Incapacity benefits stopped, help needed.

shadowcamper

Hi there,
I have been in Incapacity benefits for several years, i have several physical and mental conditions, i've been assessed before with no problems and recently my health has has taken a downturn so was shocked after a recent atos medical assessment carried out by a barely qualified nurse, I have been informed today my benefits will be stopped in just over 2 weeks and i will receive a letter in the post confirming this. It's a month from christmas and i have no money coming in and i don't know what to do, i have suffered severe depression and agrophobia for years have been hospitalised for my own safety through it, this nearly tipped me over the edge earlier, what do i have to do to prove i am depressed open an artery?
I have good friends and family who have cheered me up and preventing me from doing something stupid, but i don't know what i'm supposed to do next, or how i'm going to pay bills, i don't consider myself in a good way for job seeking currently as i'm likely to just burst into tears, any advice welcomed!
As for anyone else going through this hell, don't let it lead you into doing something stupid, though with the stress i can see how easy it would be.

themull1

I think that there is an appeals process that you have to go through. Contact the office that did your assessment.

DanielUK27

After you have told them you want to appeal you can claim income support a 80% rate whilst you wait. The income support will only be about £54 a week on the appeal rate.

As for the appeal. The people in there were really friendly; there really is nothing to worry about in that respect. Even the guy at reception wished me luck and congratulated me when i left the building. I am no longer worried about future appeals at all.

For the appeal i did the following.

I applied for all previous documents from previous medicals i had previously passed. I also applied for the detailed breakdown of the most recent one i failed. (If you want the form names let me know)

After i received them i took there so called 'evidence' to why i didn’t get points for each descriptor. I copied it all out in a word processor, and underneath countered all the points i disagreed with, and then included my version of events.

Next i got a copy of all my medic records from the GP, its cost me £50 but it was well worth it in the end. It had years of me attending the surgery complaining about my problems and referral notes from specialists.

I highlighted specific sentences within the medical records, and wrote a covering letter for it all stating that the medical examiners answers to why he failed me doesn’t match my problems according to my medical record, or my statement i originally sent in with the IB50.

As an example: i got 0 points for sleeping problems. Yet throughout my medical records it repeatedly stated sleeping problems. So i highlighted them all, and told them this in the covering letter.

The medical records also proved i had not gotten any better since the previous medicals, so it was just nonsensical that i failed this time.


On the day of the appeal, they seemed very happy with all the paperwork i had sent in previously. They appreciated the background evidence from medical records as they haven’t got much to go on normally. (I actually found a study that stated judges wished this was available by default, hence i submitted mine)

When i got there, they just asked general questions, no grilling no trick questions, they even said they could have probably decided just based on the paper work i had submitted.

I’m willing to go in more depth if you like, i could even show you my word processed letters. You have plenty of time to do all the above, i sent most of it 7 days before my tribuneral date.

Just make sure you tell them you want to appeal promptly PM me of you have any questions.

All the best.

paddedjohn

you can still apply for jsa.

Cpt.Scarlet

shadowcamper wrote: »

Hi there,
I have been in Incapacity benefits for several years, i have several physical and mental conditions, i've been assessed before with no problems and recently my health has has taken a downturn so was shocked after a recent atos medical assessment carried out by a barely qualified nurse, I have been informed today my benefits will be stopped in just over 2 weeks and i will receive a letter in the post confirming this. It's a month from christmas and i have no money coming in and i don't know what to do, i have suffered severe depression and agrophobia for years have been hospitalised for my own safety through it, this nearly tipped me over the edge earlier, what do i have to do to prove i am depressed open an artery?
I have good friends and family who have cheered me up and preventing me from doing something stupid, but i don't know what i'm supposed to do next, or how i'm going to pay bills, i don't consider myself in a good way for job seeking currently as i'm likely to just burst into tears, any advice welcomed!
As for anyone else going through this hell, don't let it lead you into doing something stupid, though with the stress i can see how easy it would be.

This must have been an ESA assessment as they haven't done any IB ones since before March.

You can appeal the decision and will receive the ESA assessment rate while you wait for a hearing. You need to complete a GL24 fro the appeal and will need to provide Fit Notes untill your case is heard.

Get some advice from your local CAB or Welfare Rights. If you can put a good argument together with some evidence you might be able to get it overturned in 6-8 weeks.

DanielUK27

Oh if yours was ESA then the IS bit in my previous post wont count. I assume you cannot claim IS at appeal rate when failing esa?

mum2one

if you fail ESA I think you can put in an appeal and would stay on esa whilst the appeal was going through, if not you would be expected to go onto jsa.

Theres been quite a few threads about failing esa, so if yoy have a pop on to the main section then down the lists, there will be someone that is further down the process than you so give you an idea.

You've had some brilliant advice from DanielUK x

Adereterial

Just because you passed previous medicals doesn't mean that you will pass one now, even if the condition has not changed. This is because the descriptors on which the assessments were based changed.

For example - the old descriptors meant that if you could not WALK a certain distance then you got points. Now the descriptor has changed to use the word 'mobilise' rather than 'walk.' So, if you previously passed on the basis that you could not walk the required distance, but you can cover the same distance in a wheelchair etc, you would now not get those points.

So, your previous assessments were based on different descriptors and you have now been assessed on the new ones - the new ones look at overall functionality for some work - you don't get points for agoraphobia, but you may have got some for depression, but not enough.

LadyMorticia

Adereterial wrote: »

Just because you passed previous medicals doesn't mean that you will pass one now, even if the condition has not changed. This is because the descriptors on which the assessments were based changed.

For example - the old descriptors meant that if you could not WALK a certain distance then you got points. Now the descriptor has changed to use the word 'mobilise' rather than 'walk.' So, if you previously passed on the basis that you could not walk the required distance, but you can cover the same distance in a wheelchair etc, you would now not get those points.

So, your previous assessments were based on different descriptors and you have now been assessed on the new ones - the new ones look at overall functionality for some work - you don't get points for agoraphobia, but you may have got some for depression, but not enough.

Does the bit in bold only apply if you can self-propel? I'm in a wheelchair but I can't self propel and don't have the concentration to be able to mobilise in a powerchair. My DH has to push me.

camlo

Just a small point - your assessment was done by a Nurse- there is no such thing as barely qualified, newly qualified perhaps but believe me training is tough and should not be belittled.
Good Luck with your situation- hope you get the decision you deserve and if the asst was not sufficient hopefully you will get chance to answer that.

rogerblack

camlo wrote: »

Just a small point - your assessment was done by a Nurse- there is no such thing as barely qualified, newly qualified perhaps but believe me training is tough and should not be belittled.

I'd disagree with this.
A nurse who's had 20 years experience in Oncology, and dealing with patients may be very good at assessing someone with cancer, but barely qualified and trained with regards to someone who's got mental illness problems.

LadyMorticia wrote:

wheelchair

The wheelchair referred to is an unpowered one, that you need to be able to self-propel.