Exempt or not?

Hi Charlie,

I think it's 40 working days to provide the information.

Steve

Hi,

I read your advice about sending information by registered post and I just thought I would tell you what happened to me when I did just that (will try to keep it as short as I can)

I sent my IB50 form by registered post and was told it had been received, over 9 months later I was then sent a medical appointment which I had to cancel

I then received 3 more appointments which were cancelled by atos then I went along to my next appointment to be told when arriving that they had no file for me and I may have to fill in another IB50.

I went home telephoned dwp who told me to contact atos who told me to contact dwp ( are you still with me ) eventually an exasperated man at the dwp apologised and said he would be putting in a complaint to atos and he was now closing my case an extremely brief feeling of absolute joy until I was told they would send me another IB50 and now here I am back to the beginning.

Hi,

I have received the copy of my ib113 and as steve has said it does not show if I was exempt.

I asked for more information from the dwp which I have now received and it seems to show that I am in the exempt category.

I went to an appointment at the cab and the advisor told me that ms is not an exempt category I asked her when that was changed and she went to get a book and then she read out what it said and it was exactly what was written on my form so she told me to send a copy of what I had received with the 2nd ib50 i had to fill in and to explain that I thought I was exempt,i am a little bit shocked that a benefit advisor didn't know that ms was an exempt category.

Hi everyone

Just thought I would keep you up to date with what is happening to me.

I had gone to the cab and was advised to enclose an ib59pym which is a potentially exempt case report
along with my second ib50. I did as advised and after about three weeks never got a reply so the cab advised me to contact the dwp to check that my form had been received.

I did contact the dwp who said they couldn't find my forms and I thought ( not again this would be the second time ) but it would be looked into and I would be phoned back.

About three hours later a woman called and told me she was a team leader and asked me what my complaint was I explained it wasn't a complaint I was checking to see if my form had been received she then said it had and told me "you have been messed about haven't you" you should put in a complaint.I was getting confused by then and asked her what department she was in and she told me that she was a team leader at bootle that was when I realised it was atos and she was advising me to complain about the company she worked for! The next thing she said was my forms would be looked at by a trained medical professional or a highly qualified nurse who would decide if I would have to attend a medical or if my illness hadn't changed they may give me it for another twelve months or so I was totally bemused by now and then the conversation ended.

A bit of a strange reply from the Atos team leader, "they will decide if you need to attend a medical" or "they may give you another 12 months". I knew that they were encroaching on "decision making" but this seems a bit blatant, even for Atos.. The Decision Maker is the one who is meant to request further information in the form of a medical and only if it is necessary to help with the decision..

if I'm not mistaken the process of issuing of IB50s (and IB113s) and the calling of claimants to a medical assessment has now been passed from the DWP to Atos. Then following the gathering of the IB50 and medical data surrounding the claimant by Atos the DM then makes the final decision based on all the evidence as to benefit entitlement and issues the letter in the brown envelope.


(Addendum:- For IB50 and IB113 above also read ESA50 and ESA113)