Lack of impartially from DWP complaints team?

Sounds like a traumatic and nightmare experience. Admire your resilience, most ppl would be worn down by it all

i am dealing with issues atm.

one of the forum mods suggested MP services , so I have engaged the support of MP casework service before considering complaints process.

Did you or others explore using MP services at any time to resolve issues ?

'' Did you or others explore using MP services ...''

Oh yes, absolutely, I did use the MP, many times, both for the DWP and housing problems !

David Lammy. And he's always been excellent, replying by next day! Yet even him had been ignored by the DWP, for a whole 6 months! The ICE thought David Lammy basically sat on my complaint for 6 months, which was absolute garbage, the man was absolutely excellent! He didn't have a magic charm and solve my problems, but he always, always replied next day, stating that he would make enquiries to the DWP by the end of the week or something. With no exception.

Like a fool, instead of protesting AND providing proof, ( it wasn't so much about me, I felt bad about David Lammy getting such bad and unfair credit by the DWP, what nerve, since things were actually the opposite, it was the DWP being ineffective and incompetent, certainly never Lammy!)

I merely wrote back 'It's not true, Mr Lammy replied to me always by next day, even he wrote to me that his enquiries were being ignored by the DWP and that he would try again!', and what the ICE did, basically said 'we had enough of you, you won the complaint, you'll get a Mandatory Reconsideration we won't reply anymore, contact us only if you don't get the MR', using the argument that I still won most of my complaint, and the most important parts at that (which was certainly true, as finally the DWP could not get anywhere anymore with the paltry excuses and the lies and by then agreed to send me the MR, which really is all I was expecting, which of course was a lot, as I was pretty sure I had a good chance at the Tribunal, and was ready to go.).

In a way, I understand the ICE, I was not the only one needing it.

Lesson learned: never just make a claim expecting the other party to say 'Oh is that so? Please do send your evidence, no need to hurry..', instead send it immediately.

And from there, things just kept getting better, but it still took several months. Oh yeah, it's quite the saga. I'd be happy to publish somewhere the whole ICE investigation (with all names deleted for privacy). And it still doesn't illustrates the whole story.....

''Sounds like a traumatic and nightmare experience. Admire your resilience, most ppl would be worn down by it all''

Lots to say about all that....I'll try to explain.
At the time it was really ugly. But now? I can say it's one of the very best things that happened to me, ever!
Interestingly, this kind of dynamic has been mentioned before by various thinkers....how what at times appears to be a misfortune, later reveals itself to be quite the opposite. Of course, it doesn't always works like that, but sometimes it does!

It only meant that the longer it dragged on, the more fruits I'd reap later, but at the time I didn't know.

As for resilience.....I don't know if I'd call it that. I knew I had done nothing wrong and that the end of my ESA was unfair, but above all, the lunatic who answered the phone, by suggesting I was a fraudster, I took it as a mortal insult. Not only I had lost my ESA for no reason, I was even treated like someone who can stoop as low as he can go, for money.

Am I resilient? I don't know, I have my flaws. But I am honest, to a fault. I don't care for breaking the law, and I deeply despise people who defraud the DWP, or anyone who breaks the law. The way I see it, in this country you don't need to do that. This is not a rubbish country, this is an excellent country. Sure, a lot of problems exist, but it's still an excellent country. I have been homeless, the DWP with all its faults, saved my life, that's another story. I would never stab in the back someone who puts a roof over my head and gives me a bed to sleep on, and more.

So, resilient, I don't know, for some things, I may be, for others, I am not. But the fact that I was treated like a vulgar fraudster, and done witch trial style, without conducting any reasonable and fair investigations (the lunatic accused me of 'not being in this country', I even asked the DWP to investigate me, which it never did, because they had no evidence, otherwise it would have certainly been used). I really could not stand it. Of course, all of this I mentioned to David Lammy too. If any of that rubbish would have been true, I don't think I would have dished it out to my MP...

I was really doing it more for the insult, than for the hope of getting any financial rewards, except, in the very best of cases, some form of mediocre compensation. I had long accepted that my ESA claim was dead and buried. I didn't even care to claim again, as every advisor was saying to me, to me it was just more trouble than worth it, I just wanted to be left in peace. Sure, that meant living a strange and monkish life, but I had done it before....one can get richer by having more, or by lowering his needs and desires, and I chose to do the latter.

Really, it's been mostly luck, and the fact that this is an excellent country. Sure, there are many problems here too, no country is free of problems, but I have seen time and time again how excellent this country is.

Don't give up. Good luck!