Help needed with ESA and forces pension offset

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Oh and my local MP is a close friend of DCs and a Conservative as well, so I doubt I would get any help there.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Cameron has pledged his support for veterans, so have the vast majority of his party so well worth a try.

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Hi Melchet/Brig

 

Cameron and his party are the ones that have changed the law so I cannot get ESA. They also have made sure it is very hard to do anything about these things within the DWP system or legally. Ian Duncan smith and his twin afterbirth (forget his name - the one that would make one hell of a hypnotist with his droney voice) have made sure of that.

 

But anyway, will think about an MP nearby that might give a damn.

 

Davy

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hello Davy, On your local MP can answer questions of put them to ministers for you.

 

Unfortunately it seems the vast majority of the civil servants and other parties involved with the Welfare Act and the Welfare Reform Act have any understanding of the needs of the people affected by them.

I my personal opinion the previous Government did vastly more to damaged the status and welfare of our Armed Forces than anyone.

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Yeah you're probably right there Brig/Melchet. Usually it was better being a ex-serviceman under the Tories, but not now. Not that any other party would stand up for us either. I think Ive read on another site about keeping the pensions increases capped at a very low percentage for years to come.

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Hi again

 

Does anyone know how I request all the information that DWP and ATOS has on me?

 

And how much it costs.

 

Thanks - Davy

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Oh and the other two links still aren't working. Do you have the names of the organisations and I will 'google' them?

 

Still no answer from UK Veterans. I'm sure they are very busy though.

 

Legal side of things - still nothing? Even a point in the right direction would be helpful.

 

Davy

[citizenB]

http://www.veterans-uk.info/complaints/contact.html

 

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/service-personnel-and-veterans-agency

 

 

try these.

[citizenB]

Hi again

 

Does anyone know how I request all the information that DWP and ATOS has on me?

 

And how much it costs.

 

Thanks - Davy

 

 

http://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/personal_information

 

The link above tells you how to go about obtaining information - I believe it will cost you £10.00. There are sample letters to send with your request as well.

 

Alternatively, you could telephone the Information Commissioner and ask them

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Thanks very much CitizenB.

[antone]

The DWP does not charge the £10 fee for a SAR. A SAR to the DWP should include data held by Atos, though it might be a good idea to request this specifically when you write.

[citizenB]

The DWP does not charge the £10 fee for a SAR. A SAR to the DWP should include data held by Atos, though it might be a good idea to request this specifically when you write.

 

 

Many thanks for this info. I didn't know that

[stu007]

Hi this is the DWP SAR with form fields to fill in its in PDF:

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Many Thanks Antone, CitizenB, and Stu.

[stu007]

Hi Davy

 

Your more than welcome and thank you for your kind comment.

 

Now with you War Pension:

 

what percentage of disability are you?

do you get Mobility Sup?

do you get Care Sup?

 

Have you thought of applying via Veterans Agency for:

 

Lower Standard of Occupation?

Clothing Allowance?

Unemployability Supplement?

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Hi Stu

 

I think my WP percentage disability is quite high but unsure of what it is exactly, it might be 40 or 60%. I get DLA lower rate care. No mobility sup.

 

Still trying to get hold of the Veterans UK. I never knew you could apply for any of them, so when they get back to me I will ask them.

 

Many Thanks again for your help.

 

Davy

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Does anyone know if the Law has changed due to this new ESA replacing Incapacity Benefit?

 

Where I am no longer apparently able to get both ESA and my War Pension, whereas before I was able to get Incapacity Benefit and War Pension?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Davy

[lenny100]

the best thing for you to do is forget your local rbl. they dont have all the infomation, contact the national team through the website, they send somebody to your house and will take over all your claims for you , incuding apeals, etc. they did this for me as i was in the same position as you and they got me on esa, and sorted out a few other things for me also,, best of luck

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Thanks Lenny.

 

With the Local RBL advisor that came out to my flat, after about 3 weeks I asked to be put in contact with the ones they were talking to on my behalf and they refused. I take this was the national one but maybe it wasn't.

 

I will try again with the national one if Veterans UK don't get in touch soon.

 

Davy

[**Margaret**]

: Davy vs Goliath:

 

Again, I'm writing about benefits in general rather than the issues faced by ex service personnel.

 

Your entitlement to your war pension and an income replacement benefit hasn't been affected by the change from incapacity benefit to employment n support allowance. The 'culprits' are the contribution regs for contributions based benefits. Very few recipients of incapacity benefit who're denied a conversion award (either by Jobcentreplus or a tribunal panel) have the correct national insurance contributions for a further contributions based award of any benefit. The claimant needs to have worked and paid for some national insurance contributions during the two tax years before the year in which a further claim is made.

 

Should the (eventual) decision be that I'm not eligible for a conversion award of employment n support I'll lose my entitlement to contributions based awards of benefits for the same reason. Before 2008 (pre ESA), unless there was an exception for war pensions, Government wouldn't have paid a war pension and income support (another income related benefit) on the grounds of incapacity for work.

 

As the veterans organisations are the ones in the know about your specific issues, I hope you manage to contact one of them soon.

 

Best wishes, Margaret.

Edited September 12, 2013 by **Margaret**

[lenny100]

thats the same i found the locals dont like the nationals stepping on their patch, to many jobs for the boys i think in local offices, i found the national very helpfull and my be using me as a test case in relation to a houseing bennifit claim in durham, as they wont give me any as they claim my pension bennifts are a "SECOND INCOME"!"!!!!!!

[estellyn]

Does anyone know if the Law has changed due to this new ESA replacing Incapacity Benefit?

 

Where I am no longer apparently able to get both ESA and my War Pension, whereas before I was able to get Incapacity Benefit and War Pension?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Davy

 

To add to what Margaret said, the difficulty in your case seems to be the break in your claim for ESA - while there was no break between your incap claim and your ESA claim, you could receive contributory ESA, but once you had a long enough break in the claim, you would then only be entitled to income based ESA which takes pension income into account fully.

 

If your appeal is against the original ESA decision finding you fit for work, then a decision in your favour could give you back your contributory ESA, but looking back over your posts it isn't clear exactly what the appeal is regarding.

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Thank you very much all three of you (staryeyes, lenny, and estellyn).

 

I've just sent the RBL website an email and asked to be just handled by the head office.

 

Thank you very very very much for the clarifications as well, as I knew something was up, just couldn't work out what it was. (Dirty B's they are!)

 

So these new ESA contribution based ones are the problem. Well ESA in general probably. There is going to be a lot of ex-servicemen affected by this. I will keep this web page informed of my progress with RBL and against DWP etc.

 

Davy

Edited September 12, 2013 by Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Hi again Estellyn

 

Currently (as I have appealed many times), my Appeal is against them ignoring evidence, taking me off JSA onto ESA when they had not answered the appeal against being put on JSA, human rights and errors in law. Thing is they are confusing me so much, that apart from an imminent breakdown, there is probably a time limit that is going to run out or something like that.

 

The ESA and WP becomes moot if my Appeal wins of course, but we still need to know for other ex-servicemen's advice and help.

 

I also really need help from either the RBL or Veterans UK, or both.

 

Davy

[Davy vs Goliath.gov.uk]

Hi again Lenny

 

Yes this counting our pensions as a second income is one of the main problems all our ex-servicemen are going to face.