Missed phonecall with DWP - very concerned

Redirect_Left

Hi
Earlier today whilst I was napping, I missed 2 calls from the DWP. Upon awakening, I checked my phone, they'd also left 2 voice messages. These were;
"Hi my name is X. i'm from DWP, I wil call back in 1 hours time. Please make yourself available at this time"
"Hi my name is X, as you have not made yourself available, I will base my decision off the evidence available to DWP already".

I am very concerned, I have anxierty, depression and MS which causes a lot of fatigue on my body, and spend a lot of time in bed sleeping, and i'm a heavy sleeper, my phone doesn't wake me up. I am gravely concerned that this woman doesn't appear to have taken this possibility into account, and will now judge my ESA claim on whatever DWP have.

I tried to dial the number the lady called on, but it was an automated response "We tried to call you earlier today, we will try again. You do not need to call us back" and then it hung up.

Is there anything I can do to get the attention of DWP and get this resolved?

I'm very grateful for any responses received

poppy12345

Redirect_Left wrote: »

Hi
Earlier today whilst I was napping, I missed 2 calls from the DWP. Upon awakening, I checked my phone, they'd also left 2 voice messages. These were;
"Hi my name is X. i'm from DWP, I wil call back in 1 hours time. Please make yourself available at this time"
"Hi my name is X, as you have not made yourself available, I will base my decision off the evidence available to DWP already".

I am very concerned, I have anxierty, depression and MS which causes a lot of fatigue on my body, and spend a lot of time in bed sleeping, and i'm a heavy sleeper, my phone doesn't wake me up. I am gravely concerned that this woman doesn't appear to have taken this possibility into account, and will now judge my ESA claim on whatever DWP have.

I tried to dial the number the lady called on, but it was an automated response "We tried to call you earlier today, we will try again. You do not need to call us back" and then it hung up.

Is there anything I can do to get the attention of DWP and get this resolved?

I'm very grateful for any responses received

You'll need to ring the ESA number to speak to someone and find out why they called you. It's most likely to ask some questions before making or even telling you what the decision is. No one can tell you the answer here. Please ring them.

TELLIT01

Phone the number for ESA which is on any letter you have had from them. Explain that somebody tried to call you twice but you were asleep.

Redirect_Left

I called them on a number I found online. Seeing as the number they called on seems entirely unable to receive incoming calls.
The lady who phoned me closed my ESA account there and then when I didn't answer my phone during that 75 minute period. Due to them needing some information that they couldnt immediately get out of me to continue with a claim.

I am absolutely disgusted that the DWP are able to do that, especially considering they have all the documents needed to be able to tell there is a high chance that through X or Y reason, I will be uncontactable, especially over such a short time period as about 75 minutes between the two call attempts.

The lady who answered my call said she'll forward the fact i got in touch back to the lady who called me, but informed me it may take time for her to get back to me, and that reactivating my claim will not be as quick as it was to close it. I've been on ESA for 6 years now, so it isn't like it was a new claim they needed extra information for to start it.

I think I will be definitely finding out what the complaints procedure is for the DWP, as I find this absolutely ridiculous.

poppy12345

Redirect_Left wrote: »

I called them on a number I found online. Seeing as the number they called on seems entirely unable to receive incoming calls.
The lady who phoned me closed my ESA account there and then when I didn't answer my phone during that 75 minute period. Due to them needing some information that they couldnt immediately get out of me to continue with a claim.

I am absolutely disgusted that the DWP are able to do that, especially considering they have all the documents needed to be able to tell there is a high chance that through X or Y reason, I will be uncontactable, especially over such a short time period as about 75 minutes between the two call attempts.

The lady who answered my call said she'll forward the fact i got in touch back to the lady who called me, but informed me it may take time for her to get back to me, and that reactivating my claim will not be as quick as it was to close it. I've been on ESA for 6 years now, so it isn't like it was a new claim they needed extra information for to start it.

I think I will be definitely finding out what the complaints procedure is for the DWP, as I find this absolutely ridiculous.

Have you recently had another assessment for ESA? This sounds like to me that you have and the phone call was to speak to you before a decision was made. They very often do this, especially when it's to tell the person they have been found for work and their ESA is now going to stop. I've certainly heard of this happening many many times.

If you have had the assessment recently then i'd ring them back to ask if a decision was made. If this is the case then you'll need to wait until the letter arrives and then ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration. Good luck.

epitome

This is almost certainly because you have recently attended a medical assessment.

If you want to speak to the decision maker you can call-again- ask for a "Verbal Explanation" and insist that it is put through as an escalation....this will then require them to call you within 1 hour....if she expects you to be available within 1 hour then you can expect her to be available within 1 hour. Although realise she may not be in work that day or may be at lunch...so you may get someone else calling you back if you insist on the 1 hour callback.

You failed the medical, the DWP can close your claim immediately, the phone call is to see if anything has changed since the medical, or to discuss anything further. Not speaking to you on the phone does not stop them from being able to close your claim.


Although it could also be because you missed the medical and did not tell them your reasons.