ESA back payments

Hi, my husband applied to be considered for the support group by the job centre whilst at a WRAG interview. She said she was ashamed and embarrassed that he was being made to go through this when he clearly wasn't well enough to be considered for work nor is he likely to improve sadly.we applied last April and despite his benefit being reduced whilst being in 'assessment' phase, we have hung on with difficulty till his medical in February. The medical examiner couldn't understand why we were there as she could see my husband scored the highest mark(15) on 7 of the descriptors just by reading the application form. She didn't do an examination but rang her boss and told us that whilst she wasn't the decision maker , her report would express her feelings that we should be put in the support group immediately. We cried, she cried and despite having had no written conformation ( it's now 6 weeks since the interview!) we have spoken to them on the phone and been told he has been put in the support group but it hasn't been " auctioned" yet whatever that means. I rang again and was told how sorry they were that we hadn't been sorted yet and yet another email request sent to our nearest job centre. I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar experience of this and if so did they get any back payment. I read somewhere they only back date 3 months which seems outrageous since we have been struggling desperately and being helped out by our caring family for nearly a year!
Hope someone can shed a light....... Thanks Gill

Hi Gill and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is

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In case you are not aware, your husband's real name appears to be showing in the forum, if you want to change this then follow the instructions in the following FAQ

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If this was an appeal then the decision will replace the one that was originally made and payment will be backdated to the 14th week of your husband's claim. If this was a reassessment (supersession) on the basis of a worsened condition then payment will be backdated to when you made the request. It often takes DWP some time to action the payment but they have no right to withhold it permanently.


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