ESA - MR help

poppy12345

tazwhoever wrote: »

Looking at my MRN, I see the reasons why I remain at WRAG. How can I challenge the reasons (Law)?

What surprises me, my health is still bad as before. Initially when I claimed, I sent 35 letters and this time I sent 150 letters!

At the same time, I do not want to risk my claim.

Any advice?

Sending 150 letters is no use if they don't specifically state how your conditions affect you. You need to look closer at the reasons you think you should be in the Support Group and the evidence you've sent to support this.



There's no risk to taking it to Tribunal. If they plan on removing an existing award they have to warn you before doing this by either contacting before the hearing, or warn you on the day of the hearing and then adjourn it for you to decide what to do.

tazwhoever

Thanks Poppy, the first claim 35 letters were also included in the second assessment. Plus the first claim illnesses were also included in second assessment. So I don't see why they lowered my award?

calcotti

As poppy said the number of letters is irrelevant. The assessment is not about having diagnosed illnesses it is about what you can do that would enable you to do some form of work.

poppy12345

Exactly, ESA is about the work you can do and not the work you can't do.

tazwhoever

Two questions

1. When I applied for ESA in 2014 to 2018, I was placed in SG without F2F. Can I get this report from DWP to help me fight my case now?

2. In 2018 after reassessment, I was placed in WRAG on my health without F2F (MRN was the same). One of the conditions I suffer from is Hep B.

On ESA test (http://www.mybenefitsandwork.co.uk/med2/indexxx.php), as I have notifiable disease and taking medicine for it, I feel I am put into WRAG automatically but not sure. Will I continue to remain in this group unless my health gets worse (can I be found FFW)?

Thanks

Tomsdottir

tazwhoever wrote: »

Two questions

1. When I applied for ESA in 2014 to 2018, I was placed in SG without F2F. Can I get this report from DWP to help me fight my case now?

2. In 2018 after reassessment, I was placed in WRAG on my health without F2F (MRN was the same). One of the conditions I suffer from is Hep B.

On ESA test (http://www.mybenefitsandwork.co.uk/med2/indexxx.php), as I have notifiable disease and taking medicine for it, I feel I am put into WRAG automatically but not sure. Will I continue to remain in this group unless my health gets worse (can I be found FFW)?

Thanks

1.A tribunal is not necessarily going to attach much weight to a report describing how your condition affected you several years ago, as what they are looking at it how your condition affected you on the date of your WCA. However, if your condition hasn't changed, you can ask the DWP to ensure they include the decision notice and your previous ESA50 in the appeal bundle, which will be sent to you (and your rep, if you have one) before the hearing. See http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/ask-cpag-online-esa-problem-areas-challenging-decisions for info about challenging ESA decisions.

2. You are treated as having lcw (= in the WRAG) if you have been given official notice not to work because of being in contact with an infectious disease, rather than because you have a notifiable disease.

This is well outside my area of expertise, so my apologies if I'm wrong about this, but my understanding is that it's acute infectious hepatitis which is a notifiable disease (rather than Hepatitis B in general). I hope this won't be seen as a dispute with what you're saying - I just wanted to be clear about both aspects of this rule, and how it might apply to you.

The DWP have the discretion to reexamine your condition at any time, so they might not wait until you told them your condition had changed. They carry out periodic reviews for many conditions.

If you were previously in the support group and your condition has not improved then it's certainly worth pursuing an appeal. The success rate at ESA appeals in the first quarter of this year was 70% https://www.scope.org.uk/press-releases/pip-esa-appeal-rates-soar .

tazwhoever

Tribunal

I am undecided whether to take my ESA claim further to tribunal but getting things prepared.

My health has been the same throughout the past years and have been hospitalised few times because of epilepsy (suffer from few conditions including incontinence) recently. My group was changed from SG to WRAG this year. Both times it was based without face to face.

What information / documents do I need from ESA people to strengthen my case?

Is it better to attend the hearing or let it be based on papers? What is the success rate for each option?

Any other valuable advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

calcotti

tazwhoever wrote: »

Is it better to attend the hearing or let it be based on papers? What is the success rate for each option.

I don’t think the official statistics distinguish between results for face to face tribunals and paper based appeals.

However the general view is that it is usually better to attend the tribunal if you feel able to do so. The tribunal will take notice of how you are and what you tell them. Attend as yourself - don’t dress up etc. The tribunal will ask you questions to help them reach a decision having looking at the paper evidence to decide which areas are likely to most affect the decision.

poppy12345

tazwhoever wrote: »

Tribunal

I am undecided whether to take my ESA claim further to tribunal but getting things prepared.

My health has been the same throughout the past years and have been hospitalised few times because of epilepsy (suffer from few conditions including incontinence) recently. My group was changed from SG to WRAG this year. Both times it was based without face to face.

What information / documents do I need from ESA people to strengthen my case?

Is it better to attend the hearing or let it be based on papers? What is the success rate for each option?

Any other valuable advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

The question regarding evidence has been answered a couple of times. What you need is evidence that proves how your conditions affect you based on the reasons you think you should be placed into the Support Group.


It's always better to appear in person at a Tribunal hearing. Currently there's a 71% success rate for those that do appear in person, it drops down to less than 10% for those that ask for a paper based hearing.


There's no risk to taking it to Tribunal so i'm unsure why you wouldn't at this point. The Tribunal would warn you if they think your current award is at risk. They would do this by either contacting you before the hearing or the hearing would take place to tell you it's been adjourned because of the risk of losing your current award.

poppy12345

tazwhoever wrote: »

Tribunal

What information / documents do I need from ESA people to strengthen my case?

Not sure what you mean by this. It's your responsibility to prove those descriptors apply to you not theirs. You need to send the evidence to strengthen your case to HMCTS.