ESA Appeal successful and then not successful...?

Debt_Tired

On 22nd April 2013, my entitlement to ESA was stopped following my annual ATOS assessment. As before I wrote a letter of appeal (plus a more detailed follow-up letter).

On Tuesday 14th May 2013, I telephoned Job Centre Plus (DWP) asking if my letter of appeal had been received. I was informed that it had, and that my ESA would be reinstated, albeit at the lower rate, while my appeal was being processed.

On Wednesday, 15th May I received a telephone call from a women who said that my appeal had been upheld. She did not indicate which department she was with or from which city she was phoning from. The call came up as a “Private Number”. I asked her when my next medical assessment was, and she said in eighteen months time. I was taken aback by this, and she explained that ATOS assessments can be from six months to two years.

Intrigued by the quickness of this decision, the following day (Thursday, 16th May), I telephoned the DWP, who said they had no record of my appeal being upheld, nor was there any record of anyone phoning me. I asked that the matter be referred back to the ESA department responsible, and for a “call-back”.

On Friday, 17th May I received said call-back from DWP, who reiterated what was said the day before: they had no record of my appeal being upheld, nor was there any record of anyone phoning or indeed writing to me. While talking to the DWP my postman delivered a letter. It was from DWP, and dated 15th May 2013. It stated that my ESA appeal “will not be sent to an independent tribunal as the decision has been changed in your favour.”

I have since spoken to the DWP three more times. The department that deals with telephone enquires have said that they themselves are awaiting news from the department responsible for ESA appeals decisions. I mentioned the letter, and it was suggested that I send a copy to DWP.

My mental wellbeing has taken a battering these past few days, which only adds to my deteriorating condition. I ask if anyone else has been told one thing, only to be told days later that they originally made a mistake. I feel like the rug has been pulled from under my feet, and the life sucked out of me. I’m at breaking point. What do I do?

Best Wishes

Debt Tired

rogerblack

Debt_Tired wrote: »

My mental wellbeing has taken a battering these past few days, which only adds to my deteriorating condition. I ask if anyone else has been told one thing, only to be told days later that they originally made a mistake. I feel like the rug has been pulled from under my feet, and the life sucked out of me. I’m at breaking point. What do I do?

It's been my general experience that the left hand only know what the right hand is doing after perhaps a week.
If there is no particular urgency, I would leave it a week, and contact them again.

As a general point - do not expect the people you talk to on the first level of the phone system to be much more educated than the general public.

It seems likely what's happened is that the decisionmaker themselves called you - during this call they may have gathered additional evidence which made them able to decide.
They then generated a letter which was sent to you.
For whatever reasons, this hasn't percolated out to the rest of the DWP immediately.
I believe they have recently modernised, and transfer the records electronically, on floppy disk, carried by barge.

Debt_Tired

My understanding is that my letters go to Sheffield, then are returned to Hull, then perhaps to Grimsby. I did once visited a job centre in Hull. I gave the staff a letter to fax. It was faxed to another location in Hull before being sent to Sheffield (?)...

epitome

What it will be is that the "appeals Section" is separate from your BDC, who are in turn separate from the first level call centre who take your call. So everyone relies on the correct procedure being followed by everyone else. The correct procedure is that every call/every decision should be recorded in notes on your file. This doesn't always happen.

In your case it could be the top level appeals section don't receive a customers request to phone you back, that job will be done by a lesser appeals section at the BDC who rely on notes.

Yes, I've heard of this happening before, and you could wait a week as suggested, or you could have an AJCS (a-jacks) appointment at your jobcentre to have your letter emailed to the BDC and ask the jobcentre to also book you a callback as part of the email service.

But it can turn out that they will say the letter & phonecall were incorrect and the appeal is still ongoing.

Debt_Tired

UPDATE:

I phoned the usual 0845 608 8546 number on Monday to see if they had received my cover letter and a copy of the letter they sent on 15th May informing me that my appeal had been upheld in my favour (the same letter which they denied sending me).

I was told to phone today, so I did. They still have no sign of the above letter being received. I am now told to wait another week. I have asked for a fourth call-back. None of which have been made by anyone within DWP/Job Centre Plus/ESA appeals...

Does anyone have a direct number I can use? I have all lost the will to carry on.

epitome

When did you send in the letter? Post can take upto 2 weeks to arrive, but more generally will be received within 8-9 days from posting.

As I said, phone up & ask for an AJCS appointment at the jobcentre to have your letter emailed across and ask the jobcentre to book you a callback.

There's no point asking for a callbaclk at this time if they have not got your letter and they cannot find that you have won the appeal on their notes. You would just be told the same again "send in a copy of your letter."

Debt_Tired

Ahhhhhhhh, I think they just tried to phone me back, but when I picked up my mobile I accidently hit the End Call button by mistake. Noooooo!

Debt_Tired

Apparently it's my turn to receive a stream of silent calls - probably from some scam artist fishing for numbers!!!

Debt_Tired

AJACS booked for monday @ 9am. My understanding is that a specialist upheld my appeal, which is then sent to those who implement appeals (successful or otherwise). During this transition my paperwork was lost.

Debt_Tired

I don't know where to start really. I visited my local job centre this morning, this to have a letter I received from Sheffield Benefits Centre (BC) faxed back to whoever sent it. This did not happen.

To recap, On 22nd April 2013, my entitlement to ESA was stopped following my annual ATOS assessment. As before I wrote a letter of appeal (plus a more detailed follow-up letter).

On Tuesday 14th May 2013, I telephoned Job Centre Plus (DWP) asking if my letter of appeal had been received. I was informed that it had, and that my ESA would be reinstated, albeit at the lower rate, while my appeal was being processed.

On Wednesday, 15th May I received a telephone call from a woman who said that my appeal had been upheld. She did not indicate which department she was with or from which city she was phoning from. The call came up as a “Private Number”. I asked her when my next medical assessment was, and she said in eighteen months time. I was taken aback by this, and she explained that ATOS assessments can be from six months to two years.

I then received a letter from "DR3" dated 15th May, but today I was told that the letter, which read: “Your appeal will not be sent to an independent tribunal as the decision has been changed in your favour,” was to acknowledge that my letter of appeal will not be sent to an independent tribunal and not the appeal itself.

It mattered not that the job centre have no idea who "DR3" is. This is the only identifying reference to who sent this letter. It also doesn't matter that I had already received a letter dated 13th May stating that my letter of appeal had been accepted: "We will look at the decision that you have appealed against and, if appropriate, we will revise the decision in your favour."

One person tells me that someone has made a decision in my favour, but they don't know who (DR3?) and that they failed to enter the decision on the system, or two people (one of whom is DR3) both sent out letters that conflicted each other. It also doesn't matter that I was told on the telephone that my next ATOS assessment wont be for another 18 months.

What or who is DR3? Where are they based, Hull or Sheffield? Why won't anyone at Job Centre Plus forward any of my call-back requests or letters to the Decision Making and Appeals Team or DR3?

I am told that my appeal (if it has not already been made) will take a minimum of six months. I have lost the will to carry on. My mum died earlier this year and I envy her. I was told on the telephone that my appeal was successful (no ATOS assessment for 18 months) and now...

What's the bloody point in carrying on? I have my last allotted bereavement counselling session today. I am only allowed six, and that took three months to arrange! To my friends I'm sorry, but I've had enough of a system full of contradictions.

Horseunderwater

Why not write to your MP and ask them to intervene for you in this case.