ESA awarded but it is limited to 12 months

nicdigby

I posted here six weeks ago and you helped me to claim
for ESA. I received theee letters today about it. Two are duplicated.
Anyway the letter says that I have been placed in the support group and will receive contributory ESA.
But the other letter says it will be limited to 12 months and then will stop ?!?!
That’s what I am worried about.
I have stage four incurable cancer and will be on chemotherapy indefinitely. I have had a lot of cancer related surgery. That won’t suddenly get better after 12 months. What I am I supposed to do for income
when the 12 months is over? What then?
Help!!!

nicdigby

Forgot to say, I have been a stage four cancer for theee years but the DWP twice told me before that I could not claim ESA because I hadn’t been working before my diagnosis. They did not tell me that I was eligible on the basis of having been a full time carer in receipt of carers allowance in the run up to my diagnosis.
So not only have they meant that I haven’t been able to claim a benefit I was entitled to for three years, but now they are saying I will only get it for one year. That can’t be right?

poppy12345

nicdigby wrote: »

I posted here six weeks ago and you helped me to claim
for ESA. I received theee letters today about it. Two are duplicated.
Anyway the letter says that I have been placed in the support group and will receive contributory ESA.
But the other letter says it will be limited to 12 months and then will stop ?!?!
That’s what I am worried about.
I have stage four incurable cancer and will be on chemotherapy indefinitely. I have had a lot of cancer related surgery. That won’t suddenly get better after 12 months. What I am I supposed to do for income
when the 12 months is over? What then?
Help!!!

If you've been placed into the Support Group then Contributions based is paid for as long as you remain in the group.



Only those that are placed into the WRAG are limited to 365 days on Contributions based. They do have a very strange way of wording those letters.

calcotti

Contribution based ESA is limited to 12 months unless you are in the Support a Group.in your case it will continue for as long as you remain in the Support Group. Unfortunately DWP often send out different letters at the same time. The one letter was probably a general letter confirming you have got ESA, the second one is effectively later confirming that you have been placed in the Support Group.

Alice_Holt

nicdigby wrote: »

Forgot to say, I have been a stage four cancer for theee years but the DWP twice told me before that I could not claim ESA because I hadn’t been working before my diagnosis. They did not tell me that I was eligible on the basis of having been a full time carer in receipt of carers allowance in the run up to my diagnosis.
So not only have they meant that I haven’t been able to claim a benefit I was entitled to for three years,

May not come to anything, but you could try:
a) a Subject Access Report to get proof of your previous attempts to claim ESA;
b) then a compliant via your MP; and
c) a claim for financial redress due to DWP maladministration (via your MP).
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/736194/financial-redress-for-maladministration-dwp-staff-guide.pdf

Depends really, if you have a good constituency MP with an active researchers, it might be worth a go.
But then, I tend to think the DWP should be held accountable for their errors and poor communication / information.

nicdigby

Thank you for your reassurances especially Calcotti as you helped me to get this in the first place.

Does anyone know if I am allowed to do
a few hours of volunteering at all? I could manage that every few weeks maybe and am very bored at home. But don’t want to a) lose ESA or b) get triggered by a “change of circumstances” onto universal credit.

calcotti

nicdigby wrote: »

Thank you for your reassurances especially Calcotti as you helped me to get this in the first place.

Does anyone know if I am allowed to do
a few hours of volunteering at all? I could manage that every few weeks maybe and am very bored at home. But don’t want to a) lose ESA or b) get triggered by a “change of circumstances” onto universal credit.

You can but must let DWP know. You need to make sure that whatever you do is consistent with the reasons you have been found to have Limited Capability for Work. So if you have said you can't lift things but then do some hard physical work DWP are likely to question this and reassess you.

You can also do some paid work without affecting the amount you receive. Must be less than 16 hours/week and earning not more than £125.50/week. Again you must let DWP know.

See https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Employment-and-Support-Allowance-Permitted-Work/What-is-permitted-work-Employment-and-Support-All

sportsarb

nicdigby wrote: »

I posted here six weeks ago and you helped me to claim
for ESA. I received theee letters today about it. Two are duplicated.
Anyway the letter says that I have been placed in the support group and will receive contributory ESA.
But the other letter says it will be limited to 12 months and then will stop ?!?!
That’s what I am worried about.
I have stage four incurable cancer and will be on chemotherapy indefinitely. I have had a lot of cancer related surgery. That won’t suddenly get better after 12 months. What I am I supposed to do for income
when the 12 months is over? What then?
Help!!!

The computer system used to pay ESA is utter crap. I’ve used it extensively and the only thing worse than using the system is being on the end of its auto generated letters. The system was built for JSA and they piecemeal added bits for ESA. As a result there are lots of erroneous letters etc and it’s cost prohibitive to put in fixes to fix it.

nicdigby

Calcotti,
Can I check with you (I have read the link you sent) that if I do work a few hours a week under permitted work, that this won’t be seen as a “change of circumstances” which would then move me from child tax credits to universal credit? I would be much worse under UC.

poppy12345

nicdigby wrote: »

Calcotti,
Can I check with you (I have read the link you sent) that if I do work a few hours a week under permitted work, that this won’t be seen as a “change of circumstances” which would then move me from child tax credits to universal credit? I would be much worse under UC.

No, it's classed as permitted work and not a change of circumstances to prompt a move to UC. All your other benefits will remain the same.

calcotti

nicdigby wrote: »

Calcotti,
Can I check with you (I have read the link you sent) that if I do work a few hours a week under permitted work, that this won’t be seen as a “change of circumstances” which would then move me from child tax credits to universal credit? I would be much worse under UC.

The only thing you have to watch, as per my previous post, is that the work you do does not contradict the reasons you have been found to have Limited Capability for Work.