Brown Envelope

Jay

It is possible to send too much evidence and dilute the message you are trying to present.

As a general rule the older the evidence the less weight it will carry, the only exception to this are diagnosis letters.

First of all get rid of everything that is not a diagnosis or about how your conditions affect you, then get rid of duplications keeping the newer copy, lastly go through and decide whether the older letters are still relevant to your conditions as they are now and whether there is information to support this.

If you till have a fair pile of papers then I would create an index of what is actually attached with a short summary so it is easy to find each document.

Scotland is covered by IAS (formerly known as ATOS) but I believe they have sub-contracted the assessment in most areas of the country so it who's name will actually appear on the letter is anybody's guess.

Gordon

Jay

I would still include the issue that require you to use aids for Q6 and Q7, they both suggest problems with your legs which may reinforce your scoring for Mobility. Also, the legal requirement for Moving Around is for the claimant to stand and then move (walk), so if you have problems with getting up then these could also be important.

You do not have to use the tick boxes but you must still answer the question in the comment box or attached pages if you opt to do this then mark the tickboxes "see below".

Does the form actually ask for the time that you take to mobilise a distance, if it does then you must provide an answer but this must be based on empirical information and not a guess so you must time yourself and this should not be a one-off, take timings several times a day and over as many days as you can manage.

If the form does not specifically ask for the timings then I would not include them but I would still do the timed walks so that if you are asked at an assessment you have an answer ready.

You should not assume that those assessing you will know that you are receiving ESA, they should know that you currently have a DLA award but I would not expect this to influence how they score you, even for Mobility, there are differences in the criteria.

Yes, include the information on when you are away, even if it is ignored it means that they will have to take responsibility for moving an appointment and not you.

Gordon