Thoughts on IB to ESA

My client was sent an ESA50 in 2015 as the department wanted to move him to ESA. He is tetraplegic, and bedridden, with a further diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia. Unsurprisingly he failed to return the form and his IB was stopped. The DWP has destroyed records so there is no way to know if they followed up with the claimant. He was being helped by LA Mental Health at the time. He was then found to lack capacity in 2016 and an application for ESA was made by his deputy.

So:

1. What are your thoughts on the original refusal? Were the DWP correct or should they have made further investigations as they were fully aware of his condition?
2. As he has been bedridden since 2012, he hasn’t paid NI and so wouldn’t have qualified to ESA-c in 2016. There is then a question mark over his capital (separate issue). Had the DWP not refused the claim in 2015, he would have been entitled to ESA-c going forward.