Esa

deewhite02

My son has been underpaid by the DWP Employment Support Allowance since being transferred from Incapacity Benefits over 5 years ago.He was placed in the CONTRIBUTION section when he should have been placed in the INCOME section.This back payment has taken his capital/savings way over the saving threshold for ESA income based benefit.Housing and council tax benefit.He has been told they will allow his savings to be not counted for ESA for a period of 12 months because the error was THEIR FAULT.
The housing /council tax benefits people said that this money will be counted as capital as of from now and therefore his housing/council benefit will stop.
My point is that if he had been paid properly in the first place he would not have accrued this money.He could have used it to have a better quality of life.He is severely disabled and will never be able to work.
He has been paying for eye tests/dental/prescriptions for the past 5 years when he should have been exempt.Its so unfair.
The CAB can’t take him on as they have said they are too full up to take on further clients.
Any advise out there please .Thanks

poppy12345

The backdated money is disregarded for all means tested benefits for 52 weeks because he should have been claiming it to start with and he wasn't.

Alice_Holt

Sunny_Intervals wrote: »

That sounds wrong to me. If the underpayment was official error and over £5000, I thought it was supposed to be ignored for the life of the current income-based claim. Have you asked for a reconsideration?

I agree.

I would write a letter to the HB dept headed APPEAL. Say that you think their decision is incorrect because the payment related to a backpayment due to official error. Enclose a copy of the ESA letter where they state that " his savings to be not counted for ESA for a period of 12 months because the error was their fault."
Repeat that you wish to Appeal this decision, and ask them to send the appeal to the tribunal service if they cannot reconsider their decision in your favour.

Copy it to your son's councillor, and ask for their help.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_benefit/housing_benefit_revisions_and_appeals


"Backdated lump sum payments to ESA claimants
Around 70,000 people have been underpaid Employment and Support Allowance after transferring from older benefits, including Incapacity Benefit.

The people most affected are approximately the 20,000 who were entitled to the ‘severe disability premium’ and were not paid it. In some cases, people may be owed up to £20,000.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is now making backdated payments to affected customers. Payments will be made going back to the date of the original claim.

If you think you might be owed compensation, you don’t need to do anything. DWP will contact you directly.

How this payment affects your benefits
Usually, your income related (also called means tested) benefits start to be reduced when you have £6,000 or more in savings and stop completely if you have £16,000 or more.

Income related benefits include Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-related ESA, income based JSA and Universal Credit.

However, the government has confirmed that any backdated payments of £5,000 or more, which could potentially take you over the savings threshold for income related benefits, will not be counted as savings when assessing any benefits you are already getting."
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-do-savings-and-lump-sum-pay-outs-affect-benefits#backdated-lump-sum-payments-to-esa-claimants