ESA Stopped because of fraud allegations

Hello all I just subscribed because I am in desperate need of help. My situation is very complex so I apologize in advance.

I suffer from extremely severe mental illness, in particular, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which rules my life and almost completely disables me. I was in receipt of ESA (support group, both premiums), and PIP (enhanced daily living component).

All of my ESA was stopped on January 9th and I received a letter full of nonsensical, computer generated sentences strung together. I was also contacted by the fraud department. I was told that allegations had been made about me, saying that I am lying about my disability, and more importantly, that I was lying about where I was living. I consulted with my ex boyfriend who had sworn to get revenge on me for recently leaving him, he admitted that it was him that made these claims anonymously online. I am still receiving PIP.



Thanks so much for your patience and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your reply!

I have been informed that my case WILL be closed if I do not provide a current residential address by the 9th March. They are very unclear about where things are up to in the fraud investigation, I have no idea what is going on and I'm terrified.

Yes there are major reasons for why I cannot provide my residential address to the DWP and I have tried my best to make them aware of these reasons

1) I am all over the place at the moment because of homelessness
2) One of my biggest difficulties due to my OCD is that I cannot allow either employees or mail from the DWP (or associated organizations) to arrive where I am staying. If this were to happen I would have to permanently leave the property and even discard the clothes I was wearing, as I would consider myself and the property to have become "contaminated" as a result. If I disclose an address to the DWP they will mail me or worse, turn up in person. The person from the fraud department even said that if I disclosed my address they would send me the document that I supposedly need to sign.

I cannot stress how severely my OCD affects me. I have tried searching for more welfare advice and I have also contacted the UK's leading OCD charity in the hope of finding an advocate, but I have been waiting for 5 weeks because they are overwhelmed with cases presumably similar to mine. My illness makes it nearly impossible for me to meet face to face with strangers, but I am wondering if trying to find a solicitor is the way forward?

But I'm not living anywhere currently, I'm in a different place every night, what can I do? How do I stop them from closing my case on 9th March? Do you think seeking legal advice would be an option right now?

I will get a Post Office box as soon as possible to see if they will accept that- but I have already given them a suitable correspondence address and they refuse to mail me the document that I am supposed to sign. First they said it was because a correspondence address was not sufficient. Then they said it was because I could not sign it with pen and ink. They have told me that if I do disclose my address then they will mail me there, not my correspondence address. I am snookered.

I have written to them both this year and in 2013, like you say, instructing them to only contact me at my correspondence address. I explained the reasons why. I never got a response, both times. They agreed verbally, over the phone in 2013, but as I said, they broke the agreement on 5 separate occasions, despite my numerous phone calls begging them not to make this mistake again.

Mentioning the Equality Act is a good idea, I will put this in writing. However, I think that the system is computer automated, and fragmented into many different departments. I don't feel like anyone at the DWP understands just how grave the consequences are for me, when I receive mail from them at my home. They don't understand why i simply can't take this risk (again). My OCD is so severe that I would risk my life and well-being to avoid "contamination threats" and I have no control over it. Can I really, actually get the DWP into trouble under the Equality act if they accept the arrangement and then break it? This would make me slightly more secure. What about appointee-ship?

I can't accept that there is nothing that can be done and they are leaving me in the dark. Are they investigating me right now? I'm terrified. Am I literally supposed to starve because the very illness that they awarded me the benefits for in the first place, prevents me from complying with them in the exact way that they require, even when I have told them the truth and asked them for help?