ESA letters

Last summer I filled out the capability for work form (if that's what it's still called), almost 2 months ago I had to go for the medical. After the medical the bloke who was doing the assessment told me that I'd hear in about a month.

A few days ago I got a letter saying that there will be changes in the benefits from 10th April. Am I right in thinking that this is just a normal letter that everybody on benefits will get?

There is a section in the letter that states I can appeal against the decision and they can do a mandatory reconsideration which makes me doubt that it's a normal tax year letter as I can't remember seeing that paragraph before.

What will my unfit/fit for work letter actually say?

Sorry if this post is a mess, but it'll be an accurate representation of my brain for the past few months

So I finally got my decision letter yesterday. It's dated the 2nd march. About 3 months after my medical itself. 3 months! I have a distant relative who lives in the same town and got her decision within a month.

I've been awarded 0 points for everything. Wonderful.

This is now the 7th time I've been refused benefits because of the medical decision. Every single medical has had the same result.

Reading the notes the Health (doesn't)Care (un)Professional took I can see a good amount of errors. He even stated that I had no problem taking off a heavy jacket which was strange as I wasn't wearing one! Nothing about having to wait for 3 hours past my appointment time because one of the HCPs didn't bother turning up. The amount of things wrong is the worst I've ever seen. There's always been something wrong in each medical decision I've had over the past 25 years but this is just pure incompetent.

I really can't be bothered with the stress and bull**** that goes with the appeal process. All the appeals I've had so far have taken 8-12 months to actually get the appointment then 10 mins in the room when they can clearly see that I'm incapable of work. 8-12 months of living off reduced benefits barely able to buy the essentials, never mind the utility bills. Getting into a years worth of debt isn't worth it.

So the government have managed to save some money from this decision yet all the skivers and junkies are still claiming while the real disabled get screwed over yet again.

Dunno what I'm gonna do next. Sign on and get a decent amount of money but be stressed out with the jobcenter's useless judgmental "I'm better than you" attitude until they figure out that I'm not getting jobs because I can't work? Yeah, that's gonna help! (/sarcasm)

I was hoping to have some other form of income in less than a month but as that's looking very unlikely I only have two options now.

If I apply for JSA I understand that I'll have certain requirements for looking for work as I've done that before while waiting on an appeal. I was actually able to be put into the disabled group at the jobcenter at that time which was of great help. IIRC that was 2009. I understand that things may have changed since then but hopefully it won't be by much.

The other option is the mandatory consideration and appeal. I've been through the appeal process several times before and am quite used to it now.

My question is, during the Mandatory Reconsideration will I be receiving money? I know that during the waiting time for the appeal itself I would be on the reduced amount but I'm not sure about the interim.

Hi TMO,

ESA will not be paid during the MR process, it can only be put back into payment once DWP are informed that the Tribunal Service have accepted an appeal (or if a decision is made to award you ESA, of course!).