E.S.A.

This information may appear dated but I still believe the information might help someone. I was not aware until now I could have told you about this earlier. .You may already be aware of the following knowledge. In January 2014 I represented at Barrow my 63 year old cousin at a E.S.A. tribunal, the board consisted of a barrister from Manchester and a doctor. It was while I was preparing the appeal and reading up on the legislation that I found my cousin had incorrectly been placed in Work related activity. As he was in receipt of higher rate mobility this fitted a descriptor and he should have been awarded 15 points and automatically qualify for the support group. Needless to say we won our case after very worrying months for my cousin, and the cost to the Government of bringing this case unnecessarily must have been very high.

My cousin recently received his P.I.P.forms which I completed with him, it was returned with 31 pieces of medical evidence mainly from specialists. However this did not prevent him having to have a visit which was scheduled for today. He was given a slot of between 10.30a.m.to 12.30 p.m and the visiting person who was female eventually came at 12.40.p.m.. Apparently she now only has to do 2 visits a day as the agency is up-to-date. My cousin is an honest man but not very articulate or well educated so on his behalf I did clash with the visiting person over the ruling of distance. In regard to mobility she said the agency say if someone says they can walk the length of a drive it is classed as being in the 50 but no more than 200 metres category. The 20 metre rule only applies to people in wheelchairs. From my interpretation of the P.I.P. legislation this is obviously wrong and I challenged her as to what distance was she was going to give my cousin for he had said sometimes he can walk to the gate of his drive. After quite a lengthy debate over this and on pressure from myself she said 15 to 20 metres. So we will see when the decision comes if it is the right one, and hopefully I do not have to prepare an appeal. The P.I.P. situation is very stressful and worrying for my cousin, as it is to so many in our country caught up in the same situation. Thank you for your excellent guides, and independent advice all which are invaluable.
Sincerely [removed]