More DWP woes. Waiting for backdated payment.

Hi all,

I'll try to cut a long story short, I applied for ESA start of june, never done it before, wasnt sure what i was doing. dwp didnt really explain either

After the 3rd telephone conversation with DWP, they told me i needed to provide a medical certificate.

never heard of medical certificate before, after ringing my consultants secretary, doctors and dwp again i found a sick note would be adequate.

it then took me a few days to get to the doctor (now was about 2 weeks after applying) and i got a sick note starting from that day. it never entered my mind it needed to be backdated.

after another 8 or so phone calls to dwp and a month later, i started getting money though and a backdated payment.

Of course, they wouldn't pay me for the first 2 weeks because of the date on the sick note (and to top it off they refused to believe the 4 was a 4 and said it was a 9. so would only pay me from the 19th. They said i would need to get another sicknote for the first 2 weeks and in 99.9% of cases they will honour it.

Happily my GP obliged and I sent this second sick note to them by recorded delivery on the 13 aug.

I also sent a quick letter saying how unhappy i was with their 'service' (LOL) and what is their complaints procedure. I received in the post about 2 weeks later a pamphlet entitled 'what can you expect from jobcentre plus' (or words to that effect) and inside it info on how to complain, there was no letter or compliment slip or anything else with it. so i know they received the letter and sick note.

i still havent been paid for these first 2 weeks and kind of need the money, yet and its nearly a month, i dont fancy ringing them another 10 times. can i write to them and give them 14 days to respond or pay me?

Thanks for reading.

Hi de1

It probably would be best to correspond in writing if you are not having much luck over the phone. I'm not sure about giving them 14 days to respond though; they seem to do things in their own time.

If money is getting tight, I would expect that you would qualify for a crisis loan, but I'm afraid that would involve speaking to JCP over the phone or in person.

Best of luck

Derek