Received 0 points at ESA assment

My husband has been in the support group for 3 years, he suffers with neck and lower back arthritis and sarcolic joint problems and in constant pain. However just had a recent assessment and been told he hasn't received 15 points.

As you can imagine this has come as a shock, how can you ho from being assessed as needing the support group to being able to work when there had been no change in condition.

Could you please tell us what we need to do now
Thank you

Hi and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I'm sorry that you and your husband are going through this

Your next step will be to request a Mandatory Reconsideration. You have 1 month from the date of the decision letter in which to get this submitted to DWP.

It will help to get hold of a copy of the assessor's report. This will be an ESA85 if he had a face2face assessment or ESA85a if not. You can get this easily by phoning DWP and asking for it - although we always suggest that you follow any telephone conversation up in writing so that you have an audit trail.

If the report has not arrived, don't delay in getting the MR request submitted in time. You don't have to do into great detail at the start. Tell DWP that you will add more information when you have seen the report and that should get you another 28 days in which to get in your information.

At some stage you will need to sit down with the ESA descriptors and decide where you believe your husband should have scored points. Then you should explain clearly to DWP how/why this is. If you believe that you have already made a clear and concise case, you should point out where this information is in your original form.

Our ESA guide explains the descriptors against which your husband is being assessed and also the MR process.

ESA claims and appeals

May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This will allow you to return with further questions or comments about your husband's ESA without having to start a new topic each time. It helps us enormously when everything relating to the same claim is kept in one topic - and I hope you will find it useful too

Just received letter saying my husband received 0 points, was previously in support group.

On reading the letter and the observtions by the person who assessed my husband it appears that she only took into account how he was on that day, not the variability of his condition which is that he has neck and back problems, one day he can be fairly ok and the next or even the same day he can be laid up and unable to move.

When asking for a mandatory reconsideration, should I put down that it would appear that the assessor has not taken into account the variability. Also she asked about painkillers, he did say he did take them but they did not alleviate the pain and that he had side effects, especially with the amitriptyline. She just put that he takes painkillers - should I mention this also.

Thank you for your advisel