Remand ending possibility of SDP? 

Hi Team

Grateful for thoughts. Client is sent to prison on remand for 4 days, then out on bail and found not guilty at court. Prior to that gets ir-ESA and PIP with SDP and HB. I understand HB is still payable and that ir-ESA is disallowed due to the applicable amount being nil therefore they need to claim UC. Is there nothing to be done about SDP? Seems like such bad luck to miss out financially for 4 days on remand.

Thank you

Are you sure this will kill the ESA/ On remand it would usually suspend with ap am of nil and be reinstated rather than entitlement ending altogether.

Also, don’t you need to have had teh SDP within a month of the UC claim to access the SDPTE (not that I think you’d need it).

I haven’t looked this up mind, just spotted the enquiry on my way past.

Thanks Dan.

So all my reading/researching suggests that the applicable amount is adjusted to zero and the ESA is disallowed and cannot be reinstated but I’d be very happy to be wrong! C-ESA is backdated on release/not guilty. You need SDP within a month but unfortunately they’re over that due to the complexities of not being allowed back in the property initially where all the letters were.

You need to look at what happened in decision making terms. ESA doesn’t just automatically end - it needs a decision.

Your client would not have an entitlement for the period on remand, but it seems unlikely that the DWP would have found out about that and ended his award before he got out and his entitlement resumed.

If he was out by the time that a superseding decision on his case was made, then the appropriate decision would be for his award to continue with any period of disentitlement being dealt with as a closed period supersession.

Thanks Elliot. They were very quick unfortunately. He went in on 13/4 and decision was made on 17/4 that:

‘That Mr X’s applicable amount from 13/4 was nil because he was a prisoner on remand therefore Mr X was not entitled to ESA IR from 13/4.’ They describe it as a ‘disallowance decision’.

I got it wrong, he was in for 7 days, not 4. Does him being imprisoned on the decision date sink it?

Oh dear. Very efficient - I think that might do it.

I know - the one time it’s lightning fast! Thank you for your thoughts anyway.

How about trying to get the uc claim backdated ? Would that take it to within a month of esa ending ? Then can have sdp te