Where to go after appeal loss

Hi,

My partner suffers from chronic back pain, severe depression, diabetes and anxiety. He was given zero points from his assessment (we didn't find this site until midway through appeal). Unfortunately, we weren't able to go to the appeal because he wasn't well enough to get there and he's been told today that it's gone back to tribunal but gone in DWP favour. Please can anyone give advice as we don't know where to go from here.

Many thanks Claire

He is on ESA

Your partner can only take this claim further if there was an 'Error of Law' at the hearing. The first step would be to ask the Tribunal Service for a 'Statement of Reasons', this must be done within one month of the date of the decision. Whilst awaiting this (it can take some time to be sent) it is worth trying to find a Benefits Advisor who can look at the statement to see whether there might be any error.

Tribunals – Requesting a Statement of Reasons

What is an Error of Law?

If an error is found, permission can be sought to take this to the Upper Tier Tribunal. If not, I'm afraid this claim cannot be taken any further.

Depending on how long it is since the original decision, it might be only possible to reapply for ESA if your partner can demonstrate a worsening of his condition, or a new condition. Even then, it is possible that he will not be paid anything until a face2face assessment has been carried out.

Does your partner claim DLA/PIP? It might be possible to claim this for ongoing health problems/disabilities, the criteria are different from the ESA criteria.

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

It might also be possible to claim other benefits, such as free prescriptions or housing benefit, on the grounds of low income. I suggest he puts his details into one of the on-line calculators to see if he is entitled to anything.

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 partner's ESA without having to start a new topic each time. We ask members to keep everything relating to the same claim in one topic as it helps us enormously - and I hope you will find it useful too

Thank you for the speedy reply!

He was on ESA before because of his back and depression.

We put an appeal in in December last year and he was advised to go onto JSA back then but wasn't until after several months was told that he should have only been on that until the appeal was registered.

When he spoke to DWP today she just said that it'd gone back to the tribunal. Can I ask what that actually means?

Also, they said they'd write to us but will they put in writing what happened in court?

He does get help with rent and council tax but we're unsure what happens now. He's been signed off from working (not that he doesnt

I don't know what DWP mean when they said it had 'gone back to tribunal'.

All you can do is wait to get the decision letter from the Tribunal Service, this should be with you in just a few days. They will not automatically tell you exactly why they made their decision, this is where the 'Statement of Reasons' comes in.

I'm afraid your partner's sicknotes/fitnotes will make no difference if the decision was that he did not meet the ESA criteria.