If/when to claim ESA

epitome wrote: »

Your question in post #8 is already answered in post #5

To the OP...and to your friend.

Although I recommended to claim ESA IR at the out set... that is only if there is no other reason why you would be refused ESA IR.

For example if your friend or Chella:
* Has a partner who is working 24 hours or more per week
* Have savings over £16,000 (including those savings of your partner)

Then there is no point in claiming ESA IR.... you should claim ESA Conts only....

Only just seen your post #5, I must have still had you blocked, no idea how you became unblocked again but will amend that right away. My reply in #8 was to Tomsdittir who posted about being able to claim means tested benefits, my friend will certainly not qualify for those as she has savings. I asked about ESA claiming after reading nannytones post, a poster I have a great deal of time for as she writes simply and concisely and not in 'DWP talk'

I am an ex DWP employee and find your use of DWP terminology confusing, I have no idea how others feel. You seem to think that someone calling the DWP will be treated more fairly if they can quote screen numbers or names.

bspm wrote: »

Only just seen your post #5, I must have still had you blocked, no idea how you became unblocked again but will amend that right away. My reply in #8 was to Tomsdittir who posted about being able to claim means tested benefits, my friend will certainly not qualify for those as she has savings. I asked about ESA claiming after reading nannytones post, a poster I have a great deal of time for as she writes simply and concisely and not in 'DWP talk'

I am an ex DWP employee and find your use of DWP terminology confusing, I have no idea how others feel. You seem to think that someone calling the DWP will be treated more fairly if they can quote screen numbers or names.

I don't know if you will see this......But others here, should find what I am about to say useful.

I do not think people will be treated more fairly by quoting the screen numbers I give. I just know that a lot of ESA enquiry agents do not know where to find the information that I am requesting MSErs to find out. A user here, would not need to understand what is on screen JA523 or JA504 or JA791 all they would need to do is phone ESA (as I ask them to do) and ask them for the information I am asking for (as I ask them to do) and *if* the ESA enquiry agent does not know where to find that information, the MSE user would then just say something like..."I have been told that you can find it on screen JA523 on the right hand side" etc etc....so the reason I say screen numbers is not about being trated fairly,, it is so that they will get the information they need on a single phonecall with the least hassle to them......and importantly to me ...my time is not wasted by the user coming back here and saying "They told me they did not know" or "They told me they would not be able to do that for me"

I also wanted to reply to you on the last thread that you responded to me 3 weeks ago...but I was going away and could not reply... You said something to me like ..that I seem to make things more complicated than it needs to be.... I did not know to what you referred... I thought it might have been my regular advice for people to keep a diary of the time they called, the time the phonecall was answered, the name of the person they spoke to, the name of the office, and what was discussed. If it was that or if that was part of it, I wanted to reply to you to say:

• Far too many DWP telephone agents do not make sufficient notes in CAM of what the call was about. (60% - 80%)
• Far too many ESA telephone agents when the call is answered avoid CAM altogether. (10% - 20%) Thus the call recording is impossible to find...unless the claimant has kept a diary of all the calls they ever make to the ESA line, in which case, the call recording can more easily be found.
• The DWP can recover from a claimant tens of thousands of pounds in overpayment because the claimant did not inform the DWP of a change..... or.... the DWP can refuse to pay arrears (thousands of pounds) of benefit that would otherwise have been paid to a claimant but because the claimant did not inform the ESA of something, the arrears are witheld
• If a claimant is faced with a recoverable overpayment or arrears witheld to the tune of thousands of pounds... and they say "I did tell you, I phoned you and told you last year" ..... and the call recording they are referring to cannot be found because of lack of DWP notes or no record at all that the call ever happened ...that claimant is going to lose... unless they have kept a diary and noted down every call that they make to the DWP.

I'm sure you know what CAM is because you said you used to train people on enquiries...so you should know that CAM is where the calls are recorded.

And I also thought it might have been my advice to people who have received incorrect advice poor service... to make an official complaint on the phonecall they are on,.... and to request a written response. The reason I say this is because if no-one complains then nothing will be done, and the reason I say to request a written response is because if you do not insist on a written response, your complaint will be dealt with by that agents team leader, who will phone you back and placate you with soothing words and promises that your complaint has been listened to. but if you leave it there, your complaint goes no further...whereas if you insist on a written response your complaint is passed on the Complaints Resolution Team ...who will also call you back and try to placate you...but you should still insist to the CRT that you want a written response because the letter is what makes it all become officially recorded as a complaint on the subject that you were complaining about.

And if DWP CRT gets lots of upheld complaints on a particular subject...then they tend to take action to make sure it stops happening.

And I tell people who have sent something recorded delivery to DWP, and track and trace says it was delivered to Wolverhampton...but DWP say "send it again" ...... I tell people to make an official complaint about this because it is against the Data Protection Act for the DWP to lose your data even if that data was on paper in an envelope that was sent and recieved by their agents in Wolverhampton (the DWP use a outsourced company to do their postal sorting at Wolverhampton, I think it is TNT (the parcel delivery company)). The fact that DWP uses a third party to sort their post does not absolve the DWP from responsibility for that data not to be lost by their agent (the sorting office).

So if they have lost your data that you have evidence that they did recieve... You should make an official complaint, if it is not found...you should take your complaint to I.C.E (Independant Case Examiner)...and if it is not found or not resolved to your satisfaction you should take your complaint to the Information Commissioners Office.

Only if people start doing what I suggest, will things ever get better.

And I am always happy to explain further if anyone asks me to ...as you can see from my posts.

I've no idea why my posts sound familiar, as I joined the site for the first time 3 days ago.