ESA Support Group: When will I receive any money?

[sallypatsy]

Hi everyone, new to this so I hope someone can give me some advice. I had to leave work in 2002, and received Incapacity Benefit and IS. I had two assessments in 2004 and again in 2009, where I scored just under the required 15 points and so "fit for work". I had both decisions overturned on appeal.

 

In July 2013 they sent me the dreaded letter about migration to ESA, and I was sent for a F2F assessment in November

 

Because of my previous experiences with assessments, I had asked for this one to be recorded, but despite this, I was notified a week before christmas, that I had scored ZERO points. I immediately asked for a reconsideration, was given 6 different lots of advice from the DWP phonelines ( never spoke to the same place twice despite calling the same number) and Incap Ben stopped on 2nd January. When I eventually got the copy of the HCP's report in January I could not believe his assessment, it was made up totally of lies and assumptions, and had focused entirely on my physical issues, ignoring my severe depression and OCD. I was so pleased I had the copies of the recording made.

 

I had been told they had a minimum of 14 days but no upper limit of the time it would take to reconsider the decision, and the only way I could get ANY money would be to claim JSA.

 

Anyway, last Monday I went to Jobcentre to claim JSA (under sufference), made my claim. When I arrived home guess what? A letter from Chesterfield stating they had overturned the original decision and I was in the Support Group for 12 months only

 

Sorry to be long winded, my question is : How long do you normally have to wait for the new award to be put into payment, as I am now desperate for money for Direct Debits etc. I am terrified that because I signed on, they are going to change their decision to put me into the SG for ESA. Can this happen?

 

Any advice would be appreciated

[time4change2]

you usually have to wait a minimum of 6 weeks to get back pay for money owed to you from the job-centre i know people who have waited 3 months for there's though id call them up in the morning to make sure you will be getting your esa now instead of jsa

[reallymadwoman]

You may also need to close your JSA claim first as having claims for two benefits open at the same time seems to cause the whole system to go into meltdown.

 

Your best bet is pester power. Keep phoning and keep on at them until you do get a payment.

[sallypatsy]

Thank you both for replying, I notified the Jobcentre where I claimed JSA the same day, so assumed (perhaps wrongly on my part) that the claim for JSA would be cancelled, but I will take your advice and phone the number on my letter about my ESA. I am just so scared that they would change their reconsideration decision.

 

The whole system now seems to be in meltdown since IDS and his cronies got their hands on it, and I wouldn't put anything past this Government to make us wait for as long as possible for money due. I live alone and this is just adding extra distress, not knowing when I would get any benefit and be able to pay rent etc

[antone]

You may also need to close your JSA claim first as having claims for two benefits open at the same time seems to cause the whole system to go into meltdown.

 

Your best bet is pester power. Keep phoning and keep on at them until you do get a payment.

 

Yes - the JSAPS payment system (which processes both JSA and ESA) will not allow simultaneous claims to both benefits. It's not really "meltdown" as such - this behaviour is by design - but it can cause delays for people switching from one benefit to the other.

 

So yes, the JSA claim needs to be closed first, and then a new ESA claim must be built from scratch or payments will need to be issued clerically as closed ESA claims can't be reopened on JSAPS. That's not intentional behaviour, it's a cock-up. I agree that pester power is the best approach, and it may also be worth requesting a Short Term Benefit Advance if things get desperate. Call centre and processing staff are not supposed to tell claimants that STBA is available - you need to ask.

[sallypatsy]

Thanks for the advice Antone, spoke to the DWP again this morning, the award has been received showing the reconsideration to ESA (SG), but they say that the Short Term Benefit Advance isn't applicable to me as its a migration from Incap Ben, apparently it only applies to new claims?. Is this right?, to be honest i have lost all faith in what I'm being told by these DWP phone lines as they know we can't really prove who told us what, I always ask for the name of the person I speak to, but they only ever give out a first name, and TBH, how many Janes or Sues etc work for the DWP throughout the country. I was told I could claim a crisis payment from the local council, but again I don't know how true that is. Looks like a visit to the council is in order.

 

Fortunately I've also contacted a couple of my payees and explained the situation and that I probabley won't have the funds in my account to cover February's payments, and they've agreed to me suspending these and advise if there is a longer delay, so that's a help, but will keep on at DWP until I get the money due to me!