esa stopped and told cannot claim jobseekers either?

24hourwork

please can someone help, or give any advice, my partner has been claiming incapacity benefit, and was put onto ESA after an assessment with ATOS, he received zero points and we has to appeal, he is a double transplant patient, and has been on associated medicaton for the past 20 plus years, he was we believe put into the wrong catagory, as he has many illnesses/conditions, one being the swallowing choking probelm that happens when he eats, which makes him choke and be sick whilst eating, now some people are saying he should have been put into the support catagory, but he wasn't and his money has stopped, as he is only entitled to it for 12 months, but we were told if he had been put into the correct catagory then he would still be entitled to his money, so we have then had to appeal against that, but recieved the letter back with the consultant report which is grim, saying that it was basically the end of the line and they were willing to do nothing about the fact the ATOS assessor didn't mention in his assessment that he had a choking swallowing problem, anyway in a nutshell his money has stopped, we cannot appeal, he is too ill to work, but the only choice was to claim JSA, but today we were told that because i work over 24 hours then its tough he cannot claim, so he cannot claim for a single penny? so how does he pay to get to his weeklt GP and hospital visits? for the 48 tablets he takes a day? i am so upset tonight and right now my partner is suicidal, quite literally, no one will give hm a job, because they can see he is too ill to work, he cannot claim anything because i work, and my wage pays the bills and that is all, we lived on the esa money,and right now we do not know what on earth to do, we have no money for food, transport clothing etc, and the thing is no one seems to care as the threshold for everything is 16'000 salary, which i get for working 46 hours a week, its £1035 a month,and the bills come to £1022, i swear this countrys system is out to get more disabled people in the ground, please can someone advise if there is anything that can be done?
Many thanks in advance

Torry_Quine

Sadly he can't claim either JSA or ESA as he can only get income based and as you say that's run out.

Does he claim DLA for care and or mobility needs as that isn't means tested?

24hourwork

he gets dla due to the osteoperosis in knees and spine so he uses that for a car that we can no longer afford to put fuel in, i just cant see a way out of this, he has had his transplant for nothing, no one cares, no one will employ him, he applied for over 100 jobs, and had 1 reply, which an employer stated he wanted someone who had been in regular work recently, the other 99 plus didnt even have the manners to reply, such ashame our country is treating its seriously ill and disabled in this way

sniggings

I believe you can claim again after 6 months and also if his conditions is worse than before, if his condition is worse and his doctor will back you up, I would do a new now, claim with a letter from your doctor as evidence, then try and get in the support group this time.

You would need to read up on the descriptors that are needed to get in the support group, if you know what they are you then know what to tell the atos (scum) as just saying he is unwell will not be enough, you need to say the correct words so they tick the correct boxes, it's all about ticking boxes now.

24hourwork

thank you, in six months time he will be a mere shell of the man he is now, ATOS have destroyed him, i know that sounds ridiculous to some, but its the truth, he doesnt want to even live anymore, he feels useless, he said there is no point in him being alive, he can't get a job, he can't fend for himself, and he knows he will need another transplant, not a nice frame of mind right now, and i fear about the next 6 months, but thank you for peoples kind words

Cpt.Scarlet

sniggings wrote: »

I believe you can claim again after 6 months and also if his conditions is worse than before, if his condition is worse and his doctor will back you up, I would do a new now, claim with a letter from your doctor as evidence, then try and get in the support group this time.

You would need to read up on the descriptors that are needed to get in the support group, if you know what they are you then know what to tell the atos (scum) as just saying he is unwell will not be enough, you need to say the correct words so they tick the correct boxes, it's all about ticking boxes now.

Unfortunately the OPs partner can't reclaim.

First of all they appear to still have an open claim and are probably receiving NI Credits.

Secondly, they don't meet the basic eligible rules for ESA, they won't have any eligible NI Contributions as they were on IB in order to claim ESA(CB) and the OP works too many hours for ESA(IR).

Unless they can provide compelling, new evidence that his condition has deteriorated since the last assessment he can't request a SuperSession to be evaluated for the Support Group.

mikey_bach

What a said situation.
OP what hours do you work, can you claim WTC and HB put your figures in here
http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Cpt.Scarlet

OP

Was the swallowing problem mentioned on the ESA50? There is no specific question for this, so it would have had to have been put in Other Information or something siilar.

Does you partner still have a problem with this? Is your GP able to confirm that this is a problem? Has there been any treatment for this?

If his ESA was stopped because of the 365 day limit, then he should still have an open ESA claim, just no payments, he is entitled to request re-assessment if he can show that his condition has deteriorated or he has a new condition that could result in his being placed in the Support Group.

benefitbaby

For what it is worth these are my thoughts... and all may not be lost.

I am not 100% clear whether you husband had his Atos assessment and was given no points OR he was put in the work-related activity group and he has received the 365 days of ESA before payments have stopped?

If he had an assessment and scored zero points then he can appeal and as long as a medical certificate is sent with the appeal then he will be paid £71 p/w pending the outcome of the appeal. If this is a relevant option then you will need to look at the ESA descriptors (work-related and support group) to ascertain whether your husband's health limitations meet any of the required criteria.

If you husband was put in the WRAG and has received 365 days of payment his ESA claim will not have been closed, he is still on ESA and will need to attend work-focused interviews and his NI stamp will be credited every week however no payments will be made. It is therefore possible to put in an appeal (to try to get into the support group) or should his condition worsen apply for a supersession (change of circs).

Many appeals are successful without supporting medical evidence so don't let this put you off however you do need to understand the process and what happens at an appeal. An excellent website is Disability Rights UK (ESA and appeals sections).

Other options? If you have not yet checked you could see if you qualify for working tax credits, whether your husband's DLA needs reassessing (to include the care component) or possibly housing benefit although I think this is a long shot.

If none of the above is an option then the only thing you can do is look at your household expenditure, could your utitlities/phone/broadband/insurance etc be switched to cheaper providers?

x

pickpocketlocket

I noticed that you posted about in May, and you were having difficulty with the mortgage. Have you spoken to the lender, are you able to reduce to interest only payments?

Is your partner fit for any work, even a few hours? Whilst the suggestions about applying for the Support Group are sound, you need to assess whether you are likely to be successful. No point in going through the stress of an appeal if it is pointless.

If he is able to do some work, it would be worth him doing some voluntary work, both to get some experience but also to keep busy, give him a purpose?

Have you completed a Statement of Affairs and posted it on the Debt Free board? They can help you cut down your outgoings - even if you don't think there are any cuts to be made.