The decision that never was…

There we were, dealing with another ESA appeal, when our client lets us know he has received a letter from DWP.

The letter says ‘You made an appeal against the ESA decision issued to you on ....We have looked again at the facts and evidence we have used to make our decision.  As a result we have changed our decision.  Your appeal will not be sent to the Appeals Service as the decision has been changed in your favour.’

Now, our client is a perceptive chap, and felt that the letter meant what it said. 

As a failsafe, he called DWP who confirmed that the decision had been changed - and suggested he could be on for something like £800 arrears.

All seemed well.  He didn’t think he needed to attend the appeal, as the decision had been changed.  Very useful - he’s now in work.

Then the Tribunals Service went and heard the appeal, as if no such decision had been made. 

It seemed something might be up, so we phoned around, and are now told that the letter was a ‘mistake’ and he should have attended the appeal, which had just been heard.  Thanks for that, DWP.

Clearly, we are in a decent position to get a set aside.  Unfortunately our client is now rather upset and angry at all this, and wants to hold the DWP to their word, and get his arrears without an appeal.  And after all, there’s every chance he could lose an appeal as well.

I suppose my question is - can he rely on the letter he received to force payment, even if DWP maintain it was simply a mistake?  My instinct says no, but I’m not sure why. 

We have sent in a complaint, and are considering our options about maladministration and the like.

NB - It is hard to imagine how they could have generated such a bad letter, but I suspect that the confirmation he had won his appeal was computer-generated, rather than coming from a DM.