under surgeon sick note, called for medical

julie wrote: Hi, well my husband had his face to face last wednesday, and all seemed to go well, assessor was very nice, and I am sure we answered all the questions without slipping up, the assessor did not look at my husbands injury as she said she had no wish to make the damage to his knee worse. Then today he got a phone call from DWP asking would he be around for a phone call tomorrow ( just one weeks after F2F ) to tell him the result and to add anything he may feel is relevant. what is everyone's gut feeling on this? cos mine is that they are going to find him fit to work( despite the fact he can only just walk and is only half way through his rehab!, and under a current sick note from a consultant)

I'm afraid the most likely reason for the call is because they are intending to find him Fit for Work but there are some aspects of his limitations that they are not clear about. I would prepare a list of points of why he meets the criteria and keep this by the phone, we do hear of members in this situation who on explaining there issues in more depth have secured an award, some even for the Support Group.

Gordon

Julie

Assessors are not required to have a detailed knowledge of a claimants conditions or injuries as they are assessing the limitations that the claimant has because of them not the conditions themselves.

I see your husband has a knee injury, were you hoping for him to qualify under the Moving Around Activity? If you were then you need to understand that this is not just a walking test, in addition it considers whether the claimant could self-propel a manual wheelchair over equivalent distances, the claimants does not need to be using a wheelchair or to even own one for this to be considered. Have a look at the ESA Claim guides for more information.

If you wish to challenge the Decision then the first stage to doing so is for your husband to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, 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 for the ESA85 to be sent, 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.

His primary task is to show that he meets the criteria, there are many reasons he may have failed, he needs 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