Partner is in WRAG, should be SG. MR unchanged.

Hello,

I subscribed a while ago after finding out about your services. Unfortunately this was long after I'd sent off my partners initial form last September, but before his face to face assessment in February. I'll try and keep this concise as possible.

My partner has severe social and general anxiety disorder, as well as moderate depression. He isn't suicidal, but often feels the world would be better without him in it. He also has generalised hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) which affects his quality of life greatly. Typically this has a cause behind it, but after years of doctor and hospital visits, we haven't found it out yet. He seems to be resistant to antidepressants, of which he's tried quite a few and therapy/CBT hasn't helped him either. He has previously received ESA and was put in the support group, I personally feel his mental health has worsened in the three years since he was on this. He also had a PIP assessment, which was rejected because he was given the choice of "talk, or we throw your claim out anyway" and when he managed to utter words, they said he could talk fully.

I currently do anything social for him, including going downstairs to make drinks/food so he doesn't have to encounter my parents, who we live with and he is anxious around. I make all of his phone calls for him as he is incredibly phobic of phones, fill out forms and attend appointments with him, where I speak on his behalf if he is unable to (though I try to encourage him to speak for himself where possible). He can't go out on his own and struggles to use public transport, I drive him if possible. He doesn't come with on shopping trips, I go with my mum instead.

He had his F2F assessment for ESA in late February after the assessment centre cancelled his early-February assessment when we were 5 minutes away, which caused him to panic as he doesn't cope well with change, especially with very little notice - it took us a lot to come on the bus and mentally prepare for it, just for them to do that.

Anyway, we attended this late-Feb assessment and we had the usual problem where my partner was unable to speak to the person assessing him. He was scraping at his arm, picking at his nails, little destructive things like that while nervously saying one word at a time with pauses in between. He explained his concerns around how he was treated at his PIP assessment and was assured that wouldn't happen here.

Around 10 minutes in, the assessor said they didn't want to put him under too much duress and he acknowledged he was presenting with this in how he was acting. He offered to re-arrange the appointment but we both said that he'll just be the same any other day so it wouldn't make any difference. A home visit was offered but again, because talking about himself is the issue, it wouldn't have made any difference so he nodded when I suggested we try and continue.

After they agreed, we presented the medication he is currently taking, told him the dosage and was asked if he did anything outside. We said he might visit his mother (with me driving him there) once every few months and how he responds to his sister on messenger if she contacts him first. We told them that he can only speak to my parents if they speak to him first and even then it's very quiet and few words. We mentioned that we went to Morrisons at 9pm the previous week because we had to get some food and we went at that time and that in the previous month, he was a passenger in my car as I ordered a Drive Thru at a Burger King.

The report says that he is able to go to Burger King and go shopping as if he can do it all the time. The report says he was "muscular" and "well kempt" (he's neither fat nor skinny, but he's hardly well built. It's like they're trying to make out he uses a gym or something. He also has a beard that he doesn't keep trimmed. It states he isn't seeing anyone for his mental health, even though it says elsewhere in the report that he *is* seeing someone. It's basically full of lies.

So anyway, we applied for a Mandatory Reconsideration through citizen's advice. we were not able to get extra evidence (we previously supplied a GP letter stating he was unable to talk to people and the assessor scoffed at this and said it wasn't the GP's job to decide that) in time, so we sent it off anyway, because I read on here that if the assessor could not change the decision in our favour, they would try and call, giving us another month to get evidence. Nobody did.

On the 9th of May, we received a letter stating his mandatory reconsideration has kept his initial decision to put him in WRAG intact. It states he can be expected to do telephone interviews as a "low intensity" activity, which is beyond outrageous. He has an appointment tomorrow and he's absolutely terrified. I hate seeing him like this, I don't know what to do anymore. We can't face a tribunal, he's too anxious. Can anyone help please?

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you Gordon. After finding out tribunals aren't held in a court room, my partner is prepared to attend an oral hearing, but I need to find out if I can speak on his behalf.

I don't have a copy of the ESA50, but I do have the text that I wrote copied on to the computer. I didn't use a guide while writing it sadly and I feel it's making his anxiety look a little better than it actually was. That said, the assessor could see the distress he was in.

Anyway, I wanted to ask if I could use some data on here as evidence. Namely, these two:
( * ) From the Revised WCA handbook page 38 about coping with social engagement - "The revised Social contact where the claimant requires to be accompanied should be disregarded. Due consideration should be made as to whether being accompanied is a requirement or a choice / preference."

I need to be with him when he leaves the house or has to go to an appointment. I have to speak for him as he is unable to do so. I frequently ask him if he needs me to do a social task for him and he always says yes, he clarifies it's a necessity, rather than a preference. He can only talk to me without severe anxiety and if it's about his health or anything to do with him personally, he becomes difficult to talk with due to the anxiety.

I believe for the above reason and the text I quoted, my partner should be awarded the "Engagement in social contact is always precluded due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the individual " descriptor and placed into the support group. I say this because any social contact where I am required to be present should be disregarded, am I right in stating this in the appeal? I mean he can't even talk when I'm there anyway!

( * ) DWP guides -> Evidence Based Protocols -> Anxiety -> page 3
It does not state "rocking" is a symptom and the assessor said my partner did not show signs of anxiety because he wasn't rocking. Is this usable evidence to call his assessment into question?

Thanks again, I'm going to gather as much evidence as I can before I send this off.

Hi Gordon, thank you for your reply.

I have taken the liberty of screenshotting and highlighting the data I quoted on each page. Short of linking the files directly I don't know how else I can show you. They were both found within the "members only guides" section though. Either way, here they are:

( * ) Members Only Guides -> DWP guides -> Evidence Based Protocols -> Anxiety -> page 3
i.imgur.com/Gn5YER3.png

( * ) Members Only Guides -> From the Revised WCA handbook page 38 about coping with social engagement
i.imgur.com/sR89AlI.jpg

The problems we has when he's on his own are the same really, it's just he wouldn't even be able to show up to any appointments/travel to/book anything in the first place without me.

I don't know how I can show how he is unless his GP took note of his lack of speech and anxious behaviour at his appointment where we requested a letter and she thought to include it.

Surely the tribunal people know about assessor's lying in reports by this point? My partner was coerced into speaking at his F2F assessment on threat of it being rebooked (would have been just as bad but two incidences of it so he didn't want to do that), but it wasn't anything close to normal social contact, I was there and it certainly caused him "significant distress" due to his "difficulty relating to others". His speech when forced to talk went from "I... I.... <gasps> I... <nervous laugh>" to "I... I guess <nervous laughing/breathing>" in response to questions the assessor asked. I don't know how to argue this, would they accept a statement from myself and my mother (who we live with) pointing out the struggles he has with social contact?

Thanks again.