Thanks, Margaret

The letter stating that he had been put in the WRAG group is dated 8 May - so almost 2 months, but due to the turmoil of losing my mother this was overlooked and not brought to my attention or I would have acted upon it sooner - I would have acted straight away.

Many thanks for that it at least gives us some hope that things can be turned around in the middle of all this mess. I will contact the job centre tomorrow and explain the situation whilst at the same time lodging and appeal.

Nystagmite Welll, maybe he should just go and hang himself and be done with it then. Really, If you can't provide some sort or an empathetiic response then maybe you would be better not replying at all. This is people's lives (what's left of them) that the DWP is playing sick games with.

The form was completed with similar information to that submitted when he applied and was award higher rate disability living allowance - the only think I can think of that was missing is that we did not include any medical evidence to back up the claim - now we do have a letter which hopefully will allow us to eventually turn things around. My partner is hardly able to walk and is in pain all the time - he is on high dose Buprenorphine patches, intra-articular steroid injections into his spine and shoulder joints. This whole thing is making him suicidal.

Thanks everyone for you help. I will not contact them but simply lodge the appeal and and letter explaining the difficult circumstances. We are going to attend the work focused interview on Wednesday as scheduled but will present a copy of the letter from the GP stating that he is not fit to work and see what happens there. Again many thanks for your help.

Hi Margaret Thanks once again for the invaluable advice given. You state: My personal approach to the present situation would be to complete sections 1 - 7 of a GL24 form and then type/write two separate responses to section 8 on word docs or separate sheets of A4, with the extra sheet being your partner's reasons for the late appeal. Does this mean you wouldn't contact the DWP by phone at all and just launch into the appeal with the reasons for it being late. I have to do all the paperwork and everything else because in reality he is unable to read or write, which gives us another reason for a late appeal. He is very ashamed of this and we did not include any reference to this on the original paperwork because of this. He also wouldn't not be able to use a keyboard or hold a pen for any length of time due to the arthritis in his fingers. Many thanks once again.

Margaret - many thanks for the advice - sadly my partner has now found the letter stating quite clearly that he is in the Work Related Activity Group and dated 7 May and he didn't think it necessary to bring this to my attention - possibly because I had just attended my mother's funeral 5 days earlier. I won't put what has been said between us over the last few hours as I have now also been informed that he is also receiving £160 less in benefits as a result of this. I have been looking at the appeals process and I am going to contact them on monday and see if they will reconsider in light of the fact that I have a GP letter which clearly states that he is not fit for work. I will hopefully be able to use our recent bereavement to our advantage when I contact them. Nevertheless I would welcome any advice with regard to approaching the DWP on this matter. What I can't understand is with the information presented to them of the ESA50 they have put him in this group without a medical when it clearly states the diffiiculties he has on a daily basis in detail. Disabled people are really being treated appallingly with no consideration whatsoever of their ailments. Talk about kicking a man when he's down.

Thanks for the advice, we will appeal this and present a copy of the GP letter as evidence. He also fits the criteria for several other sections too which the GP has highlighted in the letter.

He can't propel a manual wheelchair or other aid as the arthritis affects his fingerrs/wrists/shoulders - basically the whole of his body is affected

thanks

Hi Everyone My partner is severely disabled with generalised osteoarthritis and limited mobility and he recently filled in an ESA50 questionnaire detailing the extent of his disabililty. He has now received a letter whose heading states Work Focused interview for Employment and Support Allowance and it would appear that he has automatically been placed in the Work Related Activity Group and not the Support Group. He has not had an Atos medical which I thought was the next step in the process after filling in the ESA50 if there was any doubt as to whether he can work or not. Could someone please tell me if they can bypass the need for a medical assessment in this way - what I have understood is that he should be having a face to face interview with an Atos qualified advisor for a Work Capability Assessment before he is placed in one of the two groups. Nevertheless as all the information relating to this new benefit is so confusing, maybe we have misinterpreted something along the way. After 12 years on incapacity benefit he was also recently sent a P45 - he quieried this with Job Centre Plus who knew nothing about it and referred him on to the Inland Revenue who couldn't explain it either. Obviously now it clearly relates in some way to the ESA process. We now have a GP letter giving evidence fo the nature of his condition and that he can't walk 50 metres without serious pain and discomfort which ought to automatically qualify him for the support group - whether it does or not remains to be seen. I would welcome any advice and support on this matter. Many thanks Debbielou111

Hi I have just received my latest BT telephone bill only to find that I have been billed from £21.00 for a call duration of less than 13 minutes made to the Directory Enquiries company 118118. I called requesting the telephone number for a local bank and the call to 118118 lasted no more than about a minute, however I did accept their offer to connect me (obviously a big mistake). I was at no time during this called told by the 118118 operator of the cost per minute for the connection. Is there anything I can do or anyone to complain to about these thieves. Thanks in anticipation of your replies Debbielou

We were given the instruction manual but the we filled in the guarantee registration card and the installer took this away with him saying that they would fill in their part and send it of to W-Bosch. I am currently trying to get in touch with Worcester-Bosch to see if it is actually registered with them.

I'll get on to Worcester-Bosch tomorrow - thanks for the advice.