ESA decision making process is an DISGRACE.

doyouwantfrieswiththat

Hi all just looking a little advice.

My father had a kidney transplant last year, but unfortunately it hasn't give him the quality of life he had hoped for.

He is constantly tired, his lack of concentration is woeful and his pysical is not good, he cant lift things walk for long as he gets really bad cramps in his legs.

Now, 6 weeks ago he attended this ESA medical assessment, I also attended as I am his registered carer (he is also recieving DLA). Anyway a letter arrived today saying basically 'you are fit to work' and scored 0 POINTS.

This is absolutely ridiculous, my father is very upset and he thinks the DWP think he is trying it on (I can assure he isnt) the man worked for over 30 years paying ridiculous amount of Tax and NI and now when he needs help they dont give a hoot. My mother is typing appeal letter as I type. The fact that a non-medical person makes the decision makes me so angry!

Has anyone else had these sort of problems with DWP?

dave030445

doyouwantfrieswiththat wrote: »

Hi all just looking a little advice.

My father had a kidney transplant last year, but unfortunately it hasn't give him the quality of life he had hoped for.

He is constantly tired, his lack of concentration is woeful and his pysical is not good, he cant lift things walk for long as he gets really bad cramps in his legs.

Now, 6 weeks ago he attended this ESA medical assessment, I also attended as I am his registered carer (he is also recieving DLA). Anyway a letter arrived today saying basically 'you are fit to work' and scored 0 POINTS.
This is absolutely ridiculous, my father is very upset and he thinks the DWP think he is trying it on (I can assure he isnt) the man worked for over 30 years paying ridiculous amount of Tax and NI and now when he needs help they dont give a hoot. My mother is typing appeal letter as I type. The fact that a non-medical person makes the decision makes me so angry!

Has anyone else had these sort of problems with DWP?

Iam afraid you are not alone many of these so called medical assessment are a joke the whole thing needs to be scraped and a new way of doing things started. Loads and loads of people score 0 points and go to appeal and win with loads of points.Which proves the medical assessment are a joke. So tell your dad not to worry and make sure you start the appeal within 1 month from todays date good luck hope it all works out for your dad in the end.

FTW

The DWP Decision Maker just green-stamps the Atoss report - there's no expertise involved on their part.

Get all of the medical evidence (from GPs/specialists) that you can, and appeal. If you look through the report that the DWP have based their decision on, you'll notice it'll more than likely by filled with falsehoods, half-truths and outright lies.

Then, use that evidence to pick apart each and every untrue aspect of that report.

And if they call him in again, it's worth audio-recording the assessment without telling the assessor he's doing it. It's not illegal to do this, and is further invaluable evidence for contradicting a false report.

Alison_B

My son has bladder problems and cannot last longer than 15 minutes before needing the toilet. He has been on ESA for a couple of months although he had to finish college at the beginning of the year. He has been under the doctor and the specialist at hospital and is due to have an operation in a couple of months time to hopefully rectify the problem. He attended a medical with ATOS in July and although he was only in for 10 minutes, had to go to the toilet twice. He received a letter giving him 0 points also and they have stopped his money. Wish that they would find him employment where the business would allow him to go to the toilet all the time.

doyouwantfrieswiththat

FTW wrote: »

The DWP Decision Maker just green-stamps the Atoss report - there's no expertise involved on their part.

Get all of the medical evidence (from GPs/specialists) that you can, and appeal. If you look through the report that the DWP have based their decision on, you'll notice it'll more than likely by filled with falsehoods, half-truths and outright lies.

Then, use that evidence to pick apart each and every untrue aspect of that report.

And if they call him in again, it's worth audio-recording the assessment without telling the assessor he's doing it. It's not illegal to do this, and is further invaluable evidence for contradicting a false report.

It makes me so angry!

one of things myself and my father told this so called 'doctor' is that he has very loose bowel movements and has to be very careful yet under that section it was scored 0! also i have to now drive my father everywhere as his concentration is now real bad and cant drive, we told her this yet under that section where it says 'getting around on your own' - 0!

debbie_doo

same thing happened to a family member of mine last year, 0 points and he has an arrray of illnesses! The ATOS medical was a joke, as was the report we received afterwards, I even phoned the DWP and asked if they had sent someone elses report by mistake lol!! I was also (like yourself) very angry and DWP just did not care, his money was stopped straight away and then we had the on-going SAGA of appealing etc, try not to get to stressed out you'll just keep winding yourself up ( I was) you've just got to carry on from here now and appeal all the way - the appeal panel we saw (after waiting 10 months) were brilliant and said family member scored way over what was needed!! which just goes to show doesn't it? I have very little faith in the system after what I have experienced and pray every night for my good health to continue, keep your chin up and turn your energy from anger to determination to fight this all the way. I have no doubt that your dad will be fine at tribunal, it's just the waiting thats the problem...good luck x

doyouwantfrieswiththat

Thanks for all the advice guys! while we are appealing does my dad get his ESA?

debbie_doo

I'm not 100% but I think I've read that you receive the basic rate ESA while appeal is on-going, not sure how much that is tho, or what your dads on at the moment? I think it's about 67 quid a week, my fam member was on IB so he had his money stopped completley!! and didn't qualify for any other benefits! grrr...

doyouwantfrieswiththat

debbie_doo wrote: »

I'm not 100% but I think I've read that you receive the basic rate ESA while appeal is on-going, not sure how much that is tho, or what your dads on at the moment? I think it's about 67 quid a week, my fam member was on IB so he had his money stopped completley!! and didn't qualify for any other benefits! grrr...

At the moment hes on £199 a fortnight, but im sure i read to it will got £67 a week while appealing. Thanks Debbie for all your advice, Im trying not to get angry but its so hard!

debbie_doo

no probs hun (I'm assuming your female) or no probs mate if not lol, I was exactly the same, I felt like I was screaming inside most of the time, and it's also upsetting watch your family go through this 'game' with the DWP, who I have no time for whatsoever, we asked them twice to look at my fam members decision again but they wern't interested, tried to explain what had happened at the 'medical' etc - not interested!! IMHO they just see it as a way of trying to 'save' money, god know's how much it's costing for all these tribunals though, plus because my fam member won his appeal they now have to pay him almost a years worth of back money!!! ha...trouble is some ppl give up without fighting and then they've won, my fam member wanted to give up on more than one occasion because it was getting them down... I was like NO WAY am I going to let this injustice pass! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!! xx

outtawork

I recieve ESA at present.I am expecting a medical soon, I have obstructive sleep apnoea and have a CPAP machine to use at night plus Rhumatoid arthuritus in my right knee, 3 operations in the same knee, but not going to get any better. What are the chances of being failing the medical.