ESA appeal

SPurvis76

Hi everyone

I hope someone can help with some advice. Apologies for the lonfg post trying to get all the info in. My husband is about to have his tribunal fr his esa. On his original assessment he only got 9 points even though he passes out 1-2 times weekly especially when exerting himself due to having problem with his nose, he also cannot be left alone for too long and cannot travel alone or cook himself incase he passes out and injures himself. This has led to depression worsening as you can imagine. I believe that he should get the 15 points for his passing out alone. We have copies of hospital appointments that are coming up and his gp is writing an in depth letter explaining why he is unable to work at prsent till his nose is sorted (i think it is due to a reduced oxygen level that he passes out??). He has tried to work and passed out on his first shift and an ambulance was called, not a good advert for a good employee. My main question is if he fails this appeal can he restart a new claim as he was originally told back in april that he was fit to work. If he cant then he will have to claim JSA and he will get no money as I earn just over the threshold but we cannot manage without his benefit as we are already struggling with debt payments (I am looking at BR at present).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

XXX

Cookiee

Hi SPurvis76.

We went through something similar. OH was given 0 points and we appealed. You need to get your OH to write down how his condition affects his life as this is very handy to have in the appeal (wish we did it as we remembered loads afterwards we wished we had mentioned).

If you have all the medical advice, notes, appointments etc and have sent copies of this to the appeal. They will review this and hopefully change the decision. Read through the ESA medical report and make notes which you feel you should have had more points.

I know it is difficult but when your in the appeal, your OH has to state this all himself. You will also have an opportunity to say your contribution at the end on how it also affects you.

I believe, and hopefully someone will confirm this, if you fail you can claim ESA again 6 months after you were told your OH was fit to work. So if your OH was told he was fit to work in April then from October he can make a new claim. However this is only if your OH condition has gotten worse or there is a new symptom.

I am not sure about JSA but I believe they can make a plan out for your husband if he was put onto JSA.

I am also just overt the wage threshold and was struggling with debt. Have you posted on the debt board? They have helped me and you will be surprised if you speak to your creditors as well as your normal bills how they can help.

When is your appeal date?

Good luck and let us know if there is anything else I can help with x

Muttleythefrog

Sounds like you have a particularly helpful GP. If viable it could be very useful if he writes in terms of the descriptors in his letter... i.e. if he could state the descriptors he thinks applied to your husband at around the time of the decision in April. Focus on the descriptors... it's important your husband doesn't understate his problems but gives a frank account of them at the tribunal. Important too that you both read through all the papers before the tribunal so you know what is claimed by both sides (DWP and their evidence, and husband) and therefore you know where to focus your efforts and direction in answering the questions.

Regarding if the wheels fall off and things don't go as planned at tribunal. I understand you can re-apply with the same medical problems 6 months after the DWP decision... so that limitation will have passed after this tribunal. The 6 months waiting period can be ignored if the claimed conditions have significantly worsened or are different.

amus

If he were to win his appeal he would get his ESA backdated from the date he would have got it had he originally passed the WCA. If he were to loose he could make a claim within 6 months of an old claim however it would be up to a decision maker as to whether to allow it or not.

Did you send all the supporting evidence you have from your GP in with your ESA50?

SPurvis76

Thank you everyone for your advice. We havent sent the gp letter in as we are taking it with us as we have only just got it today so hopefully they will accept it. Our appeal date is on wednesday so fingers crossed, I will update you when I can

rogerblack

Cookiee wrote: »

I believe, and hopefully someone will confirm this, if you fail you can claim ESA again 6 months after you were told your OH was fit to work. So if your OH was told he was fit to work in April then from October he can make a new claim. However this is only if your OH condition has gotten worse or there is a new symptom.

This isn't quite correct.
On the least important bit - it's 6 months after the decision was made - this may be a couple of days prior to the notification.
More importantly, the 6 month limit is for applying again without a change in condition.
If there is a worsening in condition, you can make a fresh claim at any time.