ME Sufferer ESA/WCA – moved from WRAG to Support

This is just update

My son is a long term ME sufferer along with depression and various stomach problems/ mineral deficiencies related gastric surgery.

He received a letter this morning stating the DWP were upholding his claim and moving him from WRAG to Support Group.

I am gobsmacked, relieved and delighted

His claim goes back about 11-12 years. This is the 4th WCA he has had. He has always been in the WRAG group. His last reassessment in June 2015 awarded him 6 points and he went through the appeal process for the first time and won. To be honest I expected to have to do the same thing again.

The WCA about two weeks ago was a strange experience and different in tone to his previous ones. The lady was a neurological physiotherapist. She was running about 90mins late . She made a point of stating his form was very detailed regarding his depression and anxiety and therefore she would update that herself what she wanted to concentrate on was his ME. It lasted 25 minutes less than all previous ones and she asked him solely about his ME. It did not seem as forensic and probing as previous assessments. She stated a few times that she was just 'updating' information. He came home feeling far less battered than by previous ones. We were still concerned as to how the information she gathered would be presented and interpreted by the Decision Maker.

However WRAG to Support Group we did not expect at all. It has no future reassessment date on the letter- is this normal?

I hope this gives a little bit of hope and encouragement to ME sufferers out there.

Would the local Jobcentre have access to this information? We have been seeing one lady from there regularly pretty much the whole time of his claim and also after he finished his time on the Works Programme .

I don't know how much information the JobCentre will have, they certainly don't have access to details of the claimant's medical information. I guess there is no harm in asking!