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Savings re ESA

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4 years 5 months ago #239025 by Each day as it comes
Replied by Each day as it comes on topic Savings re ESA
Hi again,

The update to the events above is that I spoke to the ESA helpline people twice on the phone on Wednesday. They were both very supportive and helpful, and coped well with my brain fog during conversations eg repeating, re-explaining things. They are saying that my savings account statement for 2018 was not scanned in at the time they reassesed my payments last year and that the assessor just assumed that it was the same as the previous year rather than chased it up. I would be surprised if my savings statement had't arrived with the rest of the statements because I was so anxious about the whole thing last year too that I checked and rechecked the envelope contents multiple times. Having said this, they are admitting to an error on their end because they have my covering letter from last year which said that I was enclosing a statement for this account and are admitting that the assessor at the time should have chased this up with me if they didn't have access to it. I've now sent in my bank statements for the last 16 months as per request (they are still telling me that I only need to do this annually). I was informed that they should reassess my payments within the next few weeks and also that they should look favourably at my situation because it is their error and I have identified it.

In terms of housing benefit, so far this seems more bizarre. As you saw earlier, I have the email trail of information given to them and their acknowledgements of receipt of each email but no alterations have ever been made to my payments - and the email replies all say if we don't get back to you it means no action needed. I rang up the benefits department of the LA on Wednesday afternoon, was on hold for ages then got cut off just after the advisor told me that there was no record of any email contact from me since 2007 and advised me to email again. I emailed the following on Wed afternoon, immediately after speaking with her:

'Dear Sir/ Madam,

I was just on the phone to one of your customer representatives, but the line got cut off. Not sure what happened and the person has not called me back.

I am most concerned because I discovered yesterday that ESA have been overpaying me for the last year, due to an error on their end (not processing the correct savings amount). I had email communication with a benefits advice service yesterday evening (and organisation called 'Benefits and Work') and was informed that I am actually being overpaid for housing benefit as well as ESA, based on the figures of savings I quoted, despite the fact that I emailed you all relevant information last year. See multiple emails below. (All emails acknowledged, including the last one) On speaking to the customer service advisor today it appears that none of my emails have registered on your system, so indeed I must have been overpaid for at least the last year, despite me giving all relevant information.

My savings have increased again since last year (only income PIP and ESA and housing benefit) and the error emerged when Job Centre Plus wrote to me to check on my savings again as per the annual review that they said they'd do last year. I have spoken to ESA people today and they will be amending my payments as necessary / correcting any overpayments within the next few weeks.

My current account balance today is £5828.12 and my savings account is £8262.96. These will be reduced following ESA payment corrections.

Please will you advise me ASAP what is happening with regards to my housing benefit and council tax eligibility and why none of the emails I sent below registered your end and ended up with assessors, despite the acknowledgements - both personal and automated - that I received at the time (including reassurances that I did not need to contact you again if I didn't hear back from you).

Due to my health conditions, I frequently experience severe brain fog, which negatively affects my ability to deal with my finances and I am finding this situation very stressful, especially since I've done all I could to make sure that you had correct information and this was not acted upon your end. I am also unsure if the council tax reduced rate is correct either if my other benefit payments are incorrect.'

I received an automated reply of receipt instantly (as I had with all the other emails I've sent). I wasn't well enough to chase up by phone yesterday but did so this morning. Spoke to a different advisor who did find my emails from last year on his system - he said that his colleague was probably looking at the wrong screen on my notes. He didn't know what had happened last year but said that my latest email (including forwarded emails from last year proving that I did update them as I should) has triggered my case to be allocated to an assessor and that I should hear back around the end of next week.

Do you have any idea what is likely to happen on either/ both of these claims (ie both ESA and Housing benefit). One potentially very positive bit of news that slipped in during one of my conversations with the ESA advisor is that my latest reassessment paperwork has resulted in a recommendation for me to remain in the support group without a face to face assessment and to be reassessed in 2 years - it is with a Decision Maker and the decision should be made within the next couple of weeks. Not taking this outcome for granted, but a bit of a silver lining if this ends up the case.

I am aware that I am likely to need to pay back a significant amount of money to both the DSS and HB - which is fine if it is out of my savings, but I've started to get scared about whether or not the errors their end which resulted in some significant changes in my savings might prompt them to move me onto Universal Credit because it's a 'change of circumstance' and that therefore I will go on to experience a significant cut in my income (as a single person on the highest rates) and start to struggle to afford the therapies that I need to pay for. Is this a possibility, could I do anything about it if it happens and/ or what are the likely outcomes for me regarding both ESA and HB, based on all I've said above?

The whole thing has been really stressing me out....as I expect is obvious from my very long posts!

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4 years 5 months ago #239035 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Savings re ESA
H

None of this will result in your being asked to claim Universal Credit as changes in your savings are not a trigger for this to happen.

You will obviously have to wait and see what happens but as the ESA problem seems to be the fault of the DWP and you have notified them on time and as requested, the overpayment should not be recoverable although they may still suggest that you pay it.

The situation with HB is different as all overpayments are recoverable, irrelevant of who caused the problem, however, this does not mean that your Local Authority cannot waive the recovery, you will have to wait and see.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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4 years 5 months ago #239039 by Each day as it comes
Replied by Each day as it comes on topic Savings re ESA
Thanks, Gordon. That's very helpful information and eased my stress levels significantly. I don't mind paying back HB overpayments if I have savings in order to do it.

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4 years 5 months ago #239265 by Each day as it comes
Replied by Each day as it comes on topic Savings re ESA
Hi,

Received a phone call from my Local Authority's Benefits team this morning. They told me that I definitely haven't been overpaid by Housing Benefit. I told them what you said about housing benefit payments being reduced if people have savings over £6000, but they told me categorically that this is not the case for people on Income Related ESA - they said that whenever people are on Income Related ESA and therefore have savings of anything up to £16,0000 they ignore anything about savings and just give them full housing benefit,. I checked with them multiple times that this is really the case and I told them multiple times that this contradicted the advise you'd given me and that I want to make sure I'm not going to find out later that I do owe them lots of money , but just kept getting back the reassurance that I definitely am and always have been eligible for full housing benefit, I don't owe them any money and only need to let ESA know about savings changes rather than them if my only other income is Income Related ESA and PIP. I am obviously relieved but also confused as to the contradictory advice. Did I misunderstand or misrepresent things on this forum or are councils doing something different from what you expect? I also checked if it was a policy particular to this local area and was told that no, it is a country-wise policy.

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4 years 5 months ago #239281 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Savings re ESA
H

That's what I get for trusting a Gov UK page and not looking further.

Your Local Authority is correct, there is normally a deduction for having savings in excess of £6000 but as you are receiving ESA(IR) the savings are disregarded up to the £16,000 limit. The reason for this is that you would in effect have a double deduction for the same amount of savings.

My apologies for the bad information and any worry that it caused.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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4 years 5 months ago #239284 by Each day as it comes
Replied by Each day as it comes on topic Savings re ESA
Thanks for double checking and explaining. Just relieved now to know for definite it's ok and no nasty surprises about it coming in the future. Best wishes.

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