£100 lost by not attending ESA appointment

SnooksNJ

Deleted_User wrote: »

Oh hardy har har. P.S Some places will actually pay, regardless if you work the day or not. When I worked at the council in the housing department, this was the case. A fellow worker who shall remain nameless, took every Monday off, and was paid. And I know the council were still paying for "sick" days, till at least a couple years ago. As my cousin and his pals were working for the council, and yep, they were all doing the "sick" days too. No wonder they are like 30 million in debt.

Perhaps you should get a job at the council if getting paid for not showing up is what you require.
In the meantime I would invest in a really loud alarm clock.

[Deleted User]

SnooksNJ wrote: »

Perhaps you should get a job at the council if getting paid for not showing up is what you require.
In the meantime I would invest in a really loud alarm clock.

I never actually implied that, and I never once took "days" off when I worked at the council. Well not intentionally anyway. Unlike my fellow coworker in our department.

I just find ESA to be a complete contradiction. On it for being sick and unable to work. Yet, penalize you (in my case a whole weeks money) for being sick and unable to attend an appointment.

allison445

If this is some sort of sanction can you not ask for a mandatory reconsideration and explain the facts to them.
I can understand what people are saying in when they say its only once a month but without details of your health condition and how it affects your every day life I find this a little judgemental yes you slept in but there were mitigating reasons.

ab1982

Maybe they are just jealous of your can do attitude and reluctance to shift blame so targeting you.

missbiggles1

Deleted_User wrote: »

Just received a follow up call from the DWP, and the woman told me they have every right to take away 1 weeks benefit from me. I said well personally, that's crazy taking away £100 for missing an appointment. She said well, just like everybody else, if we miss appointments we lose money too by charges etc I didn't say this as it didn't cross my mind during the call but, who the hell would lose a weeks money by not attending a doctors, dentist, etc appointment?

She finished off by saying, you only have to do minimum tasks such as attending once a month appointments, and you failed to do that.

What a rude woman.

What did she say that was rude?

GirlFromMars_2

It is absurd, that there isn't a simple easy to follow way of cancelling an appointment when you are too sick to attend, especially if you are on ESA.

Sadly however that's the way the system works.

Of course if they ever want to get ESA claimants off ESA they're going to need to find employers with a more relaxed attitude to sickness & disability. Luckily before I was too sick to work at all, when I worked part time I had very accommodating employers who allowed me to catch up when I could, and didn't niggle over the days I was slightly late, or sick.

Have you tried contacting the CAB and asking them to help you be moved into the Support Group? If your condition is so variable that you may or may be unable to attend monthly appointments then you may not be capable of Work Related Activity.

missbiggles1

Deleted_User wrote: »

I never actually implied that, and I never once took "days" off when I worked at the council. Well not intentionally anyway. Unlike my fellow coworker in our department.

I just find ESA to be a complete contradiction. On it for being sick and unable to work. Yet, penalize you (in my case a whole weeks money) for being sick and unable to attend an appointment.

You don't get ESA for being too ill to work, you get it because you meet certain criteria.

missapril75

There was a report in the guardian a couple of days ago of a woman working 35 hours a week but still got 'fined' about £200 I think, for missing an appointment.

They might be "the rules" but that doesn't make them fair. It's way out of proportion.

As a former DWP employee I have used the "all you need to do is turn up for signing once a fortnight" many many times.

But that's in getting into an argument about the inevitable late payment for late signing. That's a whole world away from the punitive stuff they're doing these days.

Glad I got out when I did.

[Deleted User]

Just checked my bank, and I did indeed receive my ESA benefit. However, it/s worse than I expected. Instead of the usual £204, I received £3.10.

Next 2 weeks will be a struggle. 22p a day.

System

missbiggles1 wrote: »

You don't get ESA for being too ill to work, you get it because you meet certain criteria.

Whilst you're correct ESA is seen as the benefit for those unable to work due to sickness/disability, otherwise they'd be on JSA/UC

In regards to the OP, the best thing that you could have done was to ring on the day you were ill to inform them you wouldn't be able to make it. Whilst i agree you can't see in advance when you're going to be ill, the best practice is to inform as soon as possible that you can't get in. I;ve had to do it with work when i;ve been up all night and too ill to come in. Obviously they might still have said this wasn't acceptable, but if its meant to reflect working conditions they should have least have recognised an effort to inform them.

I'm not sure you'll be able to appeal the original decision, but the best thing you can do now is confirm your work provider can confirm your attendance for you most recent appointments so you don;t lose more money.