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Hi everyone,
I am at my wits end with stress due to the dwp. I am only 30, last year I was terminated from employment on grounds of ill health (as illness is progressively getting worse). I was then granted ill health retirement (9 months later) and received an occupational pension with lump sum via scottish public pensions agency (public occupational pension scheme). I phoned DWP about this as I was on income related ESA. I was initially told that my pension wouldn't be taken into account. Then I received a letter about a month later saying it would.
The contrasting part of this is that my housing benefit is not affected and the housing benefit office even wrote to me saying that the type of pension and lump sum I received should be disregarded. I found this all very odd.
Anyway, ESA/DWP treated my lump sum as capital (it is less than £16000) and my monthly pension as income. Therefore my ESA was cut. I was fine with this as I am getting my pension etc and I just went along with this. I never received any form of guidance from the DWP about what I can and can't do with my lump sum. Anyway, the first thing I sorted out was my £8000 of debt that I had accrued after going through three years of hell of being ill and having to go part-time.
So, essentially my capital fell below the threshold. I notified the DWP, showed them all my statements etc and was very open about where the money had gone. I received a letter this week accusing me of deprivation of capital. Basically spending my lump sum deliberately to receive more ESA. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I am ill 90% of the time, I have always been an honest, hard working person. There is absolutely NO way I had any intention of trying to get more benefit from ESA. I was stunned. They also said that I did not need to pay my debt off as the interest payments weren't THAT high.
As I said I received NO guidance on what I could spend my money on and it is not as if I have gone out and sipped champagne and bought gold rings lol!!
After querying this with a few family members/friends the first thing they told me to do was check legislation. I checked the legislation online under ESA regulations 2013 and to my amazement under Chapter 52 – Capital – Page 78 It states Occupational pensions The law 52409 The value of the right to receive an occupational pension is disregarded indefinitely1 .
Also, (3) A claimant who has attained the 4 qualifying age for state pension credit is to be treated as possessing– (a) the amount of any income from an occupational pension scheme, a personal pension scheme or the Board of the Pension Protection Fund–
- I have NOT reached state pension age therefore this does not apply to me.
Payments by way of pension 51 - "there are to be disregarded— (a) any payments from a personal pension scheme, an occupational pension scheme or a public service pension scheme which are payable to the claimant and which arose in accordance with the terms of such a scheme on the death of a person who was a member of the scheme in question; and"
However, in the DWP decision maker's guidance it states that occupational pensions should be treated as income but it does not state what types of occupational pension. Then there is a contradictory statement in the DM guidance - Chapter 52 – Capital – Page 78 Occupational pensions The law 52409 The value of the right to receive an occupational pension is disregarded indefinitely1 . This is a complete contradiction???
It also states the same about capital under regulation 28 - that an occupational pension should be disregarded.
There is also legislation about the age of the person and anyone under the age of pensionable age are under different circumstances and basically shouldn't be treated as having extra income/capital.
Please could someone assist me on this? Or clarify this for me? As I honestly feel that this is "too good to be true" but I am honestly shocked at the way the DWP have treated me. I have applied for a mandatory reconsideration on the decision as they are now treating me as having a notion of capital. However, according to the legislation my lump sum and pension should never have been treated as capital.
Any info would be great. Thanks in advance x
I am at my wits end with stress due to the dwp. I am only 30, last year I was terminated from employment on grounds of ill health (as illness is progressively getting worse). I was then granted ill health retirement (9 months later) and received an occupational pension with lump sum via scottish public pensions agency (public occupational pension scheme). I phoned DWP about this as I was on income related ESA. I was initially told that my pension wouldn't be taken into account. Then I received a letter about a month later saying it would.
The contrasting part of this is that my housing benefit is not affected and the housing benefit office even wrote to me saying that the type of pension and lump sum I received should be disregarded. I found this all very odd.
Anyway, ESA/DWP treated my lump sum as capital (it is less than £16000) and my monthly pension as income. Therefore my ESA was cut. I was fine with this as I am getting my pension etc and I just went along with this. I never received any form of guidance from the DWP about what I can and can't do with my lump sum. Anyway, the first thing I sorted out was my £8000 of debt that I had accrued after going through three years of hell of being ill and having to go part-time.
So, essentially my capital fell below the threshold. I notified the DWP, showed them all my statements etc and was very open about where the money had gone. I received a letter this week accusing me of deprivation of capital. Basically spending my lump sum deliberately to receive more ESA. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I am ill 90% of the time, I have always been an honest, hard working person. There is absolutely NO way I had any intention of trying to get more benefit from ESA. I was stunned. They also said that I did not need to pay my debt off as the interest payments weren't THAT high.
As I said I received NO guidance on what I could spend my money on and it is not as if I have gone out and sipped champagne and bought gold rings lol!! After querying this with a few family members/friends the first thing they told me to do was check legislation. I checked the legislation online under ESA regulations 2013 and to my amazement under Chapter 52 – Capital – Page 78 It states Occupational pensions The law 52409 The value of the right to receive an occupational pension is disregarded indefinitely1 .
Also, (3) A claimant who has attained the 4 qualifying age for state pension credit is to be treated as possessing– (a) the amount of any income from an occupational pension scheme, a personal pension scheme or the Board of the Pension Protection Fund–
- I have NOT reached state pension age therefore this does not apply to me.
Payments by way of pension 51 - "there are to be disregarded— (a) any payments from a personal pension scheme, an occupational pension scheme or a public service pension scheme which are payable to the claimant and which arose in accordance with the terms of such a scheme on the death of a person who was a member of the scheme in question; and"
However, in the DWP decision maker's guidance it states that occupational pensions should be treated as income but it does not state what types of occupational pension. Then there is a contradictory statement in the DM guidance - Chapter 52 – Capital – Page 78 Occupational pensions The law 52409 The value of the right to receive an occupational pension is disregarded indefinitely1 . This is a complete contradiction???
It also states the same about capital under regulation 28 - that an occupational pension should be disregarded.
There is also legislation about the age of the person and anyone under the age of pensionable age are under different circumstances and basically shouldn't be treated as having extra income/capital.
Please could someone assist me on this? Or clarify this for me? As I honestly feel that this is "too good to be true" but I am honestly shocked at the way the DWP have treated me. I have applied for a mandatory reconsideration on the decision as they are now treating me as having a notion of capital. However, according to the legislation my lump sum and pension should never have been treated as capital.
Any info would be great. Thanks in advance x
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