esa 18weeks still no decision

Brian

Nothing has changed. Being in the Support Group and receiving means tested ESA(IR) are completely seperate.

Claimants are either in the Support Group or the WRAG.

Claimants either qualify for Contribution Based EESA or Income Related ESA.

The recent posts in this thread have been regarding the time limiting of ESA(CB) for claimants who have spent more than 365 days in the WRAG.

Hope this explains it.

Gordon

HM

The Welfare Reform Bill is still in abeyance, the next action is a third debate in the House of Commons, but the date for this has still not been announced.

Also, we still have no visibility of the procedures the DWP will use when the Act comes into force, nor how quickly they will respond to a claimant exceeding there time in the WRAG or what notice they will provide.

There will certainly be a relatively large number of claimants affected on 6th April, who like yourself have already exceeded the time limit. My best guess, and it is a guess, is that claimants will receive two weeks notice that their payments will cease, I am not sure how you will be handled if there has still been no decision on your re-assessment, but I suspect that payment will still cease to avoid an over payment being made.

The situation is still not clear on how claimants will be handled who having exceeded the time limit, but subsequently qualify for the Support Group, but on the basis that the Goverment introduced the amendment to handle this situation, I'll assume it will be introduced, in which case, if you qualify for the SG your ESA(CB) will be re-instated and you will receive a back payment for any missed benefit.

If you are placed back into the WRAG and appeal for the SG, then I don't believe you will receive any payments, neither the WRAG rate or the Assessment rate as this will definitely create an overpayment situation.

I hope this explains it.

Gordon