Esa backdate

lauraB8688

Hi I filled in a form in June for I for information with regard to my back dated claim for esa that hadn’t been offered to me when it should have been. I have spoken with them once in August when they advised I would hear in 12 weeks but still haven’t heard anything. I have misplaced the letter with the contact number on and can’t find this online. Has anyone else got it? Thanks Laura 

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

I'm one of the community champions here on scope. I believe you're talking about the Incapacity benefit to ESA underpayment error. Even though you were told a timescale of about 12 weeks, unfortunately, because of the huge amount of people that need to be contacted regarding this error the backlogs are huge and waiting times are exceeding 20 weeks and there's really no timescales for decisions unfortunately.

I do believe there's a different phone number to ring regarding those underpayments but i'm not sure what that is. You could try ringing the usual DWP/ESA number to see if they can help you. Telephone: 0800 169 0310

lauraB8688

Thank you, I am receiving a call back. Could anybody also advise if money is owed in overpayments weather this is deductible from the amount received? Thanks again Laura 

poppy123456

You're welcome. I'm not sure what you mean by "if money is owed in overpayments weather this is deductible from the amount received"

They will be assessing you between the dates stated in the letter that you received when you filled out the form. If you're owed money then it will be the difference between what you were receiving at the time and what you should have been receiving.

There's currently 2 disability premiums available on ESA and the first one is Enhanced disability premium which is automatically paid to those in the Support Group claiming Income related and is £16.80 (single person)  per week from April 2019, less in previous years.

The other one is the Severe disability premium which is £65.85 per week (single person) from April 2019, less in previous years. To qualify for this you must be claiming either DLA mid/high rate care or PIP daily living, you must live alone or be classed as living alone and no one must be claiming carers allowance for looking after you.

Not everyone is owed money because of the underpayments, there's been people who haven't been owed anything and others have been owed anything from a few hundred to many thousands of pounds. It really depends on your circumstances during those dates. Living with partner that works or claims other benefits, savings/capital, income from pensions and various other things too and these are what you'll be assessed on.

lauraB8688

Hi sorry I wasn’t clear. I was asked to talk about dates from 2012 to 2019 because in 2012 I was not offered income related esa it stopped completely when incapacity Benifit ended. I was told I wasn’t intitalled to esa as I didn’t have enough national insurance contributions. I think in my case the are investigating that I was not offered anything even though I was on higher and higher pip. My husband did not work in this time and his only income was Carers allowance from 2015. Will this mean because I wasn’t single and my husband received Carers there will not be a backdated underpayment? 

Thanks Laura 

lauraB8688

I also then received national insurance credits for the whole period as a career for my disabled son. I believe this means I should have be able to claim contribution based esa after three years out of the 6. But again was refused. Even with 2 Carers as are only income we still didn’t have more than 6,000 a year coming into the household. I have asked for a call back but not heard back as promised. I feel this case is quite complicated.
Any other information greatly received.
thanks Laura 

poppy123456

Unfortunately, without knowing all of your exact circumstances and the reasons why you were refused ESA back in 2012 then it's impossible to answer any questions. Unfortunately, you'll need to wait for DWP to make a decision. If they don't ring you back then try ringing again but a call back can take as long as 24 hours.

lauraB8688

Ok thank you. 

Laura 

Ails

Hi @lauraB8688 and welcome to the Community.  It is nice to meet you.  I wish you well with your ESA claim.