Sickness Benefit or what ever its called now

[23sopwith]

Step son now staying with us had to have mental health team intervention about 12 weeks ago claims to have had benefit forms filled in by MIND who he was referred to, and which he posted himself, had no acknowledgement of claim or anything from dwp. I unfortunately don't believe him ( I hope im wrong) but going on his past ie. going to job centre and refusing to go on courses hence no JSA.

My question basically is do the DWP acknowledge claims and does it normally take this long for a claim to be considered when a "fitness to work" note is provided.

Ive read a lot of the posts this am but not been able to find one which covers this guidance and help would be appreciated.

[unclebulgaria67]

Tricky as you have no way of checking, as only your step son or someone appointed to act for him could find out.

 

I would think it unlikely to take 3 months. See if you find out about ESA claims and how long they take. I would have thought DWP would have acknowledged the claim by now. Also why has someone from MIND not enquired how he is doing.

 

Have you phoned MIND to enquire whether they ever help people complete forms for an ESA claim. Not ask specifically about your step son. If MIND say that they don't do this, then you know no ESA claim was made. MIND may be able to offer advice about how to deal with the situation.

[Nystagmite]

I found DWP were pretty quick to write to me and tell me that my claim is up and running. I think it took a week maximum. Certainly wasn't that long.

[Guest]

Am with Nystagmite on this, dwp were fairly quick with letting me know too. I havent heard of anyone waiting 12 weeks with no reply, unless the form was lost in post/transit?. Not sure MIND actually fill in forms, they used to have staff who helped with this but i think with cut backs a lot of that help has gone, but I could be wrong. Its a tricky one.

 

I would A. Try and get him to ring DWP while you are there (to help him if it gets difficult for him) and or B. Try and get him to ring MIND to speak to the person he saw and see what help he will be getting for his mental health issues.

 

Was he referred to MIND by his GP, i think he would have had to be? maybe GP can chase up any treatment thats needed?.

 

Sorry to ramble ...if he is ill he needs help and 12 weeks will grow if its been left at the bottom of a pile, or if its not genuine then these things may flush it out.........

[estellyn]

EsA claims are almost always completed over the phone, so if he says paper forms were completed then it sounds unlikely to be true. Claims have been known to take 12 weeks, but rarely any longer.

[23sopwith]

he was referred to mind councillor for 6 weeks "free" councelling as part of a treatment contract by the nhs mental health crisis team, they had no record of this they basically said he must have been passed onto a different agency.

he needs help both with his finances and his health as he does have a habit of burying his head in sand and hope things will go away, the finance I can sort out , but shouldn't have to its the truth I need regarding both.

thanks all I now have some clearer picture of how I can approach things.

[Lilly_Monroe]

I was told by MIND that they do not fill in the forms anymore (could have changed as that was a few years ago) but they said they did not have the budget ie man power to be able to spend the time doing that any more.

 

Why did the NHS refer him to a MIND councillor, they have their own.

When I went to see MIND it was the other way around, they wrote to the NHS for me and instigated counseling.