Esa payment

[donnaclarke]

Hiya all hope you are all good as can be expected, just a quick question from me today, I have been receiving 140.00 a fortnight since middle of September ( Iam in the support group the amount was reduced from 220:00 a fortnight as I receive p.h.i from my previous employers ( I had to give up work altogether last month due to ill health) today I have checked the bank and my esa has not been paid in which was due today, I haven't done anything wrong and sent them wage slips/ evidence etc so is this normal for them to pay esa a bit late sometimes? It's the first time it's happened to me, thanks in advance for any advice / help x

[nukecad]

It happens now and again that a payment goes missing for some reason.

Give the ESA a ring and tell them your payment has not been made.

They will either- sort out a 'fast-payment' so it will be in your bank within a couple of hours, - or explain why it has not been paid.

I've had to do this twice in the last five years for payments that didn't turn up.
Both times they were there within 2 or 3 hours.

PS.
When you get a fast-payment like this it shows up on you statment as JSA not ESA.
It's nothing to worry about, they have not put you on JSA.
This is simply because all fast-payments are made out of their JSA account.

[donnaclarke]

Thank-you nukecard if it's not in tomorrow I will give them a ring, we can really do without this coming up to Xmas can't we eh never mind thank-you x

[donnaclarke]

Hiya all my e.s.a payment still not in today, I've tried to ring but just keep getting music and saying they are busy all the time, am I ringing the right number with 0345 608 8545? I was on hold for 40 mins?

[nukecad]

Yes it's not unusual.

Bloody annoying, but if you hang up and ring again you are back at the start.

And of course because of the automated answer at the start you are paying for all this time on hold.

I think my record on hold was 47 mins.
Shortest was about 5.

I saw a recent FOI answer where they claimed their records show that average time on hold for an ESA query was about 7mins.
Must be something wrong with their timers.

[donnaclarke]

Thank-you nukecad better luck tomorrow morning then lol

[nukecad]

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...ncoming-883138

Not sure its done it right on my phone but it's the attachment made by the DWP on 14th October in the above link.

EDIT
Sorry it's the second answer from the DWP on 14th Oct.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...608%208545.pdf

You need to go to the top and see the question to put it into context though.

I reckon that their recording software is only recording the time from the last "You are still in the queue....." message rather than from the start of the call.

[donnaclarke]

That sounds about right I ready for another fun day tomorrow, plus I've got to change all the bills over to being paid monthly rent, gas, electric, water oh such fun