letter about my dead partner from DWP

lost_and_lonely_in_every

Recieved a letter today from DWP esa as next of kin for my angel who passed last Nov and was in receipt of ESA and DLA I think its with regards to the media covered underpayments of income based ESA when transitioned to from incap B to Esa they say they will ring me on the 19th of nov to see if she was entitled to certain premiums . I took the liberty of reading a few articles on the subject and it would seem those moved over from IncapB to ESA contribution based were not assessed properly for Income based ESA or even considered full stop thus it means i presume on contribution based ESA they were potentially worse off as the premiums do not apply that is how understand it knowing me that is probably wrong . I hate getting letters with her name on and mentally it has once again brought back awful memories of last year and tears lots of i mean im a bloody mess really am .

What i am interested in hearing is from those who have these letters and what the telephone conversation basically consists of seems somewhat daft to be asking me as surely they should be aware of my late wifes basic affairs can anyone help me out with this so i do not sit here and worry about money etc etc as i just want to think about my wife and hope its not long before i see her again . So anyone who has been through this and had this letter please advise :j:eek:

TELLIT01

The problem is that they are not aware of even the basic affairs of many people who were moved from IB to ESA. No information relevant to entitlement to Income Related benefit was ever collected, so they have no basis from which to make a decision.

Were you together for the entire time your wife was claiming IB? If so, approximately what were your earnings and working hours? If you had savings for that period were they in excess of £16k for the entire period?
If savings were over £16 there would be no entitlement to IR benefit.
DWP staff are attemping to do the right thing by contacting you. Knowing the answer to those questions will help them decide quickly if there will be no entitlement. That will avoid the additional stress of completing a long form only to be told later that there is nothing to be paid.
I understand that the loss is still very raw, but they have to do this.

lost_and_lonely_in_every

Hi thanks for your reply , i cared for my wife for the years in question and the savings were around 6k quickly diminishing lol to very little . So am i right in what i presumed that being that she was just moved to contribution based ESA as she was on Contribution incap and that they should have given the chance to see if she was better off on ESA income based with its premiums ?

poppy12345

Were you working at all? If not then what benefits were you claiming at the time? Were you claiming Carers allowance? and possibly Income Support? pension for either of you? Sorry for the questions but the more information you give the more we can help. It's difficult to help with only limited information. Household income, savings/capital can affect means tested benefits.



6K is the minimum you can have in savings, anything over this and Income related ESA is reduced £1 for every £250 over this amount.

trailingspouse

So sorry for your loss.


I don't know the ins and outs of what they will be calling about, but didn't want to read and run.


The first anniversary is a particularly difficult time, and often we don't want to burden friends and family with our grief. It's OK to cry - but it's also OK to ask for help. You cared for your wife for years, and now it's time to care for someone else - you.


I hope things start to improve for you.

TELLIT01

trailingspouse wrote: »

So sorry for your loss.


I don't know the ins and outs of what they will be calling about, but didn't want to read and run.


The first anniversary is a particularly difficult time, and often we don't want to burden friends and family with our grief. It's OK to cry - but it's also OK to ask for help. You cared for your wife for years, and now it's time to care for someone else - you.


I hope things start to improve for you.

Points well made trailingspouse. Many blokes, myself included, have struggled through because we have this daft idea that we need to 'man up' and get on with it. We don't, and we can't always.

heartbreak_star

No advice to give OP, just wanted to give a well-wish.

HBS x