HELP PLEASE

[John5]

Hello all, I am back again . I got a letter back from the DWP and i have been told i have been put into the work related scheme thingy , I have posted here before about this and you have been a great help so far , well here goes , I am being given the run around by the DWP its driving me nuts , I am going to make a claim to let them know that i feel i should be in the support group not the one they have put me in, I have been in touch with the welfare rights and also the Advice center , I have to fill in a GL24 form and they will help me to do this , If you saw my post before , you will know that i am almost house bound and there is no way i can get to the job center for interviews ect , I have many illnesses , I asked the DWP for a copy of the Atos medical report but they wont send me one , in fact they wont send me anything at all . I have phoned them around 5 times now and its not an 0800 number so its costing me a lot of my money just to ask them whats going on and why they wont send me a copy of my medical report . My GP wrote to Atos when all this started asking them if they could visit me at home due to my illness , I have asked if she will write to them for me , but she said if they want any information they can write to her, I know they wont do that as she will charge them for a letter . I am at the stage of asking her to do a letter for me and i will pay for it just to sent it back with the GL24 , When the Atos DR. came to visit me , he said himself i wasn't fit for work , and he could not see there being any problems at all as long as my GP were to agree with what i told him , Well no one has been in contact with my GP at all , she hasn't heard a word from them . If anyone has a free phone number for these people i would love to have it , also any advice you guys can give me again will be a great help , as time is getting on and i know i only have 28 days to appeal .

[Yankee_Doodle]

You may want to consider taking legal advice as they may have breached the Equality Act 2010 and if you are not being offered adjustments to their usual procedure to accommodate your condition but you need to get legal advice.

If you are on a low income then you are entitled to free legal advice under the legal aid scheme as there is still legal aid for disability discrimination. There is a general legal advice line for people who are experiencing discrimination which it is important to sign post people to and here are the details.It is actually run by people employed by Disability Rights UK.

gov.uk/equality-advisory-su...

Any claim for disability discrimination has to be brought within 6 months of when discrimination occurred. To identify solicitors who can help with advising on discrimination with legal aid then you could contact Civil Legal Advice service which runs the telephone access to discrimination solicitors.This is here

gov.uk/civil-legal-advice

Additionally you may need benefits advice and may need to appeal or challenge the decisions made in your case. This could be provided by a Citizens Advice Bureau or a local advice centre - they should offer a home visit if needed. You have usually 28 days to appeal a benefit. Hope that helps.

[mallet-head]

Super advice from Yankee-Doodle. Additionally, it's not always available, but if you go on to a web-site "saynoto0870.com", this can sometimes provide you with an alternative "geographical number" starting 0121, 0131 , 0151, 0161 etc and sometimes even a totally free 0800 number to contact them on.

Best of luck, Mallet-Head.

[John5]

Thanks someone from the Citizens Advice Bureau is coming to my house on Tuesday of next week , I tried the say no to 0870 But it wont give me a number like an 0800 ect for the DWP I will get there i am sure i don't give in without a fight its just very annoying all the time you have to wait ect and to be told a load of rubbish , and it doesn't help your health either Thanks for your advice , I will keep in touch and let you know when i ave any good news that would be nice for a change

[agora in reply to John5]

Brilliant that you're getting help from the Citizens Advice Bureau. I'm in the Work Related Activity Group too and it's getting making my condition worse having to participate in the Work Programme.