ESA and inheritance - help

sammyjammy

Newcad said:

Yes just ring them (wait on hold  for way too long) and ask for it.

Use the number, ESA124, in case they haven't heard of it themselves. They won't have the phones are contractors not DWP staff.

As it is sent by post to the claimants address then there isn't (shouldn't be) a problem with who asks for it to be sent.

I can assure you the staff answering the telephone work for DWP and are not contractors.

marcia_

sammyjammy said:

Newcad said:

Yes just ring them (wait on hold  for way too long) and ask for it.

Use the number, ESA124, in case they haven't heard of it themselves. They won't have the phones are contractors not DWP staff.

As it is sent by post to the claimants address then there isn't (shouldn't be) a problem with who asks for it to be sent.

I can assure you the staff answering the telephone work for DWP and are not contractors.

 Not contractors but definitely not benefits advisors 

nannytone_2

The dwp don't have benefits advisers. They are employed to administer the system that is in place and not tell people what they Should or shouldn't be climbing

Newcad

sammyjammy said:

Newcad said:

Yes just ring them (wait on hold  for way too long) and ask for it.

Use the number, ESA124, in case they haven't heard of it themselves. They won't have the phones are contractors not DWP staff.

As it is sent by post to the claimants address then there isn't (shouldn't be) a problem with who asks for it to be sent.

I can assure you the staff answering the telephone work for DWP and are not contractors.

I beg to differ, whilst not all DWP telephony is contracted out quite a lot is outsourced to G4s, their current contract runs from January 2023 until March 2028. (Their first contract was from 2018, before 2018 Capita had the DWP call centre contract).
I believe that Serco also still have a seperate Universal Credit 'enquiry line' contract with the DWP.

DWP telephony outsourcing is discussed in this 2021 House of Lords question: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2021-11-30/debates/0ED9212B-7FB8-43F8-AE5E-6907E5D0CC87/OutsourcingDWPTelephoneServices

sammyjammy

Newcad said:

sammyjammy said:

Newcad said:

Yes just ring them (wait on hold  for way too long) and ask for it.

Use the number, ESA124, in case they haven't heard of it themselves. They won't have the phones are contractors not DWP staff.

As it is sent by post to the claimants address then there isn't (shouldn't be) a problem with who asks for it to be sent.

I can assure you the staff answering the telephone work for DWP and are not contractors.

I beg to differ, whilst not all DWP telephony is contracted out quite a lot is outsourced to G4s, their current contract runs from January 2023 until March 2028. (Their first contract was from 2018, before 2018 Capita had the DWP call centre contract).
I believe that Serco also still have a seperate Universal Credit 'enquiry line' contract with the DWP.

DWP telephony outsourcing is discussed in this 2021 House of Lords question: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2021-11-30/debates/0ED9212B-7FB8-43F8-AE5E-6907E5D0CC87/OutsourcingDWPTelephoneServices

I'll not argue with you but the conversation and hence my reply referred to the ESA helpline.

Newcad

Yes, you could get a DWP employee on the ESA lines, but it could also be a G4S call centre employee.

Both are used for ESA, and it's getting more likely that you'll get G4S nowadays as the DWP move it's own staff away from legacy benefits support.

TBH it's moot here because even DWP staff tend not to know about the ESA124 form, unless they have been asked for one before.
They can't be expected to know every form that there is, which is why you should ask for it by the number.