ESA payments stopped after winning appeal.

My client’s ESA payments have completely stopped since he was placed in Support group over five weeks ago at a tribunal.  Before I contact the DWP can anyone suggest any possible reasons why this has occurred as he has not had any info, either letters or phone calls from the DWP since attending the tribunal back in January, 2015.

I can only conclude that DWP believes the appeal failed, so ESA stopped. Possible mis-reading of the decision notice? Highly unlikely, but possible. Would it stop payment if it was delaying implementing the decision while considering whether to take it to the UT?

Could it be his contribution-related WRAG payments were due to stop at about the same time?

Or, by coincidence, his ‘fit note’ had expired and DWP had not received / lost the new one?

Had he claimed JSA at the MR stage and payt of JSA has only recently terminated having reached the appeal stage (unlikely given the likely time scale - unless he was not advised to ‘re-instate’ ESA once his appeal was registered until a late stage). Or, he was wrongly advised to make a new claim (rather than ‘re-instatement’ of the existing claim) for ESA at the appeal stage?

Thanks everyone for your replies.  My client was found ‘fit for work’ at his face2face last year and he told me that the DWP had written to him to say his 365days would not end until October, 2015.  He attended the tribunal by himself and says he became very anxious when the tribunal gave him a document from the DWP DM saying that the appeal must not be allowed.  Could this document have some bearing on the case or is this normal DWP practice?

Was this possibly the standard DWP appeal submission - or a short supplementary submission? However this would not be a reason for payment to stop unless it was informing tribunal of some other issue on the claim (unlikely)??

I believe it was 4 pages long covering everything including reg29 &35;.  He also says he never claImed JSA while going through his MR.  He received assessment rate up to 3/2/15 which was his last payment.

I suppose he has definitely won his appeal? Have you seen the decision?

Yes I have seen it.  He scored 15 points for schedule 2 and then he met a descriptor from schedule 3 of the ESA regulations 2008.  The tribunal recommended that my client is not reassessed for 24 months from the date of this tribunal.

In that case the only other possibility I can think of not already mentioned is that the DWP has requested (or is considering requesting) the SOR and have suspended his ESA payments for the duration. I suppose the next step is to see if you can speak to someone sensible at their end to find out (and elevate as a complaint if they stone-wall you).

bigsean - 05 March 2015 01:26 PM

...Before I contact the DWP..

How about someone with a life time grudge against the claimant getting a job at DWP and by unfortunate co-incidence the tribunal decision landing on his desk.

As you’ve discovered there could be many reasons why it’s stopped.  I think there are some occasions when you just have to make that call.

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