ESA Contribution Based to ESA IR

My neighbour who is homeless and suffer from severe mental illness, anxiety, panic attacks, memory loss, heart problems and other illnesses was on IB indefinitely before he was migrated to ESA CB, in December 2013 his ESA CB reached the time limit of the 365 days rules which he was not aware of, nor was I. ESA CB is the only benefit he received nothing else.

December 27th 2013 was the last ESA Contributed Base he received, he was not aware his benefit stopped until I checked his bank account, by the way I am his carer and his mother as well for years but do not receive any carer allowance for either which I am not worry about.

He became very ill with his mental illness that I had to put a hold on chasing the DWP for his benefit, he just couldn't face it nor want to hear anything to do about his benefit, he became suicidal by February 2014 I managed to get him to let me ring the DWP for him of course I did not get anywhere with the DWP, they asked me for his address which I told them he is using my home address as a postal address for all his correspondences the DWP then ask me to fill in a TFL form which I done, I've never heard of that TFL Form either. My neighbour every so often sleep on my sofa and his friend's sofa, I told the dwp he is homeless and I am letting him sleeping on my sofa until he can sort out his accommodation.

I filled in all necessary forms to prove he is homeless and sleeping on my sofa, the chap I spoke to at Straford Benefit office was very understand giving me his name and even told me to send all the documents to him by email so that he can get them quicker than by post, he also told me if I sent the letter by post even though by special delivery the letters will still go missing, he will not get it. I rushed to my local jobcentre and got the necessary documents emailed to him, I rang him the next day and he told me he's received the documents and that my neighbour should not have any problems getting his ESA benefit because the documents shows enough proof with regards to his homelessness, he also told me that he now need to pass those documents to the Decision Makers and then my neighbour should receive his benefit because unaware to him the DWP has kept his benefit alive since december 27th when they stopped it and with a press of some button it will all goes into his bank account.

That was the last communication I had with the DWP everything from that time went dead no letter at all from the DWP! The dwp accused us of living together but they has never, ever even wrote to me or him to say that we have been found living together, my benefit has been paid as normal without them stopping it which I was surprised but they've stopped my neighbour's, I try to get help from my MP without success cutting a long story short they sent a letter to my MP's office saying I am on Income support under ill health myself and that my neighbour can live off my benefit because we have been found living together but we have never been called at the DWP office to prove otherwise.

My neighbour and I went through hell, my debt spiraled, couple of the debt collectors rang me 7 days a week all day chasing money even though I told them what had happened, we are still living in hell, food bank refused to help us because they say I can't get food from them because I am on benefit and my neighbour cannot get food from them because he is not on benefit.

I rang the DWP to ask for the manager's name to complain but was told they would not give me the manager's name and the dwp lady just put the phone down on me, we are still in the same problem because I do not know nor have a manager's name to make our complaints.

Please can someone guide me as to what forms we can use and how we can make a complaint under the law about how my neighbour has been treated why has his ESA CB benefit stopped without even receiving a letter, why has they accused us of living together without sending us a letter.

We would like to know what guidance has the DWP used to stopped his benefit without warning him and what guidance that says they can accused us of living together with writing to us to prove otherwise, my neighbour has a folder full and solicitors letters showing he has been sorting out his housing problem being severe mental illness things don't get things sorted as they normally would because he become suicidal very quickly and I have to stop doing anything.

I apologies for my very long posts just wanted to give as much information as I can for us to get help. I cannot feed him, pay my rent, CT, myself, my son and two pets on £190 fortnightly we are very desperate the MP office has done nothing they even ignore my emails when I say that the DWP manager was lying about us living together and has shown him all the evidence documents from my neighbour's local authority but he too ignored us no letter nothing.

The Ombudsman could not help because we need to complain to the DWP first but with no manager name, department, address how am I able to complaint, I am not expecting anyone to write letters for us I just would like if we can be pointed to the right direction with forms, example letters so that I can sort this mess out accordingly. I think DWP has treated us very badly. He also got a letter from Ingeus in February to say that they will phone him but they to stopped without no warning or letters nothing. I think the DWP do not want my neighbour to receive ESA Income related. My neighbour has no saving, no property, nothing.

So sorry for the long posts I apologies again.

Many thanks


Marie

Gordon wrote: Marie

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

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If your friend was receiving ESA(CB) whilst in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) then his payments of ESA(CB) are limited to 365 days, the DWP are supposed to write to a claimant in this situation 8 weeks in advance of their payments stopping to see whether they are eligible for Income Related ESA, however, they are not required to do this by the law and often don't.

I understand you said the DWP do not need to let claimants know by law but are supposed to let claimants know beforehand. Is there any guidance to the DWP to let ESA CB claimants know in advance that their benefit will stop? If so I would be grateful to be directed to the guide.



In regard to your current situation, the issue revolves around the DWP seeing you as a couple, as you are in receipt on Income Support they expect to either add your friend to your claim or for you to be added to their ESA(IR) claim, as a couple you can only have one income related benefit claim between you. From your post this does not appear to have happened as your payments would have increased as a result, so they appear to want the best of both worlds, treating you as a couple but not paying you more.

No nothing has changed to my benefit, nor did the DWP send me any letter to say about change in circumstances or that I am living with my neighbour as a couple, my neighbour also did not get a letter to say that he is living with me as a couple.
In fact the DWP has written him off altogether so we thought but we found out the DWP has kept his benefit alive what ever that mean since they stopped it in December 2013, he received a letter from Ingeus yesterday out of the blue asking him to come for An appointment in August 2014, strange because the last telephone appointment he had with Ingeus in February 2014 they did not even ring him on the time and date they gave in their letter and
of course no letter from the DWP or Ingeus to say why they have cancelled that appointment or why this new appointment.



Obviously by your post you are not a couple, your first action is to get this Decision that you are overturned, this is really outside our area of capability on the forum so I am going to recommend that you get face to face advice from a trained advisor, the rules about when two people living together should be treated as a couple and when they should not are quite complicated and you really need the direct access that an advisor can provide, do an internet search for "welfare advice" with your postcode, town, or county.

I am grateful for all the advices and understand that the forum cannot help with our circumstances but any advice on how we may seek help from the appropriate organization would be helpful.

No we are not a couple, my neighbour have a folder full of documents from his local authority, various housing law solicitors showing proof he was sorting out his housing problem it’s just that him or myself was not checked or call by the DWP to prove that he is homeless and that I have allowed him to sleep on my sofa until his housing problem if sorted. The forms that I sent with the TFL showed that my neighbour is homeless and I was told by the DWP Stratford they have enough proof to show he is homeless but then thing went dead from then on and him or I to this day have not received a single letter by the DWP to say we are a couple.

The DWP stopped my neighbour ‘s benefit long before they accused us of living together the DWP only said we were living together when I told them my neighbour was using my address as his postal address and that the property is mine and not his. He was asked to fill in the TFL and enclosed necessary documents from his local authority showing that he was homeless but they still decided that we were living together without giving him or me the opportunity to prove otherwise.



You most certainly can make a complaint to the DWP about how they have managed this situation, as from what you have posted they have not followed their own procedures in this matter.

Thank you so much for giving me links to the two guides I shall read through them. Is there also a guide I can read to show or explain how we could get the DWP’s decision overturned?

I shall seek help from ‘welfare advisor.

Gordon wrote: Marie

The information about writing to ESA(CB) claimants in advance of their payments finishing dates back to 2012 when the change was enacted, this would be a DWP operational procedure, I can't see anything written down that requires it. That said, your friend should have received notification that there ESA(CB) payments has ceased and when from.

If your friend has not received written notification that his request to be moved to ESA(IR) then I do not believe that they have discharged their legal duty to inform the claimant of their Decision in writing.

However, there is some good news if his ESA(CB) has ended and he is not being paid ESA(IR) then he is not required to attend any appointments at Igneus, he should contact them and let them know to avoid another loose end being created.

The rules for two people being considered as partners are complicated as there is no single definition of what constitutes a couple, there are a range of circumstances where two people would not be considered a couple and a similar group where they would, but there is a considerable gap between the two, in most cases whether they are or are not relies on the view taken by a DWP Decision Maker and the information they have in front of them.

My problem with offering further advice is that it will be for nought until you, or someone on your behalf, establishes a conversation with the DWP about what is actually going on.

Gordon

Thank you Gordon for your message sorry I have not been well neither is my neighbour the problem with DWP has taken it's tolls on both of us, no sleeping, eating etc, I am just exhausted with it all.

Could you please tell me if there is a guide I can follow about DWP meant to inform a claimants about their esa cb stopped? and is there a guidance also explaining about the definition of living together? I would like a guide for esa cb and a guide about living together

I want to start writing a complaint letter to the DWP and I thought having those guides in hands would help us.

I've tried everyone so far no one can help us with the esa benefit stopped and accusations of living together, cab, barnet law services, disability action in barnet the minute i tell the stories they all seems to clammed up but I have no time for that as both my neighbour and I are in desperate situations and he need those issues sorted, we found out his esa benefit still live with the dwp since they cut it in December.

I rang the dwp but again they just get so rude, lies then put the phone down, the dwp lady admitted in the end they never send the esa3 when I persevered.

Thank you.