Question about ESA appeals

Chaffymars

This month I was bumped off ESA after being assessed in September. In the letter that notified me I was told that I could appeal, so I obtained the relevant (GL24) form, followed its instructions, filled it in and posted it. Today I telephoned jobcentreplus with a query regarding the date of my last payment - the person seemed very confused and took me through the appeal process which I already knew, however they mentioned that with the GL24 form I should have included a medical certificate from my GP.
Is this correct? Will my previous GL24 be ignored because of this? I'm very confused. All of the literature I've been sent, downloaded from their website or read makes no mention of the necessity of a medical certificate at this stage.
What should I do? Is it 'safe' to send a medical certificate separately with a covering letter notifying that it is regarding an appeal I previously initiated?
Thanks for reading this far!

rogerblack

The GL24 will not be ignored.
The medical certificate is irrelevant to it, as it covers a period after the decision.
It's relevant only to your continuing claim for assessment rate ESA during the appeals process.
You need to ideally get a new medical certificate, backdated to the date of decision that you were fit for work.

As always, photocopy anything you send, and if you can, send the photocopies.
Always send everything by some tracked service, never just drop it in the post.
They do lose stuff, and if you have proof you posted it, and they received it, they pretty much can't argue with you and win.

Chaffymars

rogerblack wrote: »

The GL24 will not be ignored.
The medical certificate is irrelevant to it, as it covers a period after the decision.
It's relevant only to your continuing claim for assessment rate ESA during the appeals process.
You need to ideally get a new medical certificate, backdated to the date of decision that you were fit for work.

As always, photocopy anything you send, and if you can, send the photocopies.
Always send everything by some tracked service, never just drop it in the post.
They do lose stuff, and if you have proof you posted it, and they received it, they pretty much can't argue with you and win.

Hi, and thanks for your quick response! and advice:)
I can not be sure as the agent I spoke to on the phone had a foreign accent that was quite difficult to understand, but I think they said something about adding a note to my case to say I would be sending a medical certificate, would this change anything if true?
I apologize for not being sure but at this point was quite anxious.

Thanks again!

rogerblack

It would mean that as long as you get in your certificate promptly, there may be no gap in payment.

Chaffymars

rogerblack wrote: »

It would mean that as long as you get in your certificate promptly, there may be no gap in payment.

Ah, that's a whole different problem. In my original post where I said I phoned them - that was to query a "last date of payment" date which they gave in the letter they sent; they say I will receive my final payment on 7/12/11 which I thought was odd as that's three weeks away. According to my bank statement the last payment I had was on the 9th. I was due another on the 16th but haven't had one.
Their letter is dated 14/11/11 so I think it's likely my benefit was halted at that time. If that's the case however, why would they tell me that I will get a final payment almost a month later?
Is this just the way they work? Because it makes no sense.
I gave up trying to get a straight answer to this question during my call as the agent didn't seem to understand what I was asking. That's when the confusion regarding medical certificates and appeals came up.

Thanks again.

rogerblack

They can, when you phone up, if you sound reasonable, treat you as if you've sent in a new medical statement for a couple of weeks or so.
This will allow your benefit to continue.
Letters, unfortunately, can be unreliable.