Has anyone seen the news today re the DWP having underpaid thousands of people on ESA between 2011-2013/?. They are now stating that they will be contacting all of these people and will be paying them the money they should have had. It seems the average amount owed to the majority is around £5,000, but some people could be owed up to £20,000 !.

From what I can gather, this underpayment arose because when Incapacity Benefit claimants were transferred onto ESA from 2011, many were mistakenly put onto Contribution-based-based ESA instead of Income-related, which meant that many people who should have received Disability premiums (only available when on Income -related ESA) have not been receiving them.

Apparently tbe DWP have been aware of this for up to 5 yrs and not done anything about it. I'm not sure how it has come to light now, but I've been searching online to try to find out.

When you are placed on Contribution -based ESA as I was, after 12 mths they are supposed to transfer you onto Income-related ESA and you would then start to receive the Disability Premium/s. This didn't happen so the DWP now owe an estimated amount of £350 million to thousands of people.

We need to be on the ball regarding this, as can you imagine the further cock-ups which will probably now happen while DWP are wading through lists of claimants whom they owe this money to and the many who will probably NOT receive any monies owed because, let's face it, DWP have yet again proven that they are incompetent. So why should anyone who now discovers they are owed money trust that the DWP will automatically now pay them this money, plus how long is this all going to take when it involves thousands of claimants ?.

If anybody learns any more about this, I'd be grateful If they could post the info here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43420005

https://news.sky.com/story/thousands-of-sick-and-disabled-had-benefits-underpaid-11298559

Ps. Also, DWP have yet again excelled themselves by stating that they will only be back-dating these payments to October 2014, even though the 'mistake 'affected people from 2011 onwards !.

So yet again, people will be 'shafted '. Only the DWP could get away with this (that's apart from corrupt MP's who have also gotten away with various underhanded dealings in the past few years).

It seems the average amount owed to the majority is around £5,000, but some people could be owed up to £20,000 !.

The payments will have an impact on future benefit payments. It is quite possible that a £5,000 lump sum will push a claimant's savings above £6,000 and result in a reduction of benefits. For those lucky enough to see anything over £16,000 will most likely see all benefit payments cease. I can also see quite a few accusations of deprivation of capital in the pipeline as the recipients use the cash to settle debts and/or pay for much needed aids.

Much of the above will depend very much on how the DWP will view the payments once the cheques have been cashed.

Hi Mr P.

The masses of info I've read on this today states that these lump sum payments will NOT be counted as capital or savings and they will not affect any other means-tested benefits or Housing benefit or Council tax benefit payments.

We shall see !.

Hi,

Thanks for the info and links, I've also read a slightly different version....which may cover other ESA people too, to do with ESA 'income related top up'. I'll put a link here (hope it's allowed).

The first part is a quote from the linked article.

"There are two forms of ESA: income-related ESA and contribution-based ESA. The DWP error related to claimants who were placed on the latter form of the benefit only, when they may also have been entitled to the former. As a result they may have missed out on premium payments."

https://samedifference1.com/2018/03/21/three-hundred-thousand-esa-claims-to-be-reviewed-after-latest-dwp-error/