Two years nearly for reconsideration medical

Hope you can all help - on incapacity benefit due to SVT and anxiety depression and migrated to ESA contribution based - had no warning whatsoever and on the 27th of Dec 2012 my ESA stopped due to time limiting - I telephoned and queried no prior noification - they were sorry some people didn't get letters.....there must be an error in the system!!!!!!!!. Thats all the explaination I got. No advice other than ask for a reconsideration - they sent me an ESA 50 - i filled it in and they said we want you to have a medical and I have waited until yesterday 10 november 2014 to have it - i could not claim esa income as my husband works - basically am I a bit thick but how can they assess you now on what you were like at the end of 2012 and all through 2013 ??? let alone 2014 - the call centre people say if you are successful now in your medical it will be backdated two years but I just cannot see how this type of system is fair - does anyone else think the wait for the medical was excessive ??? any advice appreciated

Indybear wrote: Hope you can all help - on incapacity benefit due to SVT and anxiety depression and migrated to ESA contribution based - had no warning whatsoever and on the 27th of Dec 2012 my ESA stopped due to time limiting - I telephoned and queried no prior noification - they were sorry some people didn't get letters.....there must be an error in the system!!!!!!!!. Thats all the explaination I got. No advice other than ask for a reconsideration - they sent me an ESA 50 - i filled it in and they said we want you to have a medical and I have waited until yesterday 10 november 2014 to have it - i could not claim esa income as my husband works - basically am I a bit thick but how can they assess you now on what you were like at the end of 2012 and all through 2013 ??? let alone 2014 - the call centre people say if you are successful now in your medical it will be backdated two years but I just cannot see how this type of system is fair - does anyone else think the wait for the medical was excessive ??? any advice appreciated

Hi Ib,

I have just been looking through your previous posts from six months ago : Here.

You mentioned then that you had requested a "reconsideration" of what seems to have been a WRAG award of CB ESA made circa December 2011, which ceased due to the 365 days entitlement to payment rule, circa December 2012 :

See : 12 Month Limit for ESA(CB)

When did you request this "reconsideration" as there is an absolute time limit of 13 months from an adverse decision to request a "Reconsideration"/Appeal.

As it seems that the original adverse WRAG award was prior to 28/10/13, any request for a Reconsideration/Appeal would have been under the old system, before the introduction of Mandatory Reconsiderations. (MR)

Further, it seems that you are stating that you were originally transferred over to ESA from IB (Dec 2011) with "no warning whatsoever".

You should have received a Conversion Notice Letter informing you that "The Benefit that you are receiving is changing" as seen in our : "Being transferred from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance. A 22 page guide to the transfer process."

Top link on this page : ESA Claims Guides

You should have received this letter prior to receiving the ESA 50 Questionnaire. If the DWP have admitted that they did not send you a Conversion Notice Letter, then this could constitute a procedural, technical error.

Although it is not absolutely necessary for an ESA 50 to be issued, and a decision can be made without the need for a "Medical", you should definitely have been informed in writing of The WRAG award, in the form of a Decision Notice Letter.

This problem sounds rather complicated, and you may be best seeking advice from CAB or the like : Where to get advice

Or, try putting Welfare Rights/Advice with your Town/Postcode into Google.

If this is a reconsideration of the original WRAG decision, (circa Dec 2011) and you are placed into The Support Group (SG) as a result of it, then you will be owed any excess monies from Dec 2011 to Dec 2012, and full ESA at The SG rate will be owed from Dec 2012 to date.

Under this scenario, they will look at whether you should have been placed into The SG at the time of the original adverse WRAG award, (circa Dec 2011) and will NOT take into account any change or deterioration in your condition since the time of that original WRAG decision.

If it is a supersession/review of the WRAG Award, and you are placed into The SG, payment of ESA at The SG rate will be payable from the date of your request for the review/supersession, and will remain in payment for as long as you stay in The SG.

Under this scenario, they will look at whether you should be placed into The SG at the time of your review request and will take into account any change or deterioration in your condition since the time of the original WRAG award.

See also :

IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s

ESA FAQ’s

&

Appeals FAQ’s

Please reply to this topic if you have any further queries.

bro58