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From Incapacity (Exempt Category) to WRAG group

  • helen777
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11 years 2 weeks ago - 11 years 2 weeks ago #100543 by helen777
I'm just crushed. After returning my ESA50, I've had a call to tell me that I've been placed in the WRAG group, without a medical. I won't bore you with the details but my health problems are so extensive that I can't leave the house for weeks at a time yet I've just been told that if I don't attend the Job Centre, I might lose my benefit. This was just about the last thing I needed to hear at the moment and I don't know if I have the strength to fight. Has anybody here successfully moved from WRAG to Support and in what kind of timescale? I just feel so beaten down. Evidently the DSS doesn't believe me nor the doctors that have been treating me for so many years.
Last edit: 11 years 2 weeks ago by . Reason: Tick.

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11 years 2 weeks ago #100551 by Gordon

helen777 wrote: I'm just crushed. After returning my ESA50, I've had a call to tell me that I've been placed in the WRAG group, without a medical. I won't bore you with the details but my health problems are so extensive that I can't leave the house for weeks at a time yet I've just been told that if I don't attend the Job Centre, I might lose my benefit. This was just about the last thing I needed to hear at the moment and I don't know if I have the strength to fight. Has anybody here successfully moved from WRAG to Support and in what kind of timescale? I just feel so beaten down. Evidently the DSS doesn't believe me nor the doctors that have been treating me for so many years.


Welcome to B&W, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is.

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy at being placed in the WRAG.

We regularly have members moved from the WRAG to the Support Group, although I will not hide the fact that it is often been hard work and taken a long time.

We recommend that you Appeal rather than ask for a Reconsideration. An Appeal includes a Reconsideration so you lose nothing and may well save several weeks or even months if the DWP do not overturn the Decision.

So there is an opportunity to overturn the Decision in the short term, if you can either provide the DWP with new evidence or show how ATOS and they have have misinterpreted the evidence you have already provided. There are no statistics for turnovers at this point in the process, but members have been successful,

Reconsiderations can take from four or five weeks to four or five months.

If the DWP do not overturn the Decision, then your flile will be passed to the Tribunal Service for an Appeal hearing, these are taking around six month to be heard, but you can continue to submit evidence that is relevant to the original Decision. The success rate for an Oral hearing, that you attend, is about 40% and even higher if you can get good representation.

I am afraid that appealing will not excuse you from participating in Work Related Activity, although it should mean that you are not forwarded to the Work Programme, and whilst any actions you are asked to perform must take into account any limitations that result from your condition(s), you do run the risk of having your benefit sanctioned.

Please have a look at our ESA Appeal guide and it may help to also look at our Claim guides on the following link

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

You should also have a look at the following FAQs

Is there any risk to challenging a decision?

How long do I have to appeal?

How to submit an appeal

ESA medical – what forms to ask for?

Qualifying for the Support Group

Disability Rights UK Factsheet - Appeals and reconsiderations

Preparing for a Tribunal

MOJ Video of ESA Appeals Process and Tribunal

12 Month Limit for ESA(CB)

Do I have to attend WFIs while I appeal?

If you have any questions, then please reply to this post and we will do our best to answer.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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