Esa stopped after medical

[tigga_1961]

hi i had an atos medical (use the term loosely) last week and today found out that my esa has been stopped, obviously i am going to appeal the decision but my question is, i am aware i can keep getting esa while i appeal but do i have to re-apply or will this continue when dwp recieve the appeal form, this is my only form of income £64.30 per week so not sure what i need to do next any help appreciated, also what will happen to housing ben/ct do i need to inform housing office.

[ErikaPNP]

They should restrart payments when they receive your appeal form (at the assessment rate), but you will need to continue to send in your sick certificates to receive the benefit.

[adamrao]

Housing benefit office might ask you to provide proof of income as usually they get this internal memo from Jobcentre that your ESA has been stopped. Dont forget to send your sick notes to ESA ppl. Once you have sent your appeal to ESA they will write to you to say you will carry on getting the payments till your appeal is heard. Please forward that letter to Housing Benefit Office so your Housing and Council tax benefit claim stay unaffected.

 

Do you know how many points you have been awarded in your medical assessment?

[tigga_1961]

hi thanks for the replies, i dont know how many points i got, they only managed a small sentence in the middle of 3 pages to say as result of atos medical my payments would cease, appeal going off first thing monday as this is the only income i have, no savings or anything else.

[honeybee13]

Hello there Tigga. If you do need to go to appeal, and I hope you don't, you should ask for a copy of your medical assessment. Other people on this forum have done that and proved that their score was wrong. It takes a while to plough through it, but it worked for me.

 

Good luck, keep us posted.

[adamrao]

Tigga!

 

honeybee is absolutely spot on. You can request for a copy before you go to the tribunal.

 

You need 15 points to qualify for ESA.

 

On Monday when you are filling GL24 (appeal form), do mention about your health problems and how they are affecting your ability to work. You can either take it to your local joncentre or post it to the local benefits delivery office (address is usually given on the top right side of their letter). You can also fax your appeal form, just given them a call on their number (usually 0845) and ask for their fax number.

 

Dont forget to send your sick notes before the previous one is runs out.

 

Once DWP has received your appeal they will then 're-look' into your claim again. It is very important you write all about your illness in the appeal. Now the outcomes:

 

- they will either revise their previous decision and make a new one in your favour and your ESA entitlement will be reinstated

 

or

 

- they will decide not to change their decision. In that case your appeal will be passed on to the tribunal service. DWP will then send you and your welfare rights caseworker (if you have one) a big bundle of documents: the decision, your medical assessment score along with the atos doctor's detail report (the descriptors on which you were and were not given points), the copy of ESA50 form you filled previously and the decision maker's review of your case.

 

After receiving these docs you will be sent an Equiry Form by thr Tribunal Service. You will be given an option if you want to appear infornt of tribunal for oral hearing. I would suggest you to go for oral hearing as it gives you opportunity to explain everything about your health problems along with the supporting documents e.g. medical reports, letter from GP or consultants, medication etc.

 

All the best and yea - keep us posted.

Edited January 23, 2010 by adamrao

[RaeUK]

As already said tigga, keep us posted. You are by no means alone! [by several thousand...].

If your appeal goes passed a decision maker and on to the tribunal, you should receive your complete medical papers amidst a whole bumpf of DWP stuff trying to justify their decision. Mine certainly was!

Good luck.

Rae.

Edited January 24, 2010 by RaeUK
type o

[Nick]

They should restrart payments when they receive your appeal form (at the assessment rate), but you will need to continue to send in your sick certificates to receive the benefit.

 

Payment can be re-instated at the assessment phase by contacting your Benefit Delivery Centre by phone, you then have 14 days to get the appeal in and keep supplying medical evidence

[RaeUK]

Good point Nick. I was trying to recall how my decision to appeal went - it's several months ago now. IIRC I was on the phone to my DWP call centre when they noticed I'd failed the medical. It came up in conversation something like this [i happened to be lucky and had spoken to the same person several times and they understood my condition]: 'OMG, you haven't passed the medical! Er, I think you'll be wanting to appeal!' they then gave me all the help I needed, I received and returned the appeal forms pronto and there was no real stop in the benefit flow. As for HB and CTB, my council wrote to me saying my benefit had stopped, I called them and said I'd appealed, they checked on the system and could see that was the case and told me not to worry about it any further.

All in all, to be fair, a very positive and helpfull experience from all involved.

Rae.

[tigga_1961]

thanks for all the advice, i have appealed against the decision sent off the form and a 2 page letter explaining the problems i have, but there is couple of things i forgot can send in an amendment to the appeal letter? btw just received letter today stating i go nil points, so like others anything i said was ignored:eek:

[ErikaPNP]

Yes you can send in additional information as it isn't yet at tribunal.

[tigga_1961]

thanks for that erika, just after thinking about it i done 2 pages but could add a lot more now that i have recieved the score sheet

[bruce2010]

Hi tigga, I'm in the same boat but your about a week in front of me. Good luck and I'll keep am eye on this thread so I can get a weeks notice about what to expect;).

If I come up with anything I'll let you know.

Jimi

[tigga_1961]

update today recieved whole waft of dwp papers as its been sent to truibunal service , i sent off extra letter 2 weeks ago as im awaiting xray results and now on very strong painkillers for my back and dwp havent recieved them even tho sent recorded delivery,,, as its now gone to appeal can i send these again, they also state i didnt send any infor from medical professionals i have been waiting 3 months for my referral to health in mind so dont have a therapist until 5th may and would of thought my dr signing sick notes would of been enough, any advice appreciated thanks