ESA appeal allowed

[antone]

You should be getting £53.45 personal allowance and £32.35 support component. (The £26.75 is the WRAG component)

 

 

Has this changed recently? When I processed ESA, people under 25 who were placed in the WRAG or SG received the same personal allowance as those over 25. That was a while ago, as you know, so I could have outdated information.

 

Jason, they're still wrong and have incorrectly implemented the Tribunal decision. You referred to sanctions - did they say why a sanction has been applied?

[Jason6416]

i dont no she wouldnt tell me what has been sanctioned i dont no what i need to do now and yes before my medical i used to get the over 25 year allowance but now she told me they are only paying £53.45 and i told them thats wrong and they said i am still in the wrag group they wont listen me

[ErikaPNP]

Has this changed recently? When I processed ESA, people under 25 who were placed in the WRAG or SG received the same personal allowance as those over 25. That was a while ago, as you know, so I could have outdated information.

 

Jason, they're still wrong and have incorrectly implemented the Tribunal decision. You referred to sanctions - did they say why a sanction has been applied?

 

Oh balls. You are absolutely right, Antone. The £53.45 only applies during the assessment phase for under 25's.

 

My sincered apologies, Jason. Now that you are in the main phase of ESA, you should be getting £67.50 a week personal allowance and £32.35 support component. If you have a sanction on your claim however it could be less.

 

Unfortunately I can't say what to do next because there are still unanswered questions. You really need to speak to a decision maker; the people at the contact centre are not trained, don't have your paperwork and cannot really answer anything beyond what is on the computer screen. When you phoned the second time, did they arrange for a callback tomorrow? If so, and you don't have one by 12pm, phone and ask for an 'escalation'. An escalation is when you have not had a call back when one has been arranged and they will have a manager arrange for someone to call you within the hour. If they haven't arranged for a call back tomorrow, phone the moment the lines open and absolutely insist (be polite but firm) that you get a call back from an ESA decision maker. Tell them you rang twice yesterday, they have applied the tribunal decision incorrectly and you would like it sorted out - only an ESA decision maker can sort it out, the contact centre cannot.

[Nystagmite]

Erika - isn't there something about the enhanced disability premium (around £14 per week) whilst in support group?

[Jason6416]

Oh balls. You are absolutely right, Antone. The £53.45 only applies during the assessment phase for under 25's.

 

My sincered apologies, Jason. Now that you are in the main phase of ESA, you should be getting £67.50 a week personal allowance and £32.35 support component. If you have a sanction on your claim however it could be less.

 

Unfortunately I can't say what to do next because there are still unanswered questions. You really need to speak to a decision maker; the people at the contact centre are not trained, don't have your paperwork and cannot really answer anything beyond what is on the computer screen. When you phoned the second time, did they arrange for a callback tomorrow? If so, and you don't have one by 12pm, phone and ask for an 'escalation'. An escalation is when you have not had a call back when one has been arranged and they will have a manager arrange for someone to call you within the hour. If they haven't arranged for a call back tomorrow, phone the moment the lines open and absolutely insist (be polite but firm) that you get a call back from an ESA decision maker. Tell them you rang twice yesterday, they have applied the tribunal decision incorrectly and you would like it sorted out - only an ESA decision maker can sort it out, the contact centre cannot.

 

Hi Erika I phoned them this morning they said they was going to ring between 2 and 4 and never did so I will ring tomorrow and ask for a call back they have sanctioned some of my benefit and I don't no why so I will ask them why tomorrow

[ErikaPNP]

Nystagmite, I think there is a premium but I'm not certain about ESA and the premiums though I am aware of them in relation to other benefits. Antone would be the man to ask.

 

Normally as far as I go with ESA is getting the claimant an award, by appeal unfortunately! To that end, my familiarity mainly lies with the legislation concerning entitlement in itself. It took me long enough to learn about the criteria for ESA when it came out and it's only in the last couple of years I've been advising on it. Even now I frequently badger Antone and others when a complex ESA case appears here as I don't have the answers.

 

Jason's case is pretty straightforward in that he doesn't appear to have been placed in the group that the legislation says he's entitled to be placed in. But if there is an additional premium too then we need to be asking about that also, so thanks for bringing it up - and if anyone knows for certain if there is a premium, speak up!

[antone]

Nystagmite is correct - everyone in the SG gets the EDP. It should be added automatically by the JSAPS computer system when a person is placed in that group.

[Jason6416]

Hi all thanks for help i will ring them back up tommorow and ask for a call back and ask about support group and the sanction i phoned them today and no reply from them and does a sanction mean that some of my money has been suspended or stopped altogether

[antone]

Hi all thanks for help i will ring them back up tommorow and ask for a call back and ask about support group and the sanction i phoned them today and no reply from them and does a sanction mean that some of my money has been suspended or stopped altogether

 

Good plan - refer back to Erika's posts for the questions you need to ask. If we're to advise you further, we need that information.

 

Sanctions on ESA are normally applied if you fail to attend a Work Focused Interview at the Jobcentre or private provider. It means that the extra WRAG component of your payment is reduced or stopped entirely. Even if you have failed to attend such an interview, the sanction should no longer apply to you as the Tribunal has placed you in the Support Group.

 

If they've applied a sanction for another reason, we need to know what it is. Also, if they're aware of the Tribunal decision (in full, and not just the fact that you won the appeal) and are choosing not to implement it, we need to know what their reasons are for doing this. I stress the word "choosing" because quite often these sorts of things are mistakes rather than intentional behaviour.

[Jason6416]

Good plan - refer back to Erika's posts for the questions you need to ask. If we're to advise you further, we need that information.

 

Sanctions on ESA are normally applied if you fail to attend a Work Focused Interview at the Jobcentre or private provider. It means that the extra WRAG component of your payment is reduced or stopped entirely. Even if you have failed to attend such an interview, the sanction should no longer apply to you as the Tribunal has placed you in the Support Group.

 

If they've applied a sanction for another reason, we need to know what it is. Also, if they're aware of the Tribunal decision (in full, and not just the fact that you won the appeal) and are choosing not to implement it, we need to know what their reasons are for doing this. I stress the word "choosing" because quite often these sorts of things are mistakes rather than intentional behaviour.

 

Hi ive always been to the work focused interviews at my job center they never really contacted me for one but if they did i always went to it i dont no why its been sanctioned i am ringing them tomorrow and need it sorting out they wouldnt tell me today on phone what the sanction was for

[antone]

Hi ive always been to the work focused interviews at my job center they never really contacted me for one but if they did i always went to it i dont no why its been sanctioned i am ringing them tomorrow and need it sorting out they wouldnt tell me today on phone what the sanction was for

 

Fair enough. The people who answer the phones probably don't know why any sanction was imposed (the reason shows up on the computer in the form of an obscure code number plus an unhelpful 5 word description). That's why speaking to the Decision Maker is important.

[Jason6416]

thanks will speak to them in morning its getting me right down now all this

[Jason6416]

Hi Erika i went to my local job center about the sanction and they told me that the person i phoned was wrong there is not a sanction on my account but they said im still in wrag group and i just recieved a letter from them that states im in the wrag group so i phoned them and they said do i want to appeal about the support group and i said yes, if i appeal the the group will any of my money get stopped again and now my payments are only £91.40 a week not £94.25 will you help me Erika with filling the appeal form out i would be very greatful.

[Nystagmite]

You don't need to put an awful lot of information on the appeal. If it then goes to appeal, that's when you write loads of detail.

[ErikaPNP]

You don't need to appeal the group - you have won your appeal and the right along with it to go into the support group. The jobcentre have no more say than the contact centre in your ESA claim - they, like the contact centre can only tell you what they can see on the screen in front of them.

 

As I said before, you need to speak to an ESA Decision Maker. That can only be acheived by getting a call back from the benefit centre, following the process I posted about before. Please call the number on your letters and ask for a call back from an ESA decision maker.

[Jason6416]

You don't need to appeal the group - you have won your appeal and the right along with it to go into the support group. The jobcentre have no more say than the contact centre in your ESA claim - they, like the contact centre can only tell you what they can see on the screen in front of them.

 

As I said before, you need to speak to an ESA Decision Maker. That can only be acheived by getting a call back from the benefit centre, following the process I posted about before. Please call the number on your letters and ask for a call back from an ESA decision maker.

 

Hi Erika i got a phone call back from DWP this morning and i told her that i should be in the support group so she says she had a look and it says on my appeal letter that they have from the tribunal and she told me it says they have put me in the wrag group she told me shes sending it out to me through post but i dont understand it because my appeal letter i have says different

[antone]

OK, so it seems they are saying the Tribunal has told you one thing and the DWP another. I'd suggest that we wait until you receive the letter from them. When you get it, could you post the exact text of the letter here for us to check? Once we see that, we'll figure out what to do next.

[Jason6416]

OK, so it seems they are saying the Tribunal has told you one thing and the DWP another. I'd suggest that we wait until you receive the letter from them. When you get it, could you post the exact text of the letter here for us to check? Once we see that, we'll figure out what to do next.

 

Ok thanks antone when i get letter i will let you all no and post it up here you all have been great help to me

[ErikaPNP]

Something is far wrong here. The Tribunal don't say what group you go into - they'll either say regulation 35 applies or it doesn't. It's the regulation that determines the group. If the tribunal states in the claimant's notification letter that regulation 35 applies but they have stated on the DWP copy that it doesn't apply then it's an issue that the tribunal have to sort out, not the DWP as the DWP are supposed to act on the information that they get from the tribunal. I can't give you any advice until I know whether DWP are misunderstanding the tribunals paperwork, or the tribunal have made an error in their paperwork. I need to know what the problem is in order to solve it. That said, I'm very aware of the time contraints involved, and you only have two days left to request a statement of reasons from the tribunal. To that end, I think that you should write to the tribunal service explaining the situation and request a statement of reasons for their decision. There is a template below for you.

 

Your address

Your national insurance number

your case reference number

the date

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Social Entitlement Chamber

Employment and Support Allowance Appeal Tribunal held on 22/12/2011

 

I attended a hearing at (enter tribunal location) on 22/12/2011 in regard to my appeal against a decision to disallow me Employment and Support Allowance. My appeal was successful and I have received my notification which states that regulation 35 of the Employment and Support Allowance regulations applies.

 

However, the Department of Work and Pensions are refusing to implement regulation 35 and informed me during a telephone conversation on 20/01/2012 that their copy of the notification from the tribunal did not contain this information.

 

I would therefore be grateful if you could confirm whether regulation 35 applies in my case, and provide a statement of reasons concerning the decision of the tribunal.

 

yours sincerely

your name.

[Jason6416]

Thankyou for writing this for me but who do i send it to because i dont no whether to send it to the place i went to tribunal or do you no the address to send it i live in Mexborough near Doncaster in South Yorkshire where is the nearest tribual services

[ErikaPNP]

You should send it to the address that is on the letter from the tribunal notifying you of their decision.

[Jason6416]

You should send it to the address that is on the letter from the tribunal notifying you of their decision.

 

Hi i have wrote the letter out you gave me should i put a copy of the tribunal decision inside with it aswell and i have found the address where i am sending it to

[antone]

Hi i have wrote the letter out you gave me should i put a copy of the tribunal decision inside with it aswell and i have found the address where i am sending it to

 

They should already have a copy of the letter, but there's no harm in including one. Just don't send your only copy. Use your scanner (if you have one) or a library photocopier or whatever.

 

But whatever, don't delay sending this letter. Include a copy of the Tribunal letter, sure, if you can, but if you can't for any reason, still send the letter Erika has suggested.

 

ETA: Second paragraph added on edit.

[Jason6416]

Hi i sent the letter Erika gave me and i have put a copy of my tribunal copy inside aswell i was just wondering will they contact me when they recieve it or not

[eddiebhoy]

hi was just wondering about backdated payments if your appeal is upheld..i was sent for a medical on 21.06.11 and didnt recieve a decision till 2.9.11 which said i had failed my medical..i won my appeal im just curious when do they backdate the payments from is it from the date you have your medical or is it when they make the decision, any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated thanks