Advice on Atos report

Hi
I've been placed in WRAG. In the medical report the assessor advises I could be considered for work in 12 months time. She stated in the report that my condition is expected to improve with appropriate treatment.
I have bi polar and Borderline PD, the smallest things stress me out, to much stress can send me manic or depressed and I suffer anxiety which increases in social situations. It appears none of this has been taken in to account or that I have a fluctuating illness.
I am going to appeal with CPN support and think I have a good case.
It seems that a lot of what we wrote in the ESA50 has not been taken in to account at all and she's based her opinion just from the assessment.
What is the point of the ESA50???
Going back to the "considered for work in 12 months", is that when I would be reassessed if I remained in WRAG ?
Apologies for rambling on. Any feedback would be most welcome. Thanks.

Atos assessors are all fully-qualified professionals but will not be familiar with your individual case.

You are likely to be reassessed in twelve months, but it is for the DWP to decide when you will be reassessed taking that report and any other information they have into account.

If you did not do so this time, next time you might want to consider enclosing evidence with your ESA50. See our guides to applying for ESA for further advice on this.

Meanwhile, our guide to ESA appeals will help you through the appeal process and now is the time to gather any other evidence you have to support your case. Maybe there are others involved in your care apart from your CPN who could give written opinions, or maybe there is something in your medical files that you can get a copy of that would help you.

Please note, however, that this is just general advice and we can't advise on your individual case.

Thank you Survivor.
I understand you can't give individual advice, just sounding off that's all.I've got some one from the law centre to represent me if needed but they're sending me a list of descriptors for me to look at first.
Would the DWP consider evidence from friends? I don't have a carer but a couple of close friends help me with day to day things when I can't cope.

The DWP is under an obligation to consider all evidence before it, but obviously, they have to weigh up the usefulness of the evidence they receive.

Certainly in relation to DLA, I have personal experience of friends' statements helping, so I don't see why they wouldn't at least consider your friends' statements.

Whoever you get statements from, make sure they're specific as to what you can or cannot do. You might want to consider whether different people can give evidence in relation to different descriptors, depending on the context in which they know you.

Perhaps you could consider whether there is anyone else that can provide evidence. There might be people that know you in a variety of contexts.

I do think, though, that the feedback we've had from our members suggests that the evidence that the DWP gets from Atos assessors tends to be given greater weight than evidence from other sources when it comes to making a decision, but that tribunals are more open to considering a wider range of evidence.

Perhaps one of my fellow mods with more experience of appeals will know how tribunals have treated friends' evidence in the past.

Hi bittersweet

I think Survivor is right. Decision makers and tribunals alike have to consider all relevant evidence put in front of them and weigh the evidence on merit, but given that the DWP sometimes takes the view that even a GP is a claimant's advocate, I think they are less likely to value letters from friends than a tribunal. Nevertheless, it's still worth using witness statements from friends with an ESA50.

I don't have much experience of tribunals but from case law that I have read, when submitting letters from witnesses it is crucial that the witness states in the letter how they know and how long they have known the appellant, and how often they see the appellant.

This gives the tribunal a much clearer picture and without this information a letter of support from a friend could have little value.

Hope this helps

Derek

Thank you both very much for your feedback.