeal at the moment and there will be more to come.

Up until December 2017 It was taking on average over 12 weeks for the Specialist Team to write back to with a decision. This lead time may be longer.

If you have not spoken to anyone who is familiar with the case then request a call back from the Specialist Team who are dealing with the case...this usually happens within 48hours.

bill_rogers

when I called on 15th Jan 2018. ESA woman said someone would call back. No one did. This is why we called again today 22nd Jan, since 15th - 22nd no one called as ESA woman said someone would.

When you do get through, and get to speak to someone they don't seem to know anything about what is asked regarding his backdated claim. And so he becomes stressed and because of his metal state is worried that they will not pay the backdate and is upset because they have withheld it from him for so many years.

I would have thought that given I wrote a letter that was sent with the SDP IS10 regarding the backdate that the DWP would have written a letter to him to say we have your letter and are dealing with your request for a backdated payment and that if there would be any delays etc.

Not sure what I should do for him right now more than I have already done today, i.e. emailing DWP ESA and posting copy of email.

It seems to be all one sided with DWP ESA. They withhold information, underpay claimants for years and years and when you try and fight for justice, they ignore you!

poppy12345

I agree with butterflies in post #4, backdating will be limited to 21st October 2014. It won't be backdated any further than this. I've recently heard of 2 people that were owed 7+ years but were only backdated to the above date.

butterflies56

bill_rogers wrote: »

when I called on 15th Jan 2018. ESA woman said someone would call back. No one did. This is why we called again today 22nd Jan, since 15th - 22nd no one called as ESA woman said someone would.

When you do get through, and get to speak to someone they don't seem to know anything about what is asked regarding his backdated claim. And so he becomes stressed and because of his metal state is worried that they will not pay the backdate and is upset because they have withheld it from him for so many years.

I would have thought that given I wrote a letter that was sent with the SDP IS10 regarding the backdate that the DWP would have written a letter to him to say we have your letter and are dealing with your request for a backdated payment and that if there would be any delays etc.

Not sure what I should do for him right now more than I have already done today, i.e. emailing DWP ESA and posting copy of email.

It seems to be all one sided with DWP ESA. They withhold information, underpay claimants for years and years and when you try and fight for justice, they ignore you!

Hi Bill
My experience has been that it took 12weeks from the receiving my form to receiving a letter about the backdate.
I also received a call from the person handling the case(he had my form in front of him) wanting to know if I had any savings, if I had lived alone all that time and what other benefits I was on.
SO if you filled in the form in December it could be March 2018 before you hear from them.

12years is a very big Official Error and it would be worth appealing the decision but this can only be done once you ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration and the receive the DWP Man Recon Decision.

In the meantime I would contact your local Welfare Rights Office for help with this.

I have done this as I am appealing the decision...this takes months! but I am going nowhere so that's fine with me!

Tell you friend not t worry about it too much because he should receive at least 3years back pay and once he has got that then he can appeal for the rest of the money before the 21 October 2014...at this moment in time there is no way of knowing what that outcome will be.

Epitome did some really good posts on Enhanced disability premium(which I had not been paid for 5years) for me on here so you could have a look at my posts about it to get some idea what to write in the appeals letter but also they are very interesting posts on what to do.

bill_rogers

hi, yes, I had read some info Epitome wrote regarding the process. I will refer to it again once I learn what they are going to do about his backdate.

The last call I made, the man at DWP didn't mention backdate before Dec 2017, he sounded as though he was trying to avoid addressing it.

I get the sense that the DWP attempt to ignore claims, thinking that the claimant will forget, not chase what they believe is owned to them. The DWP full well know they have been under paying a lot of people for years.

when banks were going under the gov get some money printed to save them. When the underpaying issue needs addressing, the gov bring in new limit rules. It's a continuation of abuse on the poor, sick and disadvantaged. One rule for them another for everyone else. I'm okay jack and jobs for the boys! ;-)

I'll try and tell the fellow I'm trying to help to be clam and try to relax since this case might take a few months to resolve. He has gotten into debt having to pay for things he would have otherwise not needed to borrow funds had the DWP been paying him the correct monies he'd been entitled to since 2004 /5.

I'll keep you updated of any developments. I prefer to write to the DWP than to call because over the phone there is a lack of information and are told different things.

Regards, Bill

epitome

General advice before I reply directly to posts in this thread.

When you phone ESA you get through to a the "enquiry line" these guys are supposed to answer your question, but if they cannot answer your question to *your* satisfaction...it is then for *you* to ask for a call back from the processing centre...some enquiry line staff will offer you a call back because they know that they have been unable to answer your query...others will not offer and it is up to you to ask.

If you send any enquiry by letter you are unlikely to get an answer, fist of all it takes 2 weeks to arrive then another 3 weeks to 3 months to be even looked at by a human. If it is a question about processing a request,,,they are unlikely to reply because the processors will process whatever it is and leave a note as to the outcome conclusion...then you phone up and are told what the note says.

So writing letters is not a good way to deal with them.

You phone and ask for a call back, if no call back after 24 hours you phone again and ask for a call back you should now be promised a call within 1 hour.

DWP do not send out letters confirming the receipt of a form or a letter...

Enquiry line staff and processing staff have no cause to wish that you give up in your quest.

That said you must realise on every call who you are speaking to...

If you call them you are speaking to enquiry staff who can only tell you what is in front of them on the computer. They then put the information together and tell you what has happened or not happened and what is likely to happen next. Unless there is a note giving a decision then they are mostly guessing at what is going on.

If they call you at your request then they should be able to tell you exactly what is going on, they still unlikely to tell you how long it will take because there are no timescales.

epitome

Ok, on to addressing some of the points that have been made.

I assume that he was migrated from Income Support to ESA ? Was he?

When did the IS clam start?
When did the migration take place i.e. when did ESA start (for the first time)

You said "backdated to the start of the most recent ESA claim" Dec 2017..why was he claiming from this date? Had he stopped ESA and started work or something?
How many ESA claims has he had since his IS stopped? and why did each one finish?

Since DLA started in 2004 has he always lived at the same address?
If not, how many addresses has he had since then?


It has been commented on that his SDP would not go back before October 2014 due to an Upper Tribunal ruling. This is not the case.
The Tribunal ruling was to clarify the law to say that when a supersession takes place on ESA, then, if there was reason to do so, an ESA3 can be used to claim ESA IR (when "ESA(C) only" currently claimed) backdated to the date of the supersession. This Tribunal ruling took place in October 2014.
The DWP then use another law on social Security benefits which says when the law is clarified (for example by Upper Tier Tribunal) to contradict the working practices of the DWP prior to that. Any future claimants wishing to apply the same law to their own case can only have their case considered back to the date at which the law was clarified.

So....in the OP case this is not a case of requesting ESA IR to be backdated to a date of a supersession. This is a case where the ESA claim has always been ESA IR (since it was migrated from IS)

So the only question remaining is why was SDP not applied to the IS claim and the ESA claim? In most cases it is DWP error because they should have sent an IS10 and followed it up with a home visit to complete the IS10 if it was not returned by the claimant, however the DWP would have to have reason to believe that SDP was a possibility....if the claimant was living with parents, the DWP would check those parents and could decide that there is no entitlement to SDP and therfore not send an IS10. But it becomes less certain to be official error if the claimant has a change of circumstances and begins to live on their own, but they don't tell ESA their circumstances have changed.

This means once the IS10 has been completed for each and every previous address since the claimant was entitled to SDP, SDP can be backdated 10 - 15 - 20 years...theoretically.

There becomes a problem because in order to backdate the SDP the DWP has to be sure that the SDP was never paid in all of that time. The DWP computer payment records for ESA only go back 3 years and 9 months, the DWP therefore cannot usually go back further than this, unless they have some paper records, or unless they have other evidence they are willing to accept such as CIS...but CIS is not reliable on its own as an historical record so it may not be used.

There is another DWP system called BEXBIT, which I suggest a claimant can ask for a full BEXBIT payment disclosure Subject Access Request...but I suggest that it is only necessary to ask for this after the initial final decision has been made and you are asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration. And even with BEXBIT it may be impossible to prove that SDP was never in payment..but it could help if for example it shows that that the CIS history is correct.

I also suggest that if this claimant was migrated from IS, then to concentrate your efforts on a request sent to Income Support for SDP arrears to be allowed on Income Support

Asking ESA for SDP arrears will only get them to look at ESA. To get IS SDP you must ask IS.

If you are successful to get IS to pay SDP up to the point at which it changed to ESA....and you can prove (or DWP can prove) that ESA did not pay it at migration.... then the fact that the IS award rate has been changed means that the ESA award rate will be changed aswell.

It is not only ESA and IS payments that have to be checked but also DLA awards and payments have to be checked and confirmed, and the DLA records may have been deleted....again BEXBIT may help.

bill_rogers

Hi,

I understand what you've written. The issue in my case is that when they told us (when I was with the man I was helping) that someone would call back but no one did. Even if someone had called back, I gave my phone number because I explained that the man I'm helping wouldn't be able to take calls to his disability.

He agreed that I could take calls on his behalf, but the woman at the DWP / ESA said that when someone calls they would have to take me through security...here comes the problem, how can I be taken through security if when they call I would be unlikely to be with the man I'm helping. For I'm not to know when they might call.

This is why I wrote a letter because when I am with the man I am helping, yes I can all them but when I call they know nothing... then they say someone will call back but..... get my point here?

So I decided to write because when you wrote you have a copy of what you wrote and the date you wrote and sent it. This is better proof than a phone call. Also if you do call the DWP whatever you do record the call and make a note of the date.

Update on this case: thus far he has been paid 2 weeks SDP, and when he received the funds, around same time he received a letter but no mention of backdate but the letter did say that ESA change because of money coming in "we have used the tax years ending 5 April 2008 and 5 April 2009 to assess your claim"

Does this mean he'll be paid backdate from 2008 ? Does anyone know.

I've tried calling them a number of times but cannot get through when I've been at the man's home I'm helping. Very frastration for him and for me in trying to get the answers for him.