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ESA – migration cases – inaccurate IRESA assessments?
still no actual cash for any of mine yet. not too hopeful on the march 2019 date to say the least.
actually have a case (esa 3 done in march) where alongside the claimant missing the ir top up they were also moving into their own tenancy and so due the sdp going forward.
client got a call saying passed to Oldham last week for arrears, ir top up added going forward, but still no sdp added to current applicable amount,
worried this was going to the blackhole of Oldham and would then come back with the sdp still missing I escalated it. they had the cheek to give me a row that this wasn’t an appropriate escalation :D
If that was Bathgate that you escalated the missing SDP to then I can concur that they will advise that that type of case should not be escalated because the client is in receipt of some money! They state that their priority is those with no money at all! They seem to miss the point that this money has been missing for years!
By that logic, none of these cases could be escalated because they all in receipt of cont-based ESA!
Exactly! After being forgotten about for years they are still not a priority!
If that was Bathgate that you escalated the missing SDP to then I can concur that they will advise that that type of case should not be escalated because the client is in receipt of some money! They state that their priority is those with no money at all! They seem to miss the point that this money has been missing for years!
it was Greenock I think but could be wrong (I deal with clients all over the place so lots of bdc’s).
you have to admire the audacity of it to be fair. especially given I was actually trying to save them work and the claim being bounced back again for another calculation.
I checked the original date on my case that’s currently at the UT and the appointee and I first spoke in October 2016. this full debacle has probably cost about 50 times the arrears they would have been due.
My appeal for backdating to date of migration has been lapsed. Conversion decision revised for official error. .
and mine
and paid this week
just had my first client paid out pre oct 2014.
Yay!
Yay ... client paid from date of migration, £2.6k, back to 2012.
Boo ... voicemail from ESA section re: another client, whose backdating was done in Jan this year and limited to 2014, officer advises we can’t backdate beyond 2014, client will need to appeal this now. Obviously not read the JR and new guidance have they?!
One step forward, one step back ...
Might be worth checking Martin’s advice on appealing at post 376 first - https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/5928/P375/#61680 - perhaps go back and speak to supervisor first?? I’ll direct message you the escalation contact if that doesn’t work.
Did your client report the changes to student finance when they happened, or only now as part of the big reassessment exercise? If the changes were not reported at the time, you will struggle to establish an official error: it appears that the client was not entitled to ESA(ir) until the student finance fell away and at that point they should have reported the change of circumstance to DWP. There is no official error if DWP had no reason to think that the claimant’s income had reduced to amount below the applicable amount including the SDP.
If it was WRAG and not support group, the conts-based award will have ended at some point and if at that point there would have been entitlement to ESA(ir) there is a possible official error case, but even then it is arguable that the client contributed to it by failing to make their reduced income known.
PS just thinking how an official error case could work: it would be that DWP’s original failure to assess for ESA(ir) meant that s/he was not put on notice to report any change in income: had they known that they failed to qualify for ESA(ir) due to student income, they would have reported the changes.
[ Edited: 1 Oct 2018 at 08:57 am by HB Anorak ]It’s my understanding that the special team looking at this only pay if it is found that the claimant was entitled to income-based ESA on the date of migration. They don’t even tell claimants if they have become entitled to income-based ESA since. - thus perpetuating the underpayment of income-based ESA.
This is a tricky one as why would a clamant report changes in income which don’t affect cont-based ESA?
I would try sending in an ESA 3 (if not already done so) and asking for backdating on the grounds that income-based and cont-based ESA are one benefit which don’t need to be claimed separately.
I would say so!
If anyone has up to date phone number for the teams dealing with these cases and could PM it to me that is much appreciated.
Martin
It’s my understanding that the special team looking at this only pay if it is found that the claimant was entitled to income-based ESA on the date of migration. They don’t even tell claimants if they have become entitled to income-based ESA since. - thus perpetuating the underpayment of income-based ESA.
This is a tricky one as why would a clamant report changes in income which don’t affect cont-based ESA?
I would try sending in an ESA 3 (if not already done so) and asking for backdating on the grounds that income-based and cont-based ESA are one benefit which don’t need to be claimed separately.
I thought I would do this with a client but we are in a UCFS area and I saw on entitledto page on UC triggers that being on CBESA and believing to be entitled to IRESA would mean a UCclaim. This makes the submission of an ESA3 quite risky then?
Last entry https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/changes_that_trigger_Universal_Credit