Health assessment advisory service

carol wrote: Hi I had a medical on 17\10\16 when it was finished the doctor said it will take about 4 wks for the decision but I received a letter on 26 Oct which was very quick I thought , It said I only got 6 points That was for cognitive and intellectual capability,, some of the things the doctor said on the letter i Most definatly din not say, she has added herself. I don't no were to go or what to do next but I do want to appeal this decision .my money has been stopped so that means my rent has been stopped were do I go from hear

Is this for ESA?

On the assumption that it is then the first 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 if you have not already done so, ask for the ESA85, 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

carol wrote: Hi Thomas can u help me I am totally new to this I has a medical assessment on 17 Oct and only got 6points and my ESA has been stopped I am going to put a reconsideration desicion in but don't no who I cxan ring or what benifeits I can claim ,you have to live on something rite

I've merged your latest post with the one you made on Monday and my reply, we ask members to keep their posts in one topic so that you and the Moderators can easily refer back to whet has previously been posted.

You can claim JSA while you wait for an MR to be processed.

I believe you need to phone the JSA helpline to make a claim rather than completing the online form.

Telephone: 0800 055 6688
Textphone: 0800 023 4888
Welsh language: 0800 012 1888
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Once your JSA claim has been accepted (and not before) you can present a new Fit Note and be excused any Job Search requirement for up to 13 weeks.

If you are in a Universal Credit Area then you need to make them aware that you are asking for an MR of your ESA and this should allow you to claim JSA rather than UC

If you are in a UC Full Digital Service area then you must claim UC and the rules for Fit Notes are different.

Gordon