False information

A gentleman known to us who is his brother’s appointee had called the DWP hotline as his brother’s ESA had been promptly stopped without warning on 15th February.  Apparently someone had called the hotline and told them that he was living with someone.  This was a little absurd, as our client has struggled with day to day living for many years and has lived in the same one bedroom flat for the last 18 years.  He has also attempted to take his own life on numerous occasions.  His health is bad enough that he needs an appointee to take care of all of his affairs on his behalf.

DWP insisted a letter with a new claim form was sent on the 15th Febuary. The appointee called on the 22nd, 23rd and again on the 26th February to say it hadn’t arrived. As his appointee he finally received it on the 29th February and posted it back the same day.

Having heard nothing he called the DWP on 8th March for an update. He was told that they still hadn’t received it and it may be still circulating within their own internal postal system that can take up to 6-7 working days. Once received he was informed that it could take between 7-14 working days to process.

By this point our client had no food left and only enough electricity to last around a day.  We sent him £150, and a couple of weeks later, once his ESA had been reinstated, he kindly donated £100 back to us as he had managed very frugally to make just £50 last him a fortnight.