Failed My Appeal Hearing, But still Being Paid!

Hello I am a new member,
I had an appeal Hearing at Bexley Heath' Tribunal Services last September 2014. I received a decision letter a week later stating I had failed my appeal based on my medical conditions at the time of the relevant WCA which I had in March 2013. However The letter also went on to say it did take into account that I had a new additional worsening medical problem, of which the judges acknowledged, but they could only deal with the case of the time I had my original WCA. So I downloaded a new claim form fully expecting to have too reapply for ESA again! However The DWP have continued to still pay me income Based ESA of 58.08 per fortnight based on the fact I have a monthly company pension from my former employer. I still have to send in regular monthly Fit Notes, same as before, so I haven't bothered to fill out the downloaded ESA50 Form or submit it. As I am afraid To Rock The Boat so to speak, as The DWP are leaving me alone for some reason...I am 58 yrs old by the way.
Just don't know what is going on, or don't know if I am still officially on the assessment rate of ESA, or I have just quietly slipped through the net maybe! Not sure really what to do for the best...Any feedback would gratefully be received...Thanks Morocoyo

Morocoyo wrote: Hello I am a new member,
I had an appeal Hearing at Bexley Heath' Tribunal Services last September 2014. I received a decision letter a week later stating I had failed my appeal based on my medical conditions at the time of the relevant WCA which I had in March 2013. However The letter also went on to say it did take into account that I had a new additional worsening medical problem, of which the judges acknowledged, but they could only deal with the case of the time I had my original WCA. So I downloaded a new claim form fully expecting to have too reapply for ESA again! However The DWP have continued to still pay me income Based ESA of 58.08 per fortnight based on the fact I have a monthly company pension from my former employer. I still have to send in regular monthly Fit Notes, same as before, so I haven't bothered to fill out the downloaded ESA50 Form or submit it. As I am afraid To Rock The Boat so to speak, as The DWP are leaving me alone for some reason...I am 58 yrs old by the way.
Just don't know what is going on, or don't know if I am still officially on the assessment rate of ESA, or I have just quietly slipped through the net maybe! Not sure really what to do for the best...Any feedback would gratefully be received...Thanks Morocoyo

Hi M,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I am afraid that it looks like you have been receiving ESA in error !!

I gather that your Tribunal Appeal Hearing in September 2014 was as a result of you appealing a fit for work decision after having an ESA face to face assessment circa March 2013.

The Tribunal were correct in stating that they could not take into account any change or deterioration in your condition that occurred after the date of the fit for work decision, they can only "re-look" at how you were at the time of the fit for work decision.

As well as issuing you with a written Decision Notice, the Tribunal should have also sent the same to The DWP.

At that stage as it was decided by The Tribunal that you were indeed "fit for work" all ESA payments should have ceased.

That being the case, all payments of ESA that you have received since then would be classed as "Overpayments" and The DWP could "claw back" these overpayments.

Even if you have been overpaid, it may not necessarily be the case that The DWP can claw all the overpayments back.

It will be dependent on whether it is classed as an Official Error on the part of The DWP, and whether you should have informed them as you were aware that you were not entitled to the ESA payments after the Tribunal decision !

This can only be decided by The DWP.

My best advice would be to first get some professional advice from The CAB or the like with a view to reporting this "error" to DWP ESA.

See : Where to get advice

Or : Age UK. as you are over 50.

Failing that, try putting Welfare Rights/Advice for you Town/Postcode into Google.

You have now exceeded the time limits to appeal The Tribunal Decision to The Upper Tier, so that is not an option.

Once you have sorted the overpayment issue you could make a fresh claim for ESA, but you would need to provide evidence that your conditions have changed or deteriorated since your fit for work decision to such an extent that you now qualify for The WRAG or The SG.

I cannot go into the overpayment issue in detail, but if you can prove that you would have had an entitlement to ESA via a fresh claim or any other benefits, after The Tribunal decision, this entitlement "MAY" be deducted from any overpayments that you have received.

This is why you really need professional face to face advice, they can look into all the available scenarios/options.

So basically my advice is that you should inform The DWP ESA ASAP whilst also gaining professional advice.

Of course that is only a decision that you can make.

All the above in on the assumption that you definitely did not make a fresh claim for ESA after the adverse Tribunal decision.

Good luck and keep us updated.

bro58