ESA Appeal

jon1965

Hi
i have hesitated to post on here because so many people have made party political and judgmental comments and to be fair I have accused a few of being Daily Mail readers !
However ...here goes

On may 11th I have my ESA appeal. I am still on the assesment rate due to failing my interview. My sick notes all sign me off for stress/anxiety/depression and my Doctor , although intimidated by the state has filled out a form that will help and stated that my condition varies wildly from day to day.

A few questions, do you think it would be worthwhile to keep a diary for a week or so recording my mood, sleep patterns, activities, feelings etc or will they just see that as trying to blind them?

The biggy though is this...what is probably a major reason for my poor mental health is the fact that after I was sacked last year I was arrested and 6 months later charged with a major fraud (I do not believe that I am guilty of what I have been charged with but there is no doubt that i did some things I shouldn;t have. However I did not profit from any of it as has been suggested).
This is still ongoing . I have been to court but the CPS have yet to provide the evidence that they have. If found guilty the max penalty is 10 years
Anyway obviously this is having a pretty heavy effect on my day to day mental health

Would you tell the appeal panel about this or is it irrelevant?
I do think that as well there are deeper issues here .

Any non judgemental advice would be helpful...what is done is done and I will have to face the consequences

Muttleythefrog

I think it's important to never lose focus of the descriptors and target all of your thinking regarding the appeal around them... which ones apply, which ones have you documentary evidence for and, yes, perhaps a diary that covers some relevant information in relation to them. I've not seen people typically referring to use of diaries regarding ESA unlike say DLA... the latter is awarded for typical day to day activity as opposed to ESA which has quite a different approach regarding qualification and so diaries probably are much more helpful for DLA. I would be inclined not to go into the underlying reasons for your mental health problems unless asked... since it may invoke (although shouldn't.. people are fallible) a political response in the panel and is largely irrelevant unless looking at possible duration of expected illness.

The form your doctor has filled out could be very helpful at appeal if relevant information regarding descriptors. It's important to also note that evidence should be 'timely' in the sense it is applicable around the time of the decision you're appealing against... so a diary of what happened to you the week before the tribunal could conceivably be rejected.

jon1965

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

I think it's important to never lose focus of the descriptors and target all of your thinking regarding the appeal around them... which ones apply, which ones have you documentary evidence for and, yes, perhaps a diary that covers some relevant information in relation to them. I've not seen people typically referring to use of diaries regarding ESA unlike say DLA... the latter is awarded for typical day to day activity as opposed to ESA which has quite a different approach regarding qualification and so diaries probably are much more helpful for DLA. I would be inclined not to go into the underlying reasons for your mental health problems unless asked... since it may invoke (although shouldn't.. people are fallible) a political response in the panel and is largely irrelevant unless looking at possible duration of expected illness.

The form your doctor has filled out could be very helpful at appeal if relevant information regarding descriptors. It's important to also note that evidence should be 'timely' in the sense it is applicable around the time of the decision you're appealing against... so a diary of what happened to you the week before the tribunal could conceivably be rejected.

Thank you for your advice. Yes I will just focus on the descriptors. Alas for mental health they are so much more difficult to prove.
The note from the Dr should help although he has ticked his opinion and signed it but not put the reasons. He told me that it was all terribly political at the moment and DR's were being called to justify every single word they wrote and saying "I have known the patient for 20 years and this is my professional opinion " no longer counts