what next ?

Dave

I would not expect your ESA Decision to have any impact on your PIP award, the criteria for Standing and Sitting are completely different from any of the PIP criteria.

There is a Disability Premium paid with JSA if you have a PIP Daily Living award, but be aware that this is not payable with ESA, so if you need the extra money then you would need to stay on JSA until your appeal is heard (if it goes that far).

If you do claim JSA the once your claim is accepted and put into payment then you can present a new Fit Note and be excused from any Claimant Commitment for up to 13 weeks, however, this period you will not be excused although you may be able to negotiate a minimal agreement.

Just so you are aware, if the MR goes against you and you appeal then you can switch to ESA Assessment rate while you wait for a hearing, but as said earlier, this would be less than you would receive on JSA.

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our ESA MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the ESA area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report (ESA85), if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.

Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;

"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"

than their opinions

"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

glimpy123 wrote: If you opted not to claim JSA but then won your appeal would you be entitled to back payment of Severe Disability Payment from the date of the DWP's decision not to award you ESA?

Providing you remained eligible for the Premium then it should be backdated as well, but you may need to contact the DWP to arrange payment as they will likely require you to attest again that you meet the criteria.

Gordon