esa appeal

what happens if you lose your appeal .

Do you automatically stop receiving esa (c)
or can you appeal and then continue receiving until the appeal is heard.

If you lose the appeal what happens if you are deemed fit to work , but unable to do so due to medication. In other words , if you are flung on to jsa but unable to work because of medical conditions , surely it is impossible to register for work because you need to be fit for work?



Any help appreciated.

If you lose your appeal, it is possible to apply to an upper tribunal but only in very limited circumstances relating to the technicalities of how the decision is reached at the original tribunal.

If you lose your appeal, you will be deemed fit for work and eligible for JSA so long as you are making an effort to find work. When you sign on, you will have to sign a jobseekers agreement with the jobcentre which will set out what efforts you have to make to find work.

In practical terms, you'll be competing with many others, so if you're not fit for work, you simply won't be offered work, so you'll be able to keep getting JSA so long as you keep trying to get work. Unfortunately, it's a very unpleasant position to be in if you're ill.

Hi Gris

This is a difficult area.

If you lose your ESA appeal at the first-tier tribunal and appeal to the upper tribunal, the DWP usually stop paying ESA at the assessment rate. It is questionable whether this is lawful as many people's interpretation of the law is that you should be entitled until the appeal has gone as far as it can.

Unfortunately there is a huge gap between ESA and JSA, where claimants are not sick enough to qualify for ESA, but completely incapable of work.

To qualify for JSA a claimant has to be fit for work, but the DWP generally takes the claimant's word for it (he's got a medical report to prove it!) and are only likely to question his fitness to work if he is overly restrictive about the type of work sought due to health problems. One problem that arises; I have known a few cases where people who are unfit for work were denied sickness benefit but too honest to claim JSA and say that they are fit for work. But if they lied and said that they are fit for work the DWP would simply accept that.

The very fact that you are allowed to appeal a decision that you are fit for work and at the same time are actively encouraged by the DWP to claim a benefit that requires you to be fit for work makes a complete mockery of the system.

Regards

Derek

I'm on a change of meds so sorry if I sound dozy. You go to the medical and are placed in WRAG. Your doctors say no chance, you aren't well enough to work, not now, not ever so you appeal. They give you assessment rate and eight months later the appeal fails. The docs say no way so you go to next appeal but because it's the upper tribunal they take away all ESA. It's eight months since the original ESA verdict - so are you saying you can make another application for ESA and be entitled to assessment rate again and again or is there a point where you aren't allowed to apply any longer? Isn't it stupid to have created a system where proper doctors will not lie and say you're fit but Atos refuse to listen and disagree which puts you in limbo.
Hope this makes sense and thanks.
walt