The ESA appeal that never happened!

I just wanted to share with you all, one of the most bizarre scenarios that I have come across in all my years working in this field.

A client was referred to our service following a failed WCA. The client had been in receipt of I/S (sickness based) with NI credits for 6+ years. In October 2011, they were sent the ESA50 to complete and in November 2011 they attended their WCA. Following this, the client was awarded 9 points.

It was at this point he decided that he needed assistance with an appeal.

Fast forward to September 2012 and the client has his Tribunal hearing date. This resulted in an awarded of 24 points by the Tribunal Panel.

Client calls me a few days ago to advise that he has had no back-date of WR Component and was advised by DWP that he wouldn’t get this as his wife was a Carer…..??

I contacted DWP and was advised by the ESA section that the client was not on their system, but that I should try the Income Support number. I explained that I had a copy of the Tribunal award in front of me, that stated the client had won his ESA appeal,but this didn’t hold any weight.

I then rang the Income Support section who said “aah, yes, we have Mr .....” They carried on to say that they had never requested the transfer of client to ESA and had no idea as to what had been happening!

So, client has had 12 months of stress, fighting an appeal that apparently no one at the DWP knows anything about!

Did they not issue a submission?

Tony

Hi Tony,

Indeed they did! The bizarre thing is that no one at the DWP will acknowledge who instigated the transfer from IS/IB to ESA.

The client has in fact been receiving full monies via IS (I only discovered this yesterday), but the stress of the whole process for him was very damaging.

I was asked by the IS section if the client wished to now transfer over to ESA….errr “No” was my answer.