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ESA WCA pain no longer scores points?
- nps
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6 years 6 months ago #198159 by nps
ESA WCA pain no longer scores points? was created by nps
My partner was on support group ESA due to nerve damage/palsy (and corresponding chronic pain/lack of use of arms/hands), back pain and ADHD. He was taken off the support group, put in a lengthy appeal with medical evidence at the mandatory reconsideration step: they have said that not being able to do the tests (arm up to head height/pick up a carton, walk 50m etc etc) repeatedly and the fact that it causes him agonising pain does not count: if he can do it at all at any time, regardless of pain/repeatability, then he scores 0 points. Has there been yet another law change? How do we go about the appeal (letter due in in a week) if it doesn't matter how often/slowly/painfully he can do these things? Please help!
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- Gordon
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6 years 6 months ago #198171 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA WCA pain no longer scores points?
N
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There haven't been any changes to the legislation under which ESA awards are made.
There is no requirement that the ESA activities are completed pain free, but any pain that limits the claimants ability to complete an activity should be taken into account.
ESA uses the phrase "significant discomfort", this is not defined but is accepted that "significant pain", also not defined, would be worse.
Although it is not always defined in the Descriptors, it should be accepted that a claimant needs to be able to repeat an activity within a reasonable timescale and that they must be able to do so safely for the majority of the time.
If a claimant is unable to complete an activity first thing in the day then they should be considered as being unable to complete the activity for the whole day.
The ESA Appeal guide has links to the SSCS1 form that you will need to complete and the Submissions guide has a complete example that you can use to help you fill it in, you do not need to provide detailed reasons at this stage for your request.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1
Once your appeal is accepted the DWP will prepare their submission to the hearing and send you a copy, whilst you should wait until you receive this to finish and submit your own, you should start to prepare your own case, an increased award will only be made by your showing that you score the extra points for one, so I would start by going back through your PIP2, the assessment report and the PIP Claim guide to see how you might show this is the case.
If you have further questions then please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is
Welcome to Benefits and Work
In case you are not aware, your real name appears to be showing in the forum, if you want to change this then follow the instructions in the following FAQ
My full name is showing, how can I stop it?
There haven't been any changes to the legislation under which ESA awards are made.
There is no requirement that the ESA activities are completed pain free, but any pain that limits the claimants ability to complete an activity should be taken into account.
ESA uses the phrase "significant discomfort", this is not defined but is accepted that "significant pain", also not defined, would be worse.
Although it is not always defined in the Descriptors, it should be accepted that a claimant needs to be able to repeat an activity within a reasonable timescale and that they must be able to do so safely for the majority of the time.
If a claimant is unable to complete an activity first thing in the day then they should be considered as being unable to complete the activity for the whole day.
The ESA Appeal guide has links to the SSCS1 form that you will need to complete and the Submissions guide has a complete example that you can use to help you fill it in, you do not need to provide detailed reasons at this stage for your request.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1
Once your appeal is accepted the DWP will prepare their submission to the hearing and send you a copy, whilst you should wait until you receive this to finish and submit your own, you should start to prepare your own case, an increased award will only be made by your showing that you score the extra points for one, so I would start by going back through your PIP2, the assessment report and the PIP Claim guide to see how you might show this is the case.
If you have further questions then please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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