Compensation was paid direct to DWP

I was laid off after a year off work due to PTSD caused by a work issue. My union took this to court and settled with an out of court payment of just under a years salary. Around 90% of this was paid direct to DWP to pay back the ESA I was claiming at the time.
Is this normal for damages to be given to DWP? This was around 6 years ago and I'm still very poorly with the PTSD and Fibromyalgia caused by this incident.

Hello Rolo519

I sustained a Traumatic Spinal Injury at work and thought it was just an occupational hazard. However it turned out not to be, it was registered as An Industrial Injury for which I receive IIB (Industrial Injury Benefit) Despite my employer admitting liability for my accident & injury, It still took another 7 years to settle out of court.

At the time, my legal advisor had to take into consideration the benefits I had received throughout the time it had taken to reach a settlement as he had to factor in the Benefit Claw Back, now called Compensation Recovery Scheme. Out of my final settlement I had to pay back the total amount of the qualifying benefits I had received throughout the 7 years. My settlement happened well over 15 years ago and I still continue to struggle on a daily basis with the injury I sustained.

Unlike some of the celebrity compensation payouts you read and hear about, mine was anything but. It certainly was not enough to live on, or cover private health care or treatment going forward. So unfortunately, I have had to continue on the benefit treadmill for over 20 years. I wish you well rolo519 and sincerely hope that you have more good days than bad. Sue

Hi Rolo519

I can answer this for you, I had an accident at work myself back in 2001, which caused me to suffer with mental health problems including ptsd, I did sue my company and it took 8 years for my case to finally be settled, the company I worked for had to pay all my costs and benefits was included in the amount of compensation and was taken out before I got the settlement cheque to pay back what I had received in benefits to the recovery department within the dwp because it was explained to me that you can't be paid for the accident twice in a round about way, my solicitors and their solicitors regularly received updates about how much recoverable benefit was owed, I hope this helps you