ESA - Med Cert Problem

skintmacflint

While trying to sort this out can the OP not request a Short Term Benefit Advance to tide him/her over meantime, based on fact his ESA claim is still live, and it looks like his appeal has been approved.

mejjo203

Morning everyone,

I have had a phone call from the DWP benefit centre, the lady on the phone explained the medical certificate still hasn't been processed and she explained i've called your GP Surgery this morning to confirm the dates on the certificate and she has actioned those dates on my claim. She also mentioned about the £15 charge they were asking for, she said the Surgery should NOT be charging me for a duplicate certificate, she said the DWP actually own those medical certificates and she said we actually pay the GP's for writing them out.

Also, she mentioned my Tribunal Appeal, she said by the time this med cert runs out my appeal maybe actioned however she said sometimes the Tribunals make an error on the law and its now not uncommon that the law is missed at a ESA Tribunal, This has got me even more concerned, I'm just now starting to worry that my appeal win means nothing and they will find an error with the law and appeal further to upper tribunal.

On a side note she also said a same day payment has been made and will be in the bank by 5pm today. So its all good news with the payment but worrying information about the appeal.

mejjo203

Afternoon all,

I had another phone call from the DWP today, it was from the department that handles appeals and medicals, they have told me a decision maker has looked at the Tribunal award ( They looked at it on the 12th November ) And they have decided to accept the award and have placed me in the support group. I am very surprised after reading here that they will probably request a statement of reasons. I don't know if it made a difference i had my MP involved throughout this situation, either way i'm over the moon that its sorted, they told me that they will now process the claim to make sure its updated for me in the support group and will calculate arrears due. I was under the impression this was going to take weeks to sort, the DWP originally told me 6-8 weeks, However they have managed to sort it out and decide on the Tribunal notice just 6 days after i had the Tribunal.

Maybe it is because my MP was involved or the DWP simply don't have a long back long with appeals ( i find that hard to believe )

TELLIT01

Your MP getting involved certainly won't have slowed the process down that's for sure :-)

epitome

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Sorry, but the 'advice' being offered by certain parties lately is at best misleading and at worst plain wrong.

In what way?

The simplest way forward to resolve the missing med cert is to get ESA to call your GP for confirmation of issue. You should phone your GP to let them know that ESA will be calling and you give permission for them to provide the requested information.

Isn't this exactly what I just said?

It's my understanding that GPs are not allowed to charge for medical certificates required for benefit purposes, even if it is a duplicate. However, you aren't exactly in a position of strength if arguing with a bolshy surgery.

No comment from me, I didn't reply to this issue

As has been stated on another thread, using Recorded Delivery or any other tracking of post to DWP is a waste of time and money. All post goes to a central sorting facility and the signing for documents will take place there. That simply confirms that a package has been received at the sorting facility. It doesn't confirm the content of the package and it certainly doesn't confirm that the contents have been received at the processing office. Save your money because it doesn't speed the system up.

This is your opinion, in reality, the DWP have a responsibility under DPA not to lose documents.

The suggestion to 'tell them to find your documents' is futile. Many thousands of items are received every day and sadly, but inevitably, some do get lost. They might get caught up in items for another office or another person, sent to the wrong office completely etc. so the chances of a single misplaced item being found are slim to none.
The reality is that if an item hasn't reached its destination within about a week the probability is that it won't get there at all.
The basis for this assessment? Too many years working within the system!

Again, the DWP has to have sufficient security measures in place so that they do not regularly lose documents. A complaint to the DWP & ICO should always be made in circumstances like this, where there is a record of delivery, in an attempt to get things changed. It doesn't really matter what is in the envelope, what matters is, that the DWP can't find the envelope, let alone what was inside. And in any event, the sender's testimony as to the contents will be good enough for the ICO, especially when that is supported by the DWP's request for those documents to be sent by the sender.

I see you and me as:
you being an ostrich with it's head in the sand.
and me as a meerkat, always on alert, always looking to make things better.

If you start out as a defeatist you will always be defeated.

epitome

richard9991 wrote: »

GPS are bound to give information to DWP and as for the claiments permission this is given in the Decleration when making the claim

This is true, but try telling that to a surgery receptionist. And there is the issue of not knowing the person calling is definately from the DWP. So what some surgeries do is ask the DWP to fax the request and then for the DWP to call back.

epitome

mejjo203 wrote: »

On the reverse side of the Tribunal award it does have an explanation why they have used Regulation 35, They have explained what would happen if i was found capable of work related activities, I don't see what more could be said on a Statement of Reasons,

Thank you for all you advise

Some Tribunal centres are probably wise to the fact that the DWP routinely asks for SOR when there is a Reg 29 or Reg 35 so they may have (as in your case) started to anticipate the DWP and supplied the reasons for the use of Reg 29 & 35 in the original decision notice from the tribunal.

mejjo203 wrote: »

I'ev learnt a lot about this whole process, I can't wait for it to be done and dusted with, I'm very pleased the Tribunal was awarded to me, It just seems its such a long process even after winning it, From the statements of reasons to Upper Tribunal, But i'm aware they can only do this if they find an error in law, and i've read that's rare,

What is the point of them requesting a SoR if they can't refuse to award me the ESA as i won my tribunal?

They can refuse to pay you, until they have seen the SoR, and if they then decide to go to UT, they can refuse to pay you (the extra component) until the UT case has been finalised

They must believe they can find an error in law to request the SoR as there isn't anything else they can do with the SoR.

They are looking for unjustified use of Reg 29 & 35, if the SoR does not give substantive reasons, and a sound basis for those reasons then, "an error in law" will have been found.