Thank you estellyn, I have put in a request for a mandatory reconsideration. I will post a new thread when I get a reply.

Hi Moving on, I have read your posts on here re PHI and ESA. I am in exactly the same situation as you and I wondered if you had got this matter resolved, if so I hope you don't mind me asking if it was in your favour or not. I added a post to the end of your thread so you will be able to read a bit more about my situation. Thank you for your time.

Hi Moving on and everyone else, I wondered how you got on with dealing with this? I too am paid PHI from my employer and have been on long term sick since jan 2010. I never paid the premium for the phi my employer did and I was never going to claim ESA but it was deducted from the PHI claim so I did. I was awarded ESA contribution based and received it ever since. Over the years I have googled to see if I was eligible for esa as I did worry that I had PHI too but I never found any info about PHI being deducted from ESA, only pensions. This year a friend said something to me so I googled again and saw a paragraph that said 'sometimes' PHI is deducted from esa. I went round and round in circles trying to find the correct info online and in the end I gave up and contacted the benefits office, they would surely know and be able to help, right? WRONG! I went round in circles with them too, one lady even told me I had nothing to worry about it would be classed as income from an employer so not deductible, another lady told me I wasn't due esa as got PHI etc etc..I sent a copy of my wage slip in 3 months ago and been waiting for an answer ever since. Then finally I get a letter from the Benefits office, the incorrect letter telling me I failed to work(!) nothing to do with my phi query. So I rang them to see what was going on, basically wrong letter sent out to me but as I have PHI I was never due any ESA. So the ESA has been stopped and what they paid me in error has been written off as it was their error as I declared everything to them. But I am still at a loss as to how my PHI paid thru my employer should be treated, salary income, phi, pension. I know this makes a difference to whether I can get esa or not, can anyone help me in pointing me to the correct legislation or something? Or even let me know what your outcome was in your situation. Where do I start? I want to be able to understand this properly and make sure Benefits have dealt with it properly. Thank you