Success

Just want to say that after months of to-ing and fro-ing, my friend's case went in front of a (paper) tribunal on Monday and she was told yesterday that her ESA claim was upheld as she had the required 15 points. Up until that point nobody listened to her nor to her doctor's reports, misreading the supporting documents sent, and every phone call she made to DWP took ages and got her nowhere. Time for a re-training of all their staff as the level of knowledge and ability was truly shocking. for example when she had waited weeks and phoned up to chase as she had no money - they spent an hour completing all the forms to get her to apply for Job Seekers, when she told them at the start of the telephone call that there was no such benefit in our area, it is Universal Credit, they didn't listen and then sheepishly told her she was correct after putting her through to two other departments. Another time they asked for a further medical document and when she phoned, they found they had received it but put it in the wrong place. One employee made it clear that he thought the conservative government were doing a marvellous job getting rid of benefit cheats! I would say to everyone that it is sometimes better to hold out for the tribunal as that is the only time you can feel you are getting anywhere. Good luck to all, thanks for the support and best seasonal wishes.