Is it possible to appeal twice re ESA?

Would be really grateful if anyone can advise - If you apply for ESA and are turned down but then appeal and win your appeal but are put in the WRAG, is it possible to appeal again, i.e. against being put in the WRAG if you think you should be in the Support Group? Or are you only allowed to appeal just the once? If you are allowed to appeal twice, is that when appeals go to an 'Upper Tribunal' and you aren't allowed to receive an interim payment of ESA benefit or would it be heard by an ordinary lower tribunal and you would get interim ESA payments?

nofuss wrote:

Would be really grateful if anyone can advise - If you apply for ESA and are turned down but then appeal and win your appeal but are put in the WRAG, is it possible to appeal again, i.e. against being put in the WRAG if you think you should be in the Support Group? Or are you only allowed to appeal just the once? If you are allowed to appeal twice, is that when appeals go to an 'Upper Tribunal' and you aren't allowed to receive an interim payment of ESA benefit or would it be heard by an ordinary lower tribunal and you would get interim ESA payments?

If you are not awarded ESA, ie, found fit to work, you can appeal the decision using a GL24 form within a month of receiving the decision.

It is simple, if you feel that you should be in The Support Group, then you should appeal stating this, and likewise with WRAG, if you feel that you should be in that.

So, as you imply you would not just be appealing the decision in general, as to no award of ESA.

If you did appeal being found fit for work, to either WRAG, or Support, you would receive assessment rate ESA while appealing, you would also have to provide Med Certs (Fit Notes) in this period.

On appealing, a reconsideration by a DWP DM would take place automatically, and if the DM did not change the decision, your appeal would be forwarded to the 1st Tier Tribunal Process.

If at a tribunal, your appeal fails, you can either make a fresh claim, if more than 6 months has passed since your original decision, or if your conditions have changed, deteriorated, or worsened before the 6 months period.

I would suggest you read all the ESA guides in the orange MEMBERS ONLY section on the left, which covers appeals also.

If you have any doubts obtain face to face advice fro the CAB or similar agency.

If you have any further queries, come back to the forum, and we will do our best to answer.

bro58

Thank you so much, bro58 - You've made that very clear for me - I hadn't realised that it's okay to state in an appeal which group you think you should be in.

Hi Nofuss

If you argue at a first-tier tribunal that you should be placed in the support group and the appeal is either disallowed, or allowed but you are placed in the WRAG, you can appeal to the Upper Tribunal to be placed in the SG but only on a point of law.

I haven't come across anyone in this situation. I would expect that if you were placed in the WRAG the DWP would pay you the WRA component whilst you appeal to the UT but I'm not certain of that. (I wouldn't put it past them to withhold the money in case the UT takes away the WRA component!).

Regards

Derek

Hi Derek

Many thanks for your reply. Very useful to know that you can appeal to the UT to be placed in the SG on a point of law at least - I guess one would need expert legal advice to know if there is a point of law to put forward/argue about.

(I too wouldn't be surprised if they withheld the WRA component if it were to go to UT!)

Kind regards

Nofuss