New legacy Income Related ESA Claim (assessment phase), Suspended

Noor711

Hello,

Wonder if anyone can help.

I have a mental health condition which deteriorated severely over Christmas.  I am self-employed on working tax credits with disability elements, required to work 16 hours per week.  I also get enhanced daily living PIP.   I never thought of applying for ESA because I always hoped I would get better and the WTC rules allow you to be off sick for periods of less than 28 weeks.  I was also on ESA for 3 years over 6 years ago and never wanted to be on it again.  I hated the fear of the brown envelope on the mat for reassessments.  I was never found fit for work, I ended my claim when I could start self employment.  The CMHT and my GP as well as family were adamant this time that I would need to stop working for a long period because I am too ill and need to stabilise.  I am on new medication.  I was persuaded to apply for ESA and I got a fit note in the new year.  Because I get SDP in my housing benefit, I could make a claim for legacy income related ESA.  I had to cancel all my future work commitments but I'm still classed as self-employed and intend to return to trading when I am well enough.  I am just off sick and I want to work again - I have contracts to fulfil.  My claim was processed and accepted and I am now in the assessment phase, still have to complete my ESA50 (with help from family) which is due next week and have a WCA at some point, which I dread. 

All going fine until I had to notify my change of circumstances to my local authority because I get housing benefit. They wrote to me to ask that before changing my claim from self-employed to not working, they need written proof that my WTC claim has ended (with award letters)  and the end date of my self employment because in their words: 'as you are receiving ESA, you are not working'.  I had to write back to them to let them know that my WTC claim continues for 28 weeks, whilst on ESA IR and only ends if I am off sick after that.  My WTC is counted as income and 100% deducted from my ESA applicable amount, per week (all detailed in my ESA award letter which they have).   HMRC Tax Credit Office have been written to that I am on ESA and have confirmed that my claim continues for 28 weeks and to let them know if I don't return to work after that - they also said that they consider that I am in 'qualifying remunerative work' for that time.  I also told the council that my self-employment has not ended but I am too ill to work and will return to it when I am well enough to.  A couple of days after my council get this information, I discover my housing benefit is suspended.  When I phoned up to ask why, I was told the DWP had notified a change via ATLAS which automatically suspends my HB claim.  I notice from my online housing benefit account that my ESA IR has disappeared as 'unearned income' but my self-employed earnings, WTC and PIP are still there.

I phoned the DWP ESA enquiry line to find out what is going on.  I was told that my ESA claim has been suspended and passed to a Senior DWP Decision Maker.  The phone advisor couldn't tell me more, as he said he only had two lines of notes.  He assumed it was because a doubt about the conditions being met for my entitlement to income related ESA had arisen and that this doubt must have resulted from information received from an outside source, which is not disclosed.  He had no notes of this.  Simply said it is implicit.  I got very distressed.  Paranoid.  I cannot sleep and can't eat, but that is to do with my illness as much as anything.  It has made my symptoms spiral, which were fragile to start with.

I racked my brain to think what this could be about.  I have no undeclared/hidden income.  No undeclared/hidden capital.  I have a fit note from my GP and now up to date medical evidence about my illness and diagnosis.  I meet all the basic conditions to be eligible for ESA IR.  I haven't even submitted my ESA50 yet.  Could this be about WTC considering I am in remunerative work when I am off sick?  I realised the council didn't understand the concept, ie. it is not the same as actually currently working.  But, the DWP?  They even deduct my WTC amounts from my award in recent ESA payments and know about it.  I don't get it.

Can the DWP just suspend your benefit without informing you?  Like that?  I asked the DWP phone advisor to ask for a call back.  Suffice to say, I can't even think about tackling my ESA50.  It has taken days and days to not get very far with it (it is very triggering to try to put down what you can and can't do) and I have a family member with me looking after me helping me to type it up.

Should I be worried?

calcotti

Unfortunately I think you just have to wait.
I am shocked that your local authority don't know about the 28 week run on for WTC. However it is common for HB to be suspended whenever a change is reported while the authority decide whether they need more information to correctly calculate the amount due.
I have no idea why DWP may have suspended the ESA claim. 

Noor711

Thank you Calcotti.

I am not surprised at all that there are some housing benefit officers who don't understand or know about things like the 28 week rule for WTC.   Some of my council's benefit officers need training, I think, from past experience.  They used to continually demand my daughter's income details when she lived with me as a non-dependant, completely ignoring that as I was getting high rate care DLA, I was exempt from non-dependant deductions. 

Maybe it is nothing to do with the information I wrote back to my local authority.  Although it is co-incidental that when they received that, my ESA claim was suspended.  The same day.  I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same housing benefit officer who wrote to me saying 'we need to know if this benefit (WTC) has ended as you claim ESA and are not working' who then interpreted my letter back to mean I am still working because HMRC Tax Credit Office consider I am 'still engaged in qualifying remunerative work,' which is a legal term not a factual one.  I would not be surprised if that same housing benefit officer then contacted the DWP to say they have information that I am working?  I am clutching at straws trying to understand why, coincidentally, a decision was made to suspend my ESA claim without notifying me, and then passed onto a Senior Decision Manager for a decision.   Perhaps the two are unrelated.

My ESA IR claim is only in assessment phase so it could only be to do with a doubt about whether the conditions for entitlement to the benefit were/are fulfilled.  And, it has to be a serious doubt with clear evidence according to what google tells me, so that it can immediately be suspended without notifying the claimant... or maybe the DWP suspend ESA claims on the slightest whims.  I only discovered it because I noticed my housing benefit was suspended.    I have been racking my brain to think what it could be about.  Another sleepless night...

Noor711

Hello Calcotti,

I got a callback today from the DWP about my ESA claim being suspended.  The DWP Decision Maker asked me about my WTC.  He mentioned something about me having returned to work.  I confirmed that no, I had not returned to work but my self-employment status continues while I am off sick and that my WTC remain in payment because of the 28 week rule.  He could see in my ESA calculation that my WTC payments are taken into account and deducted from my ESA payments.  He could see that a suspension was placed on my ESA claim - he could see no note or reason given as to why. (I think I know as it was the same day the council dealt with my letter explaining why my WTC award hasn't ended because of the 28 week rule so I still get it, and must have reported that I was working - which means you can't claim ESA).  The DWP advisor  reviewed my ESA claim papers (the original ones submitted when processed) and could see no reason why I do not fulfil the conditions for entitlement.  He lifted the suspension.  He is issuing a new ESA entitlement letter.

I told him it might be because the council misunderstood about me working because I still get WTC and that my HB has been suspended automatically because of the ESA claim suspension.  He told me to send a copy of the new ESA entitlement letter to the council to tell them my ESA payments will resume and that my WTC payments are taken into account, so that they lift my HB suspension.  Basically, I am passported so HB should have no issue.  I thought that if an ESA claim suspension is lifted, via ATLAS, it should automatically un-suspend my HB?  The DWP advisor seemed to say it was up to me to sort that out.  That can't be right.  It was the ESA claim suspension via ATLAS which automatically suspended my HB, not the other way round.  That was confirmed to me when I phoned the council.

I think I might be straying into having to make a complaint territory about whoever is dealing with my HB claim at the council.  I want to bypass the person who wrote to me asking for confirmation and evidence my WTC and self employment has ended because 'I receive ESA and am not working'.   I am nervous about doing that.     But, I need my HB back in payment.  Rent is due middle of next month.   I am scared of having to explain again to the council that just because my WTC has not ended, it does not mean I am actually working.  They might trigger the suspension of my ESA claim again!  It is obvious that whoever suspended my ESA claim did so because the council reported I had returned to work.  Stressed.  

calcotti

While I appreciate the stress you are under I can't add anything to what I have previously posted. 

Noor711

calcotti said:

While I appreciate the stress you are under I can't add anything to what I have previously posted. 

I appreciate your help, Calcotti, anyway.  Thank you.

I found it odd that the DWP advisor who reviewed my papers and un-suspended my ESA claim mentioned at the outset about my WTC and whether I had returned to work or not, yet at the same time said he could see no reason or note given for my ESA claim being suspended.   So, why mention that if it isn't a !!!!!!-up by the HB officer and whoever at the DWP, ESA benefit centre suspended my claim?   He had no notes apparently.     

Not happy.