Ok this living nightmare continues. As mentioned before my ESA was suspended on 12 Jan 2012 pending an investigation. Since my court hearing and tribunal hearing in June 2013 I have been trying to find out when my ESA will be reinstated. The court gave me 12mths probation and because of my mental health problems I had to attend a 12 week program with Support for Change with a mental health support worker (this is still ongoning as it was extended as I still need the support). I will try to recap as simply as possible bearing in mind that I had made a claim for ESA on 8th July 2011 backdated to 23/6/11 which I was receiving until as said before till the 12 Jan 2012. Charge 1 Income Support 2009/2010 Charge 2 Council Tax 2009/2012 Charge 3 Housing Benefit 2009/2012 Charge 4 ESA 2010- 23 June 2011 As you can see there was no charge ever made for my ESA Claim from 23/6/11 to 12/1/12 (the date it was suspended) The Tribunal Appeal was for the same dates. I had appealled the decision before I had been charged. At the Crown Court Hearing 5 June 2013 Count 1 Income support written off Count 2 Council Tax Reduced Count 3 Housing Benefit Reduced Count 4 ESA Reduced At the Tribunal 21 June 2012 : All of it went in DWP/HB/CT favour. Still only till 23/6/11. CT and HB had already been reinstated from 2012. On 21 June 2013 as both cases had been heard I contacted DWP to ask when ESA claim from 23 June 2011 would be reinstated. Was told my claim was still 'live' and I would need to complete a review form. Appointment was made to attend Job Centre to complete form on the following Tues. Attended appointment at Jobcentre with mental health support worker only to be told that my appointment was on Mon. Told them I wouldn't have made appointment for Monday as I have CBT on Monday's. I was then seen by an adviser who asked why I was there and then did I have my form ?? Advised me it was only a 3 min appointment, gave me the form and made another appointment for Fri to take it back. I was slightly late for my appointment as I had a panic attack on the way (luckily my support worker was there to meet me). I hadnt completed the form fully as there were some things I didnt understand and the advisor told me she couldnt help me with that so I would need another appointment for next week to bring back the form again. When I got home I rang DWP . They told me I didnt need to fill in a form because my ESA had been stopped because I hadnt sent in sick notes (I didnt need to send in sick notes because I had won a previous seperate appeal regarding entitlement of this claim) They said they would ring me back. When they did they then advised my ESA was stopped because I had run out of NI contributions. I told her my claim was Income Related ESA not Contributions based. She said she would ring me back. This time she advised that my ESA had stopped because I had a partner !! I told her the cases regarding LTAHAW had been finalized and didnt concern this claim. She said she would email the changes dept as they probably wouldnt know of the decision yet. She then asked if I had a copy of the decision, I said I did have, she then said she would make an appointment for me to go to Job Centre to have it scanned. As the last appointments and phone calls were getting me more stressed and anxious I asked if I could get my support worker to bring it in. She then started to get difficult with me. So I said well can't you just email the changes dept like you said before. She said no. So made an appointment for the following Thurs. Attended appointment and had documents scanned. Attended another appointment the following week to have more documents scanned. By 24th July I hadnt heard anything so my support worker contacted DWP' and asked if we could have a home visit with an investigating officer to resolve this issue and she was advised someone would call her back to do this. By the 15th August after repeated calls no-one had contacted her or myself so she phoned them again and was told they had not received any letters or documents from me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Several enquires were made by Probation and Support Worker as to what to do next. Decided to now take case to Palimentary Ombudsmen. Had to get all paperwork organised, download forms etc. Had to send all documents to MP before he could send it to Ombudsmen. On 15th Nov MP wrote to DWP. While waiting for a reply I received a letter from ATOS to attend a medical on 20th Nov. I contacted DWP who said I did not need to attend as I was not entiltled to benefit as I had a partner !!!!! Then received a letter dated 21 Nov asking me to provide information about why I didnt attend medical !!!!! Phoned them again they didnt know why I received the letter !!!! As money has been extremely tight support worker advised I may be able to apply for the new Local Support Scheme Assistance while I was waiting to hear from MP. So I made the application giving the reason that I was waiting to hear about the reinstatement of my benefits. Received a letter from them on 17th saying that I wouldnt be getting the assistance as they had been advised by DWP that the reason I am not getting any benefits is because I did not attend the medical !!!! On 23 December I received a copy of DWP email response to MP letter which states: The decision states that Miss X had an underlying entitlement to ESA from April 2010 to 22 June 2011 and from 26 June to 2011. An overpayment was raised and presented to the courts on 21 June 2013 (This was the Tribunal date). We were informed the appeal upheld the decision therefore the overpayment remains recoverable. There may be some confusion as to which overpayment was reduced. There was an Income Support overpayment for the period 2009/2010 which was written off by the courts on 5 June 2013 (This was the Crown Court date). Miss X still retains her entitlement to ESA as long as she continues to satisfy the qualifiing conditions. I hope you find this information useful. Signed Complaints Resolution Manager DWP. ------------------------------------ Received a letter from DWP on 9th Jan saying we have looked at your claim and we cannot pay you because you failed to attend a medical on 20th November. Received a letter from DWP on 9th Jan saying that the contributary element of ESA can be taxable. For the period up to 20th Nov no ESA was paid. Enclosed were the P45 forms. Today I received a phone call from the council regarding my HB claim. "We have been informed by DWP that you have a joint claim with a Mr X" "We have sent you a letter, could you please advise your current situation and return the letter to us" What the heck is this about now ????????? I made another appointment with my MP for this week. So further to the reply from DWP on one hand they agree with the Crown Court decision for Count 1 but not the decision for Count 4. They therefore disagree with the Tribunal decision for the period 2009/10 but not the decision 2010 to 23/6/11. My last claim from 23/6/11 to 12/1/12 which I was never charged for and they have never asked for repayment and was not mentioned at Tribunal. Incidently the two Tribunal decisions read: The Tribunal find the Appellant was overpaid benefit of £xxxx for the period 20.1.09 to 7.4.2010. And the second decision The Tribunal find the Appellant was overpaid benefit of Income based ESA from 8.4.10 to 22.6.11 amounting to £xxxx and for the period from 23.6.11 to 23.6 11 of £9.64 Any one have any idea whats going on ???

Indirectly ??

Medical Negligence Claim

Hi can the DWP take an overpayment owed to them from a compensation payment paid to you or can it only be repaid from benefits ?/

Just to clarify a couple of things. Originally there were 4 charges. 1. Income Support 20/1/09 - 7/4/10 2. ESA 8/4/10 - 26/6/11 3. Housing Benefit 3. Council Tax Before the court hearing when it was negotiated the first charge was dropped and 2,3,4 were reduced. At the court hearing it was adjourned so they could re-assess the amount as they also had to include the entitlement of DLA. When I went back to court it seems everyone had forgotton about the DLA as it wasnt mention and the case went ahead anyway. The fact that the first charge was dropped and the entitlement to DLA were not mentioned at the tribunal either. Neither was the fact that HB had evidence that would prove that, as the judge put it, 'The address the partner had was a sham' was in fact not a sham at all, he did actually live there.

Hi I have been receiving Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits and the occasional payment of child support from the children's father. I did make a claim for child support through the child support agency because his payments were occasional but while it was going through he became redundant.

Hi just thought I would give an update.......the basics were I was arrested on 4/12/11, the FIS had decided I was LTAHAW from 20/1/09 to 26/6/11, HB was 20/1/09 to 2/4/12 and CT 20/1/09 to 28/3/12. The total amound of this was around £30,000. My ESA was stopped by FIS on 4/1/12. I appealed the decision in April 12. I was then charged with failure to notify change in circumstances in Dec 12. I finally had my court date of 20/05/13. While waiting to appear, my solicitor had told me it would be better if I pleaded guilty to at least some of the time so, I said ok they can have from 26/6/11 to 4/12/11. This was the time I had been in hospital and after that fiasco had a complete mental break down. My soliciter went to the prosecution with this and came back with they would agree if I agreed to 1/6/11 instead of 26/6/11 and they would offer no evidence. Obviously I agreed. So at the hearing I was found guilty of 'failure to notify' from 1/6/11. The date for HB was now 1/6/11 to 2/4/12, CT was now 1/6/11 to 28/3/12 and ESA 1/6/11 to 26/6/11. Total amount now £5,500. I received a 12 month supervision order and have to take part in a Support for Change Program run by Mental Health Services. Two days later I had my Tribunal hearing for the original appeal I had put in place before I was charged. Well that went completely the other way !!!! The appeal was disallowed and some of the things the Judge said about me in her decision were just horrible. Does anyone know which decision stands ?? Because the day after the first court hearing and before the tribunal hearing had been heard I received a letter from HB saying they were taking £10 a week off my HB stating that 'The deductions shown form the basis of this agreement, and whilst this remains in place no further recovery action will be taken.' My HB and CT had been re-instated after my landlord contacted them in Dec last year. He received the HB back-dated to the 2/4/12. I have been told by the Probation Service and my support workers that once I had the dates I was being charged with I should have still been receiving my ESA from that date and also I had an appeal in place. Unfortunately no-one had advised me of this so I have been without ESA since 4/1/2011. My attempts to sort out my ESA with the benefits office have been a nightmare so far. Each time I have contacted them I have been given four different reasons why the ESA was not re-instated. First one was that it said on my file that I am still living with a partner, next it was because I hadn't sent in sick notes, then it was because my contributions had run out and thats why my last payment was 4/1/12 (I was on income-related ESA and it was the FIS that stopped my benefits), then lastly it was because they hadn't received the decision. Surely they would know that the end date was the 26/6/11 !!!!!!!

Hi jabba, the letter of 22 March says my ESA is disallowed from 18/11/11, the FIS had already suspended my ESA from 18/1/12, I have not received any ESA since then. So does that mean the overpayment would be from 18/11/11 to 18/1/12 a total of 2 months ??? Then why in the letter does it say "We have used the tax years 2009 and 2010 to asses your claim" ??? Also the council have 'temporarily suspended' HB & CT from 2/4/12. Pending what ??? Their investigator was at the IUC's. Its still not making sense to me

Thank you . My neighbour is here with me now as I was getting abit fraught with all this and we have just sent the letter via email. We were just saying its funny because our local mayor lives next door to my neighbour, I first met them when i moved in and know them well now and at christmas his wife (formally know as lady mayoress) brought me a christmas card and asked if my ex would be coming round to see the kids over christmas !!! So even they know we don't live together.

The bill was paid by direct-debit from his account. He had come round that morning to take middle son to football, so son never got to football match. He has most of his mail from his house including bills for water, elec, gas etc , fines, letters from kids school, letters from HMRC regarding tax & NI, payslips from work, car insurance & tax and also letters from council regarding council tax. The council have been taking money from his wages for owed council tax. The maintenance arrangement was between us and like I said when we were asked to go in for a IUC a few years ago DWP were happy with the arrangement we had.

OMG I have just read through my last post and now I feel like I am living through the whole thing again. So anyway at the end of July 2011 a week after the traumatised attendance at tribunal regarding ESA I ended up in hospital with severe stomach pains I had been having for the week. My anxiety and panic attacks are mainly due to my health so I was in a state. After several test I was found to have a 10cm mass on my left ovary. Then came the test for the cancer !!! I was in hospital for just over a week during which time I told my ex that this was it I obviously had it and now he had to step up and look after the kids. My dad and my sister were starting to make plans to come over. Thankfully the test came back clear but I still had to have a operation to remove mass. Had operation where they cut me open from belly button to pubic area. Next day I had two seperate visits from very sorry looking surgeon and consultant to say they had found nothing wrong, all internal bits were healthy including bowel which they looked through because they couldnt find mass anywhere else. The mass turned out to be my uterus !!! So the time I was in hospital the ex stayed at my house to look after the kids and on & off till the end of till August when he went to see his mum. When he returned he again had stayed on & off as my health was deteriorating as I was trying to deal with all the hospital stuff, failing the tribunal, reclaiming, having my medication increased. I felt as if I was in a complete alternate universe. My ex and I told the DWP & Council about all this at the interview as I thought this is what it was about. My ex did speak to Jobcentre plus about being a carer but was told he would not be able to claim for it. So since all the arresting thing happened my docter has prescibed me with diazapam, arranged for me to have CBT which I have had five sessions of now, and I have a carer who comes round twice a week.

When I was arrested the police said it was for benefit fraud that is it. The duty soliciter told me before I was interviewed it was because they were saying I had been living with a partner. Neither the DWP or the Council actually said this in the interview they just bombarded me with all the questions. As I have said before the questions were about my ex-partner. They said they had evidence of him coming and going, they read out ONE example " He left at 6.30am, arrived at work and got into a white van" I said right so he went to work and then got into a white van. She then looked at her notes and said " Actually no he arrived at work and there were white vans arriving" She said there were a number of other occasions. She NEVER then mentioned when these other times or dates were. They then went on to a Virign Media bill which they had taken from my home. My ex-partner pays this bill each month as part of his agreed maintenence payment for the kids. Incidently myself & my ex-partner were both written to a few years ago by DWP for an IUC about child support where we had told them about how he pays maintence and they were happy with that and never heard from them again. The other thing they showed me was a letter about car insurance which he had taken out for me. This must have been from before 2009 because I havent driven a car since then because of my anxiety problems. They read out bits from statements they had. One from my neighbour saying "They all moved in as a family about 10yrs ago" . I moved into my house with my kids on 1 June 2000, my ex-partner's passport clearly shows he didnt even enter the country till Oct 2001, he stayed for a couple of weeks then went back to Australia. They spoke to my landlord, his landlord and also they guy who shares the house with him but didnt read out those statements. The statement from my ex-partners boss said "We all went to Australia last xmas (2010) and he and his son went there in August and that his son didnt want to come back" Well for one thing my kids don't even have passports to be able to leave the country, I'm sure my dad and my sister who live there would remember if we had been there, and I can prove from phone bills that I spoke to my dad & my sister over christmas. As for him & his son going over in August, yes he did go to see his mum who was ill but he never took 'his son who didnt want to come back', because once again the kids dont have passports, the said son was working and living with me. So all that was my ex having a conversation with his boss and talking a load of **** as he usually does. As for aiding and abetting this again was not clarified. As I said even the police didnt know what he was being charged with until they spoke to the DWP woman who was at my house. I asked the provided solicitor about it later when I phoned him with the numerous questions I had and he said they are probably saying he was living with me and knew I was receiving benefits. I also asked him how long do they think this has been going on for because neither the DWP or Council had said. He was unsure but seemed to think it was 2006. The appointed solicitor couldn't really answer my other questions as 'benefit fraud' wasn't his area of expertise so he gave me the phone number of a collegue who deals with benefit cases from the same company who is in Chester. His advice was to wait for DWP's decision. Also that he couldn't deal with my case because I live out of there juristriction. The vague letter I received on 22nd March 2012 states: Your claim for employment and support allowance, a change in the employment support allowance rate payable We have looked at your clain again following a recent change. We cannot pay youu Employment and Support Allowance from 18 Nov 2011. You are not getting any more income-related Employment Support Allowance. We cannot pay you because your partner is working 24 hours a week or more. If your partner is working 24 hours a week or more you are not entiled to ESA as your partner is treated as being in full time employment. We cannot pay you because you have not paid, or been credited with enough NI contributions. We have used the tax years ending 5 April 2009 and 5 April 2010 to asses your claim. Your partner may be required to take part in a Work Focused Interview with a Personal Adviser once you have been claiming benefits for more than 26 weeks. Your partner will be notified if they are required to attend. We may still credit you with NI contributions while claiming Employment Support Allowance. The rest goes on to say if you want to appeal fill in form GL24. They also included a leaflet 'Jobseekers Allowance Disagreeing with a decision' INF1 (JSA) 10/11 So apart from the bail form telling me when to appear next which I was given after the first interview, this current letter and the letter from the council saying that my HB and CT have been temporarily suspended because 'DWP have notified us that you have had a change in your entitlement to ESA' and that 'Payment will cease from 2 April 20112' no I have not received anything else as I have said.

After the second interview I was again released without charge and no longer on bail. Yes they did take things from my home and asked me about these at both interviews. The only questions they asked me were about my ex-partner, nothing about whether or not I had been working. The questions they asked my ex-partner were also the same. He was also released after the first interview without charge and without bail (they originally arrested him with aiding and abetting). That in its self was a farse as after he was arrested an officer at the police station asked the police at my home what he had been arrested for (I overheard them on the radio) The police didnt know and it was the woman from DWP who had to tell them why he had been arrested !!! They never asked him in for a second interview either. The other evidence they had were statements from two of my neighbours which they had done during the 7hrs I was at the police station waiting to be interviewed.

What I need to know is has the investigation finished ?? Because I was told by the appointed solicitor that once the fraud team had recieved their decision I would receive a whole stack of information from them?? I have received nothing from them. After the second interview at the police station I had gone to the toilet, when I came back the appointed soliciter had gone and also the DWP investigator and I was left standing with the desk sergent and the investigator from housing benefit/council and no-one seemed to know what was happening. The desk sergent then asked hb investigator if it had been explained to me what would happen next. Um no was the reply so then the hb investigator said to me that what would happen next was I would receive a letter telling me that my benefits have been stopped and a letter to attend court. Then I was free to go. As I said in my first post I haven't received anything other than very vague letters.

No idea why the 2nd April thats just what it says in the letter.