ESA - tricked into sending bank statements and now under investigation

Hi all,

I need some advice on a situation with the DWP if possible:

So my savings exceeded the £6k threshold during the pandemic.

(I was finally rehoused by the council after private renting 10 years since my teens. I used to use the majority of my ESA to pay the other half of my rent that LHA did not cover.
I suddenly found myself with the full amount of ESA and standard rate PIP for daily care, and was not used to being able to afford food and other necessities without having to choose.
I also caught COVID just before I moved and ended up in hospital - the recovery took months and my chronic illnesses were irrevocably worsened - I am now fully housebound. During this time I lost 3.5 stone and was suffering with anxiety and severe depression - was not eating properly or taking care of my needs.
So the combination of these things meant that my ESA and PIP payments started building up.)

I developed a bad tooth infection and realised I needed to restart dental treatment that had been halted by the pandemic. I lost 3 teeth during lockdown from untreated infection etc. NHS dentist was not helpful and I needed some teeth root canalled as NHS will only extract and I've already lost 6+ teeth. My partner at the time and I decided to go private, and we sat down to work out how much I could afford, and how much I would need to take out a loan for to cover the rest. (The treatment plan was quoted at around £12k because I have issues with my teeth and need extensive work done - still ongoing).

When working out how much I could afford in May 2022 was when I realised I had just about gone over £6000. I was told there was a 1 year disregard for capital in the past, so I made a note to check by next year to see if i was back under, and then alert DWP. FYI, I had done this a few years prior when I received a backdated payment after finally being awarded PIP.

Fast forward to Feb this year, I was reading an article that stated that only backdated payments, and NOT regular payments that build up, have the one year exemption period.

So I panicked and called the DWP immediately to ask for advice. I had been in hospital twice that month, and was unable to work out how long I'd been over the threshold, but I told the man on the phone that I wanted to report it now even though i wasn't sure about the dates.
He told me to send in statements for those months, but I told him I didn't know which exact months, wasn't physically able to calculate it myself at that time, as I was very unwell, and that I needed help.
He told me to send about years worth of statements and they would work it all out for me.

I thanked him and ordered 2 years worth of statements from Halifax, even going back into 2021 just to be sure. I also had to purchase a printer (I can't easily get outside to print) so I could print 2 years worth of statements from my app bank that doesn't provide statements.

Bearing in mind I only have a few manageable days each month, and I then had yet another infection in Feb, this process was not easy. In Apr, around a month and a half after I'd called, I received a letter stating my ESA claim had been suspended, and I had 14 days to send the documents.

I was absolutely flabbergasted! I used my "good days" in Apr to print 2 years worth of statements and post them out to DWP. I was then ill again for around 3.5 weeks, and have just come out of a flare-up a few days ago.

I called DWP to check what was happening, as I'd not heard anything despite sending the docs almost a month ago. The guy told me they'd received nothing and my claim was still suspended. I was crying and felt defeated as I didn't know how I would go through that process all over again. They were very unhelpful so I called again to ask if I could make a complaint, was told I'd get a call back Monday.

In the meantime, I decided I would try to go through my accounts myself, and make a spreadsheet to calculate my capital myself, especially if the letter was to get "lost in the post" again. And the time it would take to wait for all the statements from Halifax to be sent out...too long.

I reprinted my cover letters, and printed the spreadsheet that took me 9 hours to complete. I'd also forgotten that I used to keep emergency cash savings in my old flat, I deposited them into my account during the pandemic but they weren't included in the original statements so I added this to the spreadsheet (which would have made my capital higher but I pride myself on being honest regardless!) I had this posted on Monday.

DWP did not call me Monday. But Tuesday I get woken by a call from them - I'm thinking it's the manager calling back about my complaint. (I had told them on the phone that I wanted to complain that I'd had my claim suspended when I was the one who called for ADVICE, and clearly the guy had activated some kind of deadline which was not communicated to me, and now they're saying I took longer than 30 days from the date of calling them, when I wasn't even aware there was a deadline, and I am clearly disabled so cannot do these things in a 'normal' timeframe.)

Instead, I then get told I'm being investigated for Deprivation of Capital!

The manager was very cold and basically questioned me on various transactions that the decision maker had flagged "why have you spent a large amount over 2 years at XYZ Dental Surgery?" (The aforementioned dental treatments) "Who is this {insert ex partners name} sending you money (my ex would send me £10-20 to buy a takeaway during flare-ups as I couldn't access food and would often not eat).

I felt like a criminal and felt blindsided that me being honest has now turned into my claim being suspended, then asking for bank statements and then now trying to use my bank statements to penalise me for spending money?? I bought a mattress topper and memory foam pillow in 2023 because I am in alot of pain since I spent all day every day in bed on my cheaper mattress - apparently that was flagged as an issue.

Also to add, apparently my 1st set of documents magically "appeared" that morning, after being told they received nothing literally 2 days prior, surely after s month that feels fishy?

I have no idea what I am to do - she told me that the decision maker may decide they don't agree with purchases I've made, and that they could shut my claim and "give me nothing".

My original complaint was also not even acknowledged properly and she just told me that the arrears of ESA they've been holding back will be used to clear any overpayments, instead of it being paid back weekly like they are supposed to do.

I feel like they are not following their own policy and are using underhanded ways of clawing back money "deprivation of capital" offences that are not just.




TLDR: I reported going over capital threshold, needed help working it out, DWP covertly set a deadline without informing me so that they could suspend my claim, they offered to 'help' me by requesting years of bank statements, they have used these bank statements to deem certain purchases as unnecessary and accuse me of deprivation of capital, they are showing they intend to reduce or close my claim by attempting to class dental treatment costs and other purchases as deprivation of capital so that I no longer qualify for ESA.

This is also made me understand now why them having powers to access bank accounts at will is such an issue - I honestly didn't understand why it would be a problem unless you were doing something illegal - now I see that they are corrupt and will absolutely use information against you!!

I just want to send sympathy. Especially about the dental issue. My genetic condition affects my teeth. My NHS dentist told me just before the pandemic, she could take out the problem tooth but not save it. Like you I've already lost several and am keen to keep as many as I can. NHS only do root canal work at most on single root [ie near the front] teeth. So I went private to the practice she suggested. As I'm not on any means tested benefit I did not have the awful situation your honesty has resulted in. But while I passionately believe it's wrong to have to go private for dentistry, I realised that by removing myself from my NHS dentist's workload because a legacy meant I could afford it, I am at least making it possible for someone with no financial choice to get seen. Dreadful.
I hope you can find good advice and advocacy as you are so poorly and richly deserve help to get this sorted. It might be worth tackling whoever your new MP is after 4th July, to complain about being bullied. That was wrong of them.

Hi Anna, sorry for the troublesthat you are having.mGary is right that youare best off obtaining good legal advice from one of the organisations yjay has been listed. I would also like to add that in order for a deprivation of capital decision to be made, a decision maker has to decide that you deliberately deprived yourself of capital in orfer to obtain beneift or obtain more benefit. Given that you have voluntarily contacted DWP to tell them about your increase in capital, I would find this argument hard to prove. I would write a letter to DWP (signed for delivery is always worth it) explaining why you had to use that much of your capital for the dental work and also the other things that you needed (it does help if you have receipts). Another point to consider is if you could be classed as a vulnerable customer, which you might be if you are in receipt of a disabillity benefit. If a claimant is judged to be vulnerable then a set process should be carried out beforebenefiy is suspended. In my opinion this should have been triggered when you were so upset during the call that you made. I would contact DWP again and tell them how much distress and anxiety this has caused yoy and explain how you disabilities affect the speed in which you can gather, compile and submit the evidence that they have requested. Please also remeber that all cost of living payments should be deducted from your capital unless you have spent them. This is very difficult to prove and you should say that you have been spending from your capital for larger purchases. Any income that you get has a atribution period, e.g. two weekly will not be counted as capital until two weeks after it has been paid. I hope that you get a positive result.