I am a 32-year-old married male, Autistic, severe anxiety and communication difficulties. I receive ESA on the Support Group and other benefits.
We received a letter a few Saturdays back demanding we attend a compliance meeting, about 2 weeks after, that was mandatory and had the usual blurb about losing benefits if we don't attend.
I suffered a panic attack.
We rang the DWP: they don't open Satudays.
Monday, we rang the DWP: they can't discuss it over the phone, the compliance officer may have more information if I ring him direct (his number was on the letter).
We rang the compliance officer: he was on leave until the following Tuesday.
I spent a week having panic attacks and fearing the worst. My wife was also concerned we were going to lose my benefits.
The following Tuesday, we rang the compliance officer and he told us he couldn't discuss it over the phone. Joy (sarcasm)!
Finally, we attended on the date with our youngest child (the eldest being in nursery), we sat down and he politely explained he was a compliance officer but not an investigator and that the meeting was "informal for now". I was visibly shaking.
The crux of the matter, the reason for the compliance meeting, why we were there: two things.
- I had a wife - yes, we know this.
She isn't on the application for me ESA - yes, we know this too.
Why? Well, as the DWP has been told on multiple occasions, my wife is a foreign national with no recourse to public funds and cannot be listed on any of my benefit claims. I only receive the single-applicant amounts.
Oh. That complicates matters, but I think he partially understood.
- In 2017 my wife had worked part-time and they could prove it - yes, we know she worked.
I need to inform the DWP if my wife works, even if she isn't on my claim - yes, we know this too, that's why we took wage slips in every time she received them and ensured they were scanned to the DWP. Also, if it helps, at the time my wife worked I was receiving CONTRIBUTION BASED ESA!
Oh, then your wife working actually won't affect your benefit at this time - yes, we know that too.
So, let's summarise quickly, I was summoned to a compliance meeting for the agent to go on leave meaning that I could ask no one about it, but he refused to discuss it over the phone anyway when he returned.
The compliance meeting was because the DWP had ignored evidence that we had provided multiple times during the course of my claim.
That was it.
We are now in limbo AGAIN because, although the agent has said this should have no bearing on my claim, we have to wait for his investigation to complete before we can receive closure on the matter.
Oh, and despite being on the Support Group, the agent did take the point of "educating" us that ESA is only to support people before they regain employment and that I should be seeking work as well as receiving it. ESA on the support group isn't meant to support me for life...
Maybe it's because my disabilities aren't visible: apart from the intense shaking, sweating, breakdowns and crying....