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ESA problems
- Lesley583
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7 years 6 months ago #169734 by Lesley583
ESA problems was created by Lesley583
I was put on ESA 2 years ago but was never sent for a medical until June this year, I attended in my wheelchair with my daughter who is my carer , I was kept waiting for 2 hours to be seen but afterwards I thought it had gone well, a few weeks later I got the letter back stating that I didn't score enough to claim ESA ( even though I'm on enhanced rate pip for mobility and standard rate for care) and I was advised to go to my job centre and go onto JSA. I met with my advisor to discuss what kind of work I could do so I told him honestly...none! I'm riddled with arthritis and can't walk or use my hands but he said I had to put a work plan on the computer so he put me down for shop work , since my assessment I'd had another hospital consultation where they said I had 2 herniated discs that needed operating on so I told my advisor and he said I needed to put a new claim in for ESA as it was a new health problem so that's what I did , they assessed me from my old assessment and I was turned down so my daughter called them stating I need reassessing and I sent a letter in from my gp stating that I cannot work due to my illness and the amount of morphine I have to take , I'd been waiting months to hear so I called them to be told that the gp letter was not good enough as he was a gp not a consultant and that the result was I needed to stay on ESA, but w days later I had a text from DWP saying they are looking at my claim that was 2 months ago I'm still waiting! I have to sign on every 2 weeks and I have to do 35 hours of job searching per week to qualify for JSA its a joke
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- Gordon
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7 years 6 months ago #169779 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA problems
Lesley
Dealing with the JSA first. If your GP is prepared to issue a new Fit Note then you can present this to your JSA advisor and you should be excused from any Job Search requirement for up to 13 weeks.
Re the ESA. They aren't going to reassess you, they have made a Decision and are not required to take any further action.
You can challenge the Decision, although you have received a text saying that they are looking at your claim, it's possible that that they have lost the request or decided that your daughter was not entitled to request one., so the first thing I would do it contact the ESA office that dealt with your claim for an update.
If a Mandatory Reconsideration is being done then you will have to wait (see below).
If not then you need to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP office that dealt with your claim, you will need to explain why the request is late, their failure to action the phone calls should be sufficient. Have a look at our ESA MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the ESA area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1
You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, ask fro your ESA85, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Dealing with the JSA first. If your GP is prepared to issue a new Fit Note then you can present this to your JSA advisor and you should be excused from any Job Search requirement for up to 13 weeks.
Re the ESA. They aren't going to reassess you, they have made a Decision and are not required to take any further action.
You can challenge the Decision, although you have received a text saying that they are looking at your claim, it's possible that that they have lost the request or decided that your daughter was not entitled to request one., so the first thing I would do it contact the ESA office that dealt with your claim for an update.
If a Mandatory Reconsideration is being done then you will have to wait (see below).
If not then you need to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP office that dealt with your claim, you will need to explain why the request is late, their failure to action the phone calls should be sufficient. Have a look at our ESA MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the ESA area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1
You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, ask fro your ESA85, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum 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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