Four and a half years later....

I wrote on these forums a short while ago, almost five years! Had my ESA stopped for reasons that I insisted were bogus, I was never sent a mandatory reconsideration, and refused to reapply for ESA as 'advised' to do by weak 'lawyers' from the Law Centre, since I saw no point in applying for a benefit and having it taken away for completely bogus reasons by whomever happened to decide so on that particular day, and decided to live like a pauper.

Plato, Socrates, Schopenhauer and many other dead thinkers, helped me. These guys are my only friends. I have been completely isolated, eating the same one thing every day for all these years.

Lo and behold, after almost 4 and a half years DWP's sophistry and outrageous and patronizing replies such as 'the DWP has no time for you....the DWP always acts correctly ' and such fanciful rubbish, told ad nauseam, the tables finally turned, and after an ICE investigation, I won most of the complaint and I was finally sent a mandatory reconsideration (which the DWP prevented me to get in every possible way). To my utter shock, a decision was made that my ESA had been terminated incorrectly and that I was entitled to ESA since the end of 2017.

For now that is the story, told in an extremely, extremely succint way. I must say, though, I have been very lucky. Yes, I was crazy enough to pursue the matter for almost five years, but it could have ended a very different way. In fact, I was hardly expecting all these payments, at most a 'goodwill gesture', which was offered to me but which I refused with no hesitation. Not because I didn't need the money, ( I had literally been counting pennies) but because the DWP wasn't admitting to any maladministration.

Hi Gary, (sorry about my ID in capital letters, I tried to change it but could not). As my case seems to me pretty incredible for various reasons ( for example my ESA was stopped right after I had an accident and could not walk for months! which the DWP did not believe, but never made any effort to ask me for any evidence, which I had sent and was ignored over and over. It's all in the ICE report) I think I'll look on the ICE site to see if it published my case there, if not I will do so myself with my personal details deleted. Of course, I am not suggesting my case is special compared to others; I am sure there's plenty of people who are fighting an hard battle, and I am sorry for them. But every story is different, I think, and maybe my case could indeed clarify certain important things about the DWP, such as, in general, to always be skeptical about anything the DWP tells the claimant, and to expect a high dose of cronyism from it.

Having said that, I no longer feel anger and hatred toward the DWP, from my point of view I got much more than I was expecting even in the best of case (although I have learned to never expect much from anyone, least of all the DWP). But I reiterate than I have been very lucky, for example for the first year and a half I got absolutely nowhere, even after my MP had made enquiries, then the tables turned in my favour all of a sudden, and it only got better and better from there. For example, not only after the ICE investigation now I could get a mandatory reconsideration (which I could not believe), the decision maker had found out more maladministration, and because of that certain laws were applied and it was decided I had been entitled to ESA from the time it was stopped.

Of course, to me this was incredible. But until then, the anger kept me going. I simply felt that it had all been an injustice, but I would not have believed in a million years that I would get four and a half years of payments. I have immediately helped other people and gave away several thousands of pounds, and paid my debts. In retrospect, I should have been a little more cool minded, as I now became aware of the idea of notional capital. But I'll deal with that later. One thing I thought when I received all that money was to not change or do stupid things with the money...in a way I feel a bit guilty because I am sure there's plenty like me who have gone through untold tribulations with the DWP. I wish them luck, I really believe that skills and knowledge only play a small part into all this.

But even though I am a total pessimist, I believe that this type of fight is always worth a try. With luck, one can succeed. In my case, my luck were my MP, the PHSO, and the ICE, but the curious thing is that on the surface they were all unconnected. I will have to better explain why, I think I should do that to allow people to cast a glimpse of the inner workings of a whole that is, to most of us, completely shrouded from us. Maybe I am being too dramatic and what I have been through is far more common and ordinary than I believe, or maybe not.

Well done, and am sure a big thank you for not just thinking of yourself when you were in a position to help others that is awesome. Can I ask what is ICE, please?