ESA Tribunal ... I WON

Thank you, to everyone who has given me advice over the last few month.

Been awarded for 2 years.

Went from 0 points on Assessment to 15 points for Activity 1 (a). It says I am entitled to Employment and Support Allowance ESA with the Support Component. The Doctor seemed to give me a bit of a hard time, but I was able to answer everything he asked. Welfare rights officer I had was brilliant aswell.


I have a JSA Sign On appointment 4th Jan. Do I still need to attend, and do job searches and apply for jobs until I start getting ESA?

Am I entitled to any back money?
I was on IB/SDA and DLA. IB/SDA was £105.35 weekly, and then I went onto JSA plus disability premium I was still on £105.35 weekly plus DLA.

According to a benefits calculator I should be getting £125.05 weekly. So the question is, as I should of been getting that since Assessment date in August, should I be entitled to £125.05 - £105.35 = £19.70 extra per week since August? I've had 9 JSA payments, so thats 18 x £19.70 = £354.60 I think I'm owed.

abcd69 wrote: Thank you, to everyone who has given me advice over the last few month.

Been awarded for 2 years.

Went from 0 points on Assessment to 15 points for Activity 1 (a). It says I am entitled to Employment and Support Allowance ESA with the Support Component. The Doctor seemed to give me a bit of a hard time, but I was able to answer everything he asked. Welfare rights officer I had was brilliant aswell.


I have a JSA Sign On appointment 4th Jan. Do I still need to attend, and do job searches and apply for jobs until I start getting ESA?

Am I entitled to any back money?
I was on IB/SDA and DLA. IB/SDA was £105.35 weekly, and then I went onto JSA plus disability premium I was still on £105.35 weekly plus DLA.

According to a benefits calculator I should be getting £125.05 weekly. So the question is, as I should of been getting that since Assessment date in August, should I be entitled to £125.05 - £105.35 = £19.70 extra per week since August? I've had 9 JSA payments, so thats 18 x £19.70 = £354.60 I think I'm owed.

Hi abcd69,

Many congratulations on being placed into The SG on appeal !!!

I see that it was your thread on yourable that prompted Mags to worry !

See : This Topic

So I will endeavour to answer your query correctly !!

Just to confirm for you that scoring the maximum 15 points for :

Activity 1.

"1. Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid is normally or could reasonably be worn or used."

by fulfilling Descriptor :

"1(a) Cannot, unaided by another person, either:

(i) mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion;

or

(ii) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion."

Of : The Functional WRAG (LCW)Schedule 2 Descriptors

Also places you into The SG, as it corresponds to :

Activity 1.

"1. Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid is normally or could reasonably be worn or used."

Descriptor 1 :

"1 Cannot either:

(a) mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion;

or

(b) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion. "

Of : The Functional SG (LCWRA) Schedule 3 Descriptors

You cannot be paid twice for the same period, i.e. you can't receive JSA and ESA for the same period.

Therefore, you will be entitled to the shortfall between what you have been receiving whilst in receipt of JSA, to what you would have been paid if placed into The SG at the time of the original fit for work decision .

Any arrears owed should be backdated to the date of the fit for work decision, this will not be the date of the face to face assessment, it will be the date of the actual decision which should be on the Decision Notice letter informing you of the original fit for work decision.

If you had been placed into The SG in August 2015, you would have been entitled to :

£73.10/Week Personal Allowance for a single over 25 year old.

+

£36.20/Week Support Group Component Addition.

= £109.30/Week.(£218.60/Fortnight)

As you were placed into The SG, if as it seems you are entitled to payment of IR ESA, you would also have been entitled to £15.75/Week which is The Enhanced Disability Premium. (EDP)(aka The Disability Income Guarantee)

Weekly Total = £125.05. (£250.10/Fortnight)

From : Benefit Rates 2015/16

Further, if you are entitled to payment of IR ESA, have a MR or HR Care Component DLA Award, live alone, or are classed as living alone, and no one else receives Carers Allowance (CA) for providing care for you, you may also be entitled to payment of The Severe Disability Premium (SDP) on top of your ESA payments. (currently £61.85/Week for a single)

Again, if you can fulfil the qualifying criteria for The SDP, you would be entitled to this from the original date of the fit for work decision., which would now be the active date of your SG Award.

See : ESA Premiums

With respect to receiving ESA Premiums, not only do you have to fulfil the qualifying criteria in the link above, as all ESA Premiums are paid as IR ESA, you would also have to pass the IR ESA means test with respect to capital, assets, savings, household income and any hours worked by a partner if you have one :

Asset rule for receipt of IR ESA

24 hour work rule for payment of IR ESA

From what you have posted, it looks like you do have entitlement to payment of IR ESA, if this is not yet been agreed by DWP, you may have to fill in an : (Sample) ESA 3 Form .

If they agree that you have entitlement to IR ESA payments, you may only have to fill in an : IS10 Form

If DWP do not automatically pay you the EDP and/or The SDP, and you feel that you qualify for payment, you should contact them and ask them to send you the relevant form.

bro58

bro58 wrote:

abcd69 wrote: Thank you, to everyone who has given me advice over the last few month.

Been awarded for 2 years.

Went from 0 points on Assessment to 15 points for Activity 1 (a). It says I am entitled to Employment and Support Allowance ESA with the Support Component. The Doctor seemed to give me a bit of a hard time, but I was able to answer everything he asked. Welfare rights officer I had was brilliant aswell.


I have a JSA Sign On appointment 4th Jan. Do I still need to attend, and do job searches and apply for jobs until I start getting ESA?

Am I entitled to any back money?
I was on IB/SDA and DLA. IB/SDA was £105.35 weekly, and then I went onto JSA plus disability premium I was still on £105.35 weekly plus DLA.

According to a benefits calculator I should be getting £125.05 weekly. So the question is, as I should of been getting that since Assessment date in August, should I be entitled to £125.05 - £105.35 = £19.70 extra per week since August? I've had 9 JSA payments, so thats 18 x £19.70 = £354.60 I think I'm owed.

Hi abcd69,

Many congratulations on being placed into The SG on appeal !!!

I see that it was your thread on yourable that prompted Mags to worry !

See : This Topic

So I will endeavour to answer your query correctly !!

Just to confirm for you that scoring the maximum 15 points for :

Activity 1.

"1. Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid is normally or could reasonably be worn or used."

by fulfilling Descriptor :

"1(a) Cannot, unaided by another person, either:

(i) mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion;

or

(ii) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion."

Of : The Functional WRAG (LCW)Schedule 2 Descriptors

Also places you into The SG, as it corresponds to :

Activity 1.

"1. Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid is normally or could reasonably be worn or used."

Descriptor 1 :

"1 Cannot either:

(a) mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion;

or

(b) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion. "

Of : The Functional SG (LCWRA) Schedule 3 Descriptors

You cannot be paid twice for the same period, i.e. you can't receive JSA and ESA for the same period.

Therefore, you will be entitled to the shortfall between what you have been receiving whilst in receipt of JSA, to what you would have been paid if placed into The SG at the time of the original fit for work decision .

Any arrears owed should be backdated to the date of the fit for work decision, this will not be the date of the face to face assessment, it will be the date of the actual decision which should be on the Decision Notice letter informing you of the original fit for work decision.

If you had been placed into The SG in August 2015, you would have been entitled to :

£73.10/Week Personal Allowance for a single over 25 year old.

+

£36.20/Week Support Group Component Addition.

= £109.30/Week.(£218.60/Fortnight)

As you were placed into The SG, if as it seems you are entitled to payment of IR ESA, you would also have been entitled to £15.75/Week which is The Enhanced Disability Premium. (EDP)(aka The Disability Income Guarantee)

Weekly Total = £125.05. (£250.10/Fortnight)

From : Benefit Rates 2015/16

Further, if you are entitled to payment of IR ESA, have a MR or HR Care Component DLA Award, live alone, or are classed as living alone, and no one else receives Carers Allowance (CA) for providing care for you, you may also be entitled to payment of The Severe Disability Premium (SDP) on top of your ESA payments. (currently £61.85/Week for a single)

Again, if you can fulfil the qualifying criteria for The SDP, you would be entitled to this from the original date of the fit for work decision., which would now be the active date of your SG Award.

See : ESA Premiums

With respect to receiving ESA Premiums, not only do you have to fulfil the qualifying criteria in the link above, as all ESA Premiums are paid as IR ESA, you would also have to pass the IR ESA means test with respect to capital, assets, savings, household income and any hours worked by a partner if you have one :

Asset rule for receipt of IR ESA

24 hour work rule for payment of IR ESA

From what you have posted, it looks like you do have entitlement to payment of IR ESA, if this is not yet been agreed by DWP, you may have to fill in an : (Sample) ESA 3 Form .

If they agree that you have entitlement to IR ESA payments, you may only have to fill in an : IS10 Form

If DWP do not automatically pay you the EDP and/or The SDP, and you feel that you qualify for payment, you should contact them and ask them to send you the relevant form.

bro58

Hi,

Just to add,

It may take DWP 5-8 weeks to action the Tribunal's SG Award !!

"I have a JSA Sign On appointment 4th Jan. Do I still need to attend, and do job searches and apply for jobs until I start getting ESA?"

You shouldn't have to, but it might help if you contact JC Plus, inform them that you have been placed into The SG at appeal, and provide them with a copy of The Tribunal's SG Award Decision Notice letter.

Your Welfare Rights Adviser may be able to assist you further here.

bro58

Thanks for the reply, its good to be reassured of the rules and criteria. I wasn't aware of SDP, I'll need to take a good look at it. I can confirm I do get DLA (low care, high mobility), I live alone, in a house that I own (no mortgage), no savings, and no one claims carers for me. I claim Council Tax, I pay £5 per month. I assume I will be on IR ESA, as I dont think I've paid any NI only ever had NI credits from IB/SDA. Altho someone has just posted on my other topic on other site that as I migrated from IB/SDA to ESA I will be paid CB ESA with some IR ESA on top? Got me even more confused.

So its best to wait until I start receiving payments, then if they dont pay SDP I should claim for it, and possibly get it backdated aswell.

It says decision made on 15/07/2015 is set aside. So would I get back pay upto that date? I received last payment of IB/SDA 03/08/2015 and 1st JSA on 20/08/2015.

abcd69 wrote: Thanks for the reply, its good to be reassured of the rules and criteria. I wasn't aware of SDP, I'll need to take a good look at it. I can confirm I do get DLA (low care, high mobility), I live alone, in a house that I own (no mortgage), no savings, and no one claims carers for me. I claim Council Tax, I pay £5 per month. I assume I will be on IR ESA, as I dont think I've paid any NI only ever had NI credits from IB/SDA. Altho someone has just posted on my other topic on other site that as I migrated from IB/SDA to ESA I will be paid CB ESA with some IR ESA on top? Got me even more confused.

So its best to wait until I start receiving payments, then if they dont pay SDP I should claim for it, and possibly get it backdated aswell.

It says decision made on 15/07/2015 is set aside. So would I get back pay upto that date? I received last payment of IB/SDA 03/08/2015 and 1st JSA on 20/08/2015.

Hi abcd69,

If you only have a Low Rate Care DLA Award, you would not qualify for The SDP.

You need to have a Middle Rate (MR) or Higher Rate (HR) DLA Care Award, as well as living alone, being classed as living alone, and no one claiming CA for looking after you.

The following may answer your query regarding whether or not you will be paid IR ESA or CB ESA :

What will I be transferred to?

Although, as you can see, you can be paid CB ESA and have entitlement to payment of IR ESA top-ups to your CB ESA payments if you can pass the IR ESA means test !!

As you are now classed as being successfully transferred over to ESA, you will also be covered by Transitional Protection, where you cannot receive any less than you were being paid before transfer to ESA, but you can receive more :

What will I be paid?

From our : IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s

It does seem that you are getting confused IB (Incapacity Benefit) and SDA (Severe Disability Allowance) are two totally separate benefits.

It is possible that former IB and SDA recipients may have also received IS (Income Support) top-ups.

As IS cannot be paid with ESA, the equivalent where one qualified would be IR ESA !

Your normal ESA SG payments should start as soon as DWP action your ESA payments, any back payments may take longer and would probably be paid separately.

Any arrears owed would be from the date of the fit for work decision until the date that they were paid.

It is of course up to you, but I would not recommend relying on information that you may glean from other "chat forums" !

As you can see, it is not always correct !!

I would contact JC Plus and check with them regarding any future JSA commitments, informing them of your appeal win.

It shouldn't take DWP ESA long to instigate your ESA SG payments once they are aware of the decision, as advised it may take longer for them to pay you any arrears owed.

bro58

Thanks for all that.

I got a txt from DWP this morning:-
"We have received the successful outcome of your appeal. As you are currently claiming Job Seekers Allowance can you please ring 03456088637 to close your claim to JSA. We will consider payment once this is done. "

So I ring that no, no answer, line goes blank. Try again another 10 times, same again. So off I go to Job Centre as its only 2 mins away. Speaks to an advisor there, who tells me that is the wrong no. The advisor cant close my claim for JSA it must be done on phone. So they give me they phone and correct no to ring. Finally I get through, explain the txt I got, then got told I need to ring ESA to find out what date they are paying me from. I say NO, txt says to close JSA and they will then pay me from that date. So they ask what date, I say tribunal date was 16/12/15 so from that date. ok we need to close it from 15/12/15 then ESA can pay you from 16/12/15. Thats fine I say, they then say ESA can take upto 8 weeks after tribunal date to start paying me. So I wont get any ESA or JSA until then. You would think they would be an easier way than this.

So anyway my JSA is closed from 15/12/15 and now waiting for payment. I should get approx £120 soon from JSA, then its a waiting game for ESA payments, as its xmas its bound to be late. Just aswell I can borrow money off a friend to tide me over. I then phone ESA, to let them know my JSA was closed, and said they made a note of it, and I will be paid eventually.