ESA not paid - does this happen often

[sar2004]

Hi - Can someone advise.

 

ESA is paid to my son every fortnight. He is in the support group after an ATOS assessment late last year. Have never had any issues with payment at all.

Checked his account today and Fridays payment has not gone in which is odd and I cant speak to anyone today and am worried about it.

His direct debit went out on Friday so now he is overdrawn and I will have to sort that out for him

 

Is this something that happens with ESA because I cant see how there is an issue with his claim - nothing has changed at all in the last 6 months.

[joeblogs]

Occasionally there can be a blip on the system and a payment goes in late. Check on Monday and if still no payment, call them and explain that his payment has not been made. It's a bummer you have to wait until Monday, but there's nothing you can do.

[sar2004]

I do wonder if maybe they want my son to go for another assessment as I understand they can ask for them at any time even if you are in the support group. He was only assessed in October 2012 but it might be that and perhaps I didnt receive the letter and so they have stopped my claim until they receive a response from me.

That is the only reason i can think of that they would stop the claim.

 

Do they really have such 'blips'? The reason I sound doubtful is because my son has claimed DLA for years and never had a blip - is it not paid by the same payments system??

[matt v atos]

As far as I know If someone is invited for another assessment a letter is sent with ESA50 to complete and returned by the date on letter if then not received a reminder is sent asking to fill out ESA50. That's what happened to me,not saying that's what's happened here.

[sar2004]

When my son was in the assessment phase his payments stopped suddenly and when I called to find out why they said he had been sent the form and I had not returned it. We had simply never received it.

Not sure why as we received all other mail - details re ATOS appointment etc and then the confirmation letter afterwards stating he was in support group.

Hence my wondering if this has happened again. Seems awfully soon though to have to complete another one of these forms only 5 months after I last did one?

[matt v atos]

Seems to be a common problem Atos claiming it was never received or was late.

[sar2004]

Last time WE didnt receive it. I cant complete something I dont receive

I am wondering if the same thing has happened again.

 

I will call them on Monday to find out why they have stopped his money and to ask them if they have sent a form, or will be sending one soon.

If it is the case that they did send a form out and I didnt receive it - I can ask them to send another that is easy enough but how long will they withhold his payments for?

[matt v atos]

Its more likely the payment went in late, as you say Seems awfully soon though to have to complete another one.

[sar2004]

Fingers crossed it is a late payment. Im struggling with my own bills - never mind having to meet my sons overdraft charges which are through no fault of his own. He doesnt have capacity to deal with this so I will obviously do it all for him. Money is just so tight right now things like this really dont help.

I just fail to see how an organisation can send payments on time every time for one benefit and not do for another

[Guest]

I would ring them and ask why the payment hasn't gone in on Friday as usual. Let them check on their system, it would show on there if there is any reason or if its just a late payment. A friend of mine had this happen and instead of just letting them check she mentioned about Atos forms being lost before and for some reason they just assumed (I guess) that was the case, it ended up being just a late payment she got the following day, after a day and night of stress for nothing. Without wishing to cause offence to any staff at dwp, some of them appear a bit thick, or maybe just too busy, and they don't always check it properly, hence my friends' situation. On another occasion with myself a payment didn't go into bank, and when I rang there was a 2 day delay, staffing problems apparently. So glitches do happen. I don't have any d/d due to this.

[sar2004]

Hi Ruby-Tuesday

 

Many thanks for this. I will take your advice and just ask them and see what they say. I really didnt think that they made mistakes like that after never having a blip with child benefit or DLA but I guess different benefit different processing...

[antone]

Hi Ruby-Tuesday

 

Many thanks for this. I will take your advice and just ask them and see what they say. I really didnt think that they made mistakes like that after never having a blip with child benefit or DLA but I guess different benefit different processing...

 

Yes - ESA gets processed by a different system and it's a bit more complex than DLA or CB. When I processed ESA, part of my job was tracking down payments that hadn't been made and trying to figure out why. Fun days.

 

So yes, give them a call.

[RaeUK]

... Seems awfully soon though to have to complete another one.

Not necessarily, you can be placed in the Support Group for as short a time as 3 months.

sar2004, if you're calling your BDC on Monday about the payments, take the opportunity to ask how long your son is in the Support Group. Whilst it doesn't say on the letter he would have received, they do generally tell you if you ask.

[matt v atos]

Not necessarily, you can be placed in the Support Group for as short a time as 3 months.

sar2004, if you're calling your BDC on Monday about the payments, take the opportunity to ask how long your son is in the Support Group. Whilst it doesn't say on the letter he would have received, they do generally tell you if you ask.

 

OP not received any paper work to indicate this is the case !

[antone]

OP not received any paper work to indicate this is the case !

 

Indeed, which is why it's worth asking the question.

[Guest]

Yes was informed that put in the support group but no length of time. Yes my friend is on ESA but me I am still on the old IB for now, and my imminent move off it is looming.

[Guest]

sorry my mistake...no letter. Got my posts mixed up.

[RaeUK]

OP not received any paper work to indicate this is the case !

Not entirely sure what you're talking about...

 

... and then the confirmation letter afterwards stating he was in support group...

 

On the subject of bank charges, sar2004, if the account your son has is used primarily for his benefits then write to his bank requesting they reconsider any bank charges. Generally speaking, they will refund charges where the customer is living solely on benefits and you can show it was a genuine error. I've had quite a bit refunded over the years.

[Nystagmite]

On the subject of bank charges, sar2004, if the account your son has is used primarily for his benefits then write to his bank requesting they reconsider any bank charges. Generally speaking, they will refund charges where the customer is living solely on benefits and you can show it was a genuine error. I've had quite a bit refunded over the years.

 

There's a thread here about bank charges and benefits.

[Guest]

oh I wasn't wrong then lol .....can agree with RaeUK though as I have had bank charges refunded on one occasion due to late payment and d/d, I then cancelled all d/d and don't have any now. Depends on the bank but worth a try.

[time4change2]

this has happened to my sister on a number of occasions you call them up "your claim is fine dont know why its happened" get a call back from payments centre then send the money in sisters bank account by 3pm same day happened atleast 4 times to my sister in the last 12 months

[RaeUK]

Well, thumbs up at least for same day payments! ...

[worried33]

yeah that happened to me once, I asked where my payment was, they said nothing is wrong but will be there by end of day, and it showed up during the day. Very unusual.

[antone]

yeah that happened to me once, I asked where my payment was, they said nothing is wrong but will be there by end of day, and it showed up during the day. Very unusual.

 

It would be incredibly tedious for me to explain, but sometimes payments don't get made because of computer errors, or some minor processing mistake. Thankfully the Faster Electronic Payment (FEP) makes rectifying these mistakes easier.

[Nystagmite]

Was it due this week, or am I the only one whose wondered where their benefits are, only to discover they're due next week?