Kicked off ESA. Options?

Alice_Holt

Re HB & Council Tax support.
It is a good idea to let your local authority know why your ESa has stopped.
They may assume it has stopped because your have found work, particularly if the UC claim is yet to register. Ask your HB office for a nil income form.

This will help prevent rent arrears & a HB problem to resolve.

Re your ESa appeal, you may find this info useful:
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-appeals
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/while-youre-getting-esa/challenging-an-esa-decision/
http://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/178163/mandatory-reconsideration-request.pdf

If you can't get specialised CAB help with the appeal, it is worth considering subscribing to benefits and work (c.£20) as their guides are very helpful.

Good Luck.

Alice_Holt

Some more info here:
http://www.advicenow.org.uk/tags/benefit-appeals
http://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/how-win-pip-appeal

The How To Win a PIP Appeal guide is really helpful on the appeal process (which is virtually the same process as ESa appeals).

For instance these bits are really helpful when you are preparing for the tribunal -

"For most people, the thing that is of most help is written evidence from their GP or other doctor. If you have a social worker, community psychiatric nurse, occupational therapist, or other professional, evidence from them will be very useful too.

The most useful evidence will explain how your illness or disability affects you, and the help you need (paying particular attention to the descriptors that you meet). This is unusual, so your doctor/social worker etc may not understand that. So give them a copy of the activities / descriptors.......

......You should think about keeping a diary of the help you need each day. It will help the tribunal panel to get a proper understanding of your situation. It is particularly helpful if your illness or disability isn't the same every day. Keep a diary for a month if you can (but a shorter time will also be helpful). It can be brief. Include everything that is connected to the activities’ that entitlement to [ESa] is based on.

If you get help from somebody and find this sort of thing hard, you could ask them to keep a diary of the help they have given you instead (as an alternative to the letter - see above).......

.......f you (or someone who is helping you) are good with writing, you should think about writing a statement for the tribunal. These can be very useful as they set out all your points, which means that you don't have to remember everything to say on the day. They also give the panel time to think about what you’ve said and why you should be getting the benefit before they meet you."

starlord84

Alice_Holt wrote: »

Re HB & Council Tax support.
It is a good idea to let your local authority know why your ESa has stopped.
They may assume it has stopped because your have found work, particularly if the UC claim is yet to register. Ask your HB office for a nil income form.

This will help prevent rent arrears & a HB problem to resolve.

Re your ESa appeal, you may find this info useful:
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-appeals
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/while-youre-getting-esa/challenging-an-esa-decision/
http://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/178163/mandatory-reconsideration-request.pdf

If you can't get specialised CAB help with the appeal, it is worth considering subscribing to benefits and work (c.£20) as their guides are very helpful.

Good Luck.

Thank you for the links and advice Alice. Now, If i were to send off the letter of appeal, would i need to send a GP letter along with it, or should i seek this out if it progresses to tribunal. Also, if they reconsider my request, and decide to go to tribunal, how long would you assume it would take to get there.Let's say for example, if they accept my appeal and reinstate and back pay me. How long would it be before i would have to attend tribunal? Thank you.

Alice_Holt

Of course, the appeal process is now 2 stage.

The first stage is to ask the DWP for a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) of their decision.

My experience is that the DWP rarely change their decision on MR, so my judgement (others may take a different view) is to get the MR completed ASAP using medical evidence and information you have readily to hand. Go through the ESa descriptors carefully and set out fully the case for why you should have been awarded the necessary points. See:http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/med2/indexxx.php

I'd get this MR stage done ASAP, because at the next stage (appeal to the Tribunal Service (TS) ) your ESa payments can be re-instated pending the TS hearing. Specific Info here: http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/benefit-during-employment-and-support-allowance-dispute

Stage 2 is the appeal to the TS.
This is done on a SSCS1 form (http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/hmctsformfinder/sscs001-eng.pdf)
A copy of the DWP response to your MR has to be attached. DO opt to attend the hearing, then you can explain fully to the panel.

Once this form is submitted and the DWP have it logged then you can ask the DWP to resume ESa payments. (Be insistent as often ill-informed DWP employees are not aware that this can be requested).

You can then send further evidence diectly to the TS in readiness for your hearing.
This might include further evidence from your GP (very useful if they are supportive, you can see them and show them the ESa descriptors, and their letter relates directly to the appropriate descriptors); evidence from family, carers, friends; your statement outlining to the TS why you should be awarded Esa; your comments on the DWP reasons for not awarding the benefit and the validity of the WCA.
It is best to keep your submissions to the tribunal brief, to the point, and relevant to the ESa activities.
(Think of the panel's reaction to the info you send them).

As to timescales - difficult to say, it does vary according to the TS workload. But in total a couple of months from requesting an MR till the TS hearing date.

So, in summary, get the MR request in ASAP to the DWP. Same with the SSCS1 form to the TS.
This enables ESa to be re-instated.
Then follow up with relevant evidence and post this to the TS, so the panel have all the relevant evidence when your hearing is held. (It will be local).

starlord84

What do you think is the best course of action for me. Is it wise to sign on and appeal, or should i do one or the the other? Or can i do both, and will will this affect me if they reinstate my ESA?

pmlindyloo

You are getting a bit confused about this.

We cannot tell you whether you need to appeal or not.

As Alice has said before you appeal you need to ask for a mandatory reconsideration (where they look at the decision again). This needs to be done within ONE MONTH of the decision.

It is only after the MR and they do not change their decision that you appeal.

Can you get to CAB or a welfare advisor? They would look at the statement of reasons - the letter saying how the assessed you - and your medical evidence and advise you about whether they think you have a good case.

Or you can ring the DWP yourself and say that you want a mandatory decision and then write to them with your reasons and any medical evidence.

Whilst they are looking at their decision again you cannot claim ESA. If they do not change their decision at MR then you can appeal and go to a tribunal. Whilst you are waiting for the tribunal date you can go back onto ESA.

It is best if you can get some help with this.

Because you cannot claim ESA during the Mandatory Reconsideration time (about 2 -4 weeks) you will have to claim either JSA or Universal Credit.

Basically, if you decide NOT to challenge the decision then continue with your UC claim.

If you decide to challenge the decision then you may have to claim JSA instead of UC because most areas in the country will not allow you to claim UC whilst you are appealing an ESA decision.

Sorry, it is complicated so asap try to get some professional help.

Alice_Holt

starlord84 wrote: »

What do you think is the best course of action for me. Is it wise to sign on and appeal, or should i do one or the the other? Or can i do both, and will will this affect me if they reinstate my ESA?

If you feel the ESa decision is wrong, then I think you should definitely start the appeal process.

As to the other options it rather depends. Only you can decide this.

The only benefit income option currently available to you is JSa (or UC if that is operating in your area). You can sign on whilst continuing your ESa appeal

Could you cope with the claimant committment?
It may be that because of the money position this is what you have to do.
If so, make the jobcentre aware of your health conditions.

The potential disadvantage with this, is that the ESa tribunal panel may think that if you're able to cope with the JSa claimant committment then certain ESa descriptors may not apply.
If this does come up at your hearing then you could explain to the panel -
- that JSa was the only income available to you;
- that dealing with the process was very difficult for you and made your health worse, etc
- that you asked for your ESa to be re-instated when the appeal was accepted by the TS.

This has to be your decision based on your situaution and health. You may have no option but to do both.

I can't remember if I have mentioned Section 29 & 35 in my previous posts.
If a return to work would pose a significant risk to your health (or others in the workplace) then you can be awarded ESa regardless of the points scored:
http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/esa-and-substantial-risk

PS. I also think you should follow pmlindyloo's suggestion above and see the CAB about your appeal. Benefits law is complicated - so any help you can get is worthwhile. I hope the links I have provided are useful, but speaking to someone may help you more.

Good Luck.

moneysavingscouser

starlord84 wrote: »

What do you think is the best course of action for me. Is it wise to sign on and appeal, or should i do one or the the other? Or can i do both, and will will this affect me if they reinstate my ESA?

Sign on whilst appealing. This will help you in that the DWP cannot force you to work or carry out the 30 hour job search per week. They will leave you alone until your appeal comes up.

Don't worry about zero points because most people get that, no matter how serious your disability might be.

They call our medical assessment centre 'Lourdes' due to the fact the lame can walk, blind can see and anyone depressed is 'cured' by some servant of the state.

Gaz1971

I got zero points after my medical assessment, but the decision maker called me and after we spoke, put me in the support group for a year.

starlord84

Well im going to write an appeal letter this week and post via recorded delivery as advised, but i am also going to try and sign on until a decision is made.

I say try, because that is all i can do seeing as i have just got back from from the jobcentre, and i don't think it went very well. I was booked in to see someone named John at 9:40am, only to be sitting in reception for ten minutes and upon enquiry was told that they didn't have my name booked on the list, and because i'm a new claimant i should be waiting up stairs. So upstairs i went and waited a further 10 minutes, and again on enquiry was told there is no appointment for me, and nobody named john. Luckily a woman popped her head round the corner and said she'd see me.

I was told that she'd found my appointment after digging around on the computer, and this was an evidence appointment only, and that i would need to come back for the main appointment if i had all the required i.d, which according her, i did not.

I provided my birth certificate, tenancy agreement, utility bill, bank statement and an expired photo i.d. But I was told that my birth certificate needs to be the complete one with my parents details on it, and the photo i.d must be an in date passport, drivers licence or the like photo i.d, i told her i didn't have these things, and she said they may not accept my proof, but she photo copied my stuff, booked me another appointment for tomorrow at 2pm, told me to wait for a phone call from the evidence woman who wasn't in yet, then sent me on my way.

I don't know if these are the requirements for all branches of the new benefit system, but this universal credit seems tricky compared to years back when i used to get jsa.

Also, when i told the lady i was on ESA, she asked whether i planned to appeal their decision. I just said no, because that may prevent me from claiming U.C. Hopefully this does not hamper me, and they don't ask me to declare it with a signature.

All in all a stressful day, maybe another tomorrow. That is if they don't ring me and tell me not to bother due to lack of I.D. I would be in a tough spot then, because all the i.d she wanted would cost me money and time i don't really have at this moment.