0 points on WCA - Apply for JSA or not?

Persona

If you claim JSA then this would be a full claim and you will be required to fulfil your Claimant Commitment although you can negotiate the contents, however, if your GP will provide a new Fit Note then you can present this to your JC+ advisor (once your JSA claim is in payment) and you should be excused from any activity for up to 13 weeks.

As your ESA has ended, technically you are no longer doing Permitted Work, just work, this would need to be declared to the DWP for your JSA claim, I would advise you not to stop the work yet, I'm aware of another claimant who did this and was refused JSA because they have made themselves unemployed.

The income from your employment may effect what you receive for JSA.

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you 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 (ESA85), if you have not already done so, 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

persona

Unless you meet the criteria for Income Support

pregnant or a carer or a lone parent with a child under 5

then no.

If you can show a new condition or a deterioration in your current conditions such that an award would be reasonably likely then you can make a new claim for ESA but even then the DWP may withhold payment until an assessment is done. It would also impact on any MR or appeal that you decided to do for the lost award.

Gordon

persona1973 wrote: One quick question, should i see my doctor prior to the JSA appointment to obtain a fit note or is this best done following the initial appointment?

Thanks

I would do it after your claim is accepted that way you dodge the argument that you were already unfit for work when you made the claim which can lead to a claim for JSA being rejected.

Gordon