Mums ESA

Hi

My mum has a long term disability and over the years her disability has lead other conditions affecting her mobility and her ability to complete everyday tasks. She has not been able to work for over 16 years.

She was in receipt of ESA but was placed in WRAG. She also gets DLA both care & mobility components. Early 2015 my mother requested to be reassessed as her condition had worsened and she was advices to complete the form. She attended an assessment at the end of the year and has now received a decision from DWP. She has been found fit to work and ESA has been stopped. We requested the medical report and to our shock none of her disability information and other conditions have been included and the report is filled with lies. I understand she now needs to request a mandatory reconsideration.

How do we go about completing this? Do we need to address each point?

Any help is welcome as my mum has never been in the position we're not quite sure how to deal with it.

Many thanks

Hi Cd and welcome to the forum. On the assumption that you are also new to the site, this link should help you find your way around.

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I'm sorry that you and your mum are going through this, I'm afraid it is an all too common story

The important thing is that the Mandatory Reconsideration is submitted in time, you do not need to go into great detail at this point, especially if it would mean delaying the request beyond 1 month from the date on the decision letter (if it is already beyond that, don't worry, you can actually ask for this up to 13 months later but you must explain the reason for the delay and DWP can choose whether to accept it). However, at some stage you will have to go through your mother's claim and show how and why she fits the ESA descriptors. You will find these - and examples of how to present the information in terms that the DWP understand - in our ESA guide. Towards the back of the guide is also information about MRs and appeals.

ESA claims and appeals

It is very unusual, although not impossible, for DWP to change the decision at MR so we will help you through the appeal process if necessary.

If/when you have further questions please reply to this message and we wil do our best to help. You might want to bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you will find it easier in future

Hi Mrs Hurtyback

Yes I am new to the site and to be honest I'm lucky I came across it by chance while googling how to tackle this mandatory reconsideration as we've never been in this position. We're still within the 1 month period and hope to send the request off in the next few days.

I'll have a look through all the info while I'm waiting. Finger & toes crossed and I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you for your response and advice.

It might be useful to put in a data request. I was advised not to bother with this but on receiving all the information the DWP had on me I was able to discover that they hadn't bothered cross-referencing my ESA and PIP information - I know they have slightly different criteria but they had used recent medical evidence to decide I had a neurological condition that was most likely permanent on the ESA form and then on PIP tried to say I didn't even have the condition. I think this would be useful for your mum if she's been on DLA a long time.

It does take up to 28 days so it may be too late for the mandatory reconsideration but i think it would help you in the long run if you have to go to appeal.

I would recommend going back to your mum's GP/ consultant and asking them to write a letter if you haven't already done this. Any additional information would be useful to send with the mandatory reconsideration and it can be used again at appeal.

I have been told it's very unusual to have a decision overturned at mandatory reconsideration stage but I got my letter back yesterday and was awarded both enhanced rates despite scoring zero points in the assessment.

Good luck. Hope you get things sorted out.

Hi All,

My mum was on income support and put on ESA (wrag) in 2013. Her health started to deteriorate in 2014 and we asked for the decision to be looked at again so that she can be put in the support group. She had her medical December 2015 and was awarded zero points in January 2016 and therefore found got to work. We've submitted a mandatory reconsideration which was declined. She has an appeal at the tribunal in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed it goes well. My mum has a permanent disability that affect her mobility and ability to do anything for herself.

I have a couple of questions

How do we tackle the appeal? Mum has an updated gp letter which is quite detailed and we wrote a 7 page letter for mandatory reconsideration as the health care professional lied on the report so we used that to address each point. Mum also has a letter of support from her support worker. I don't know what else to hand in as evidence. So any advice on what to expect, how to handle it and what to take would be appreciated.

DWP requested a sick note from the date her ESA was stopped so she could get back pay. We have send this to them. They have send her 10 weeks of backdated pay at the rate of £114.85 per week and said her following payments will be £143.90 per week. My question is, is she not entitled to the additional £29.05 per week in the money that has been backdated as long as her sick note is covering that period.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Hi CD,

I have merged your query with the previous topic discussing your Mum's ESA. It helps us enormously if everything related to the same claim is kept in one place!

It is rare for the MR to change the original decision, so try not to take this personally!

the ESA guide will help you with your appeal submission. It is not enough to discredit the assessor's report, your mum will only access the Support Group if you clearly demonstrate that she meets at least one of the SG criteria. This is what you should concentrate on.

The appeal FAQs should be helpful too, as should the post in the 'spotlights' section of the forum. These are all in the yellow area at the top of the page

Appeal FAQs

Appearing before tribunals

You should Bookmark/Favourite this page in your Internet Browser now.

That way you can return to this topic easily to pose any further queries that you may have by replying to the topic.

See : This Topic also !

Thanks in anticipation of your future co-operation in keeping all your queries relating to your mum's ESA to this topic !