have need of advice as getting conflicting info on web and from DSS , you need 15 points now to quilify for ESA ( as they have changed the descriptors ) but even though i went to tribunale last June and had their desisicion overturned.
had a New med exam in Jan this year and didn't get any points awarded even though i quilify under the NEW rules ( HOW COME) dont know but recived a letter from tribunal service saying they are very busy will send me a date in 4- 8 weeks for my hearing ( which means and other 6 months on LOW income)
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davmil
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Hi David, You do need 15 points. As Stitch suggests if you go to citizens advice bureau they will be able to advise how the points are arrived at. CAB like you to keep copies of anything you send off to ATOS etc. So take copies of anything you have with you when your go see them.
This ESA - is this the type of thing you have to go through in the UK? I'm in the US and curious about what this all means in terms of getting the health care you need.
Can anyone answer this, please? I am in the UK and I don't know what it is!
Morning David , Im still waiting for my date re the appeal, I was very lucky with my med exam, the doctor showed me what points she had given. Like you I had letter saying I had Scored "NIL" points. I contacted CAB who are being very helpful with my appeal. As regards the return of NIL points, its Politics. Our goverment wants to do away with certain Benifits, to reduce payments going out. By putting everyone onto ESA, as its a new benifit they can introduce it with a new payment structure. Sorry, and I will wash my mouth out to bring up the word politics. Breath Easy !!
Hi david,sorry to hear your having to go to a tribunal but can i advise you to bombard ESA with medical evidence as the decision can be overturned by the DWP before it gets to a tribunal as happened with me.at my 1st medical i got 0 points and i appealed and sent evidence after evidence to them and got a letter after about 2 months saying that after looking at facts and evidence provided they had overturned ATOS decision to award me ESA and my money was backdated aswell.the more you can send to them the more they will see that there is little chance of you not winning your appeal when it goes to tribunal and it also saves the DWP money as i hear it isnt cheap for a tribunal to be heard so why waste money on taking someone to a tribunal when its obvious they are going ti win.hope this helps
Hi stitch,there are a number of questions which are asked and you score either 0,6,9 or 15 points depending how the question affects you (sometimes you just get a 0 and are not asked the question) and over the whole medical if you dont reach 15 points then you are deamed FIT FOR WORK and its totally up to the medical person how many points you recieve for each question.in my case i asked for a copy of my medical report (even though i had passed) and it didnt give me a points total, all it said was that i qualify for the criteria to be placed in the support group in the MEDIUM TERM (18 months) so i think its up to them how they score you to be honest as after she filled out what she had to i asked her if she wanted to see the evidence i had brought she looked at a couple of things and said "i dont need to see any more".I think when she seen the folder i took with me with all my evidence in it that was it.there were other medical things wrong with me but after she done the lung function test she said im not going to examine you on your other problems,i will only deal with the 2 main problems which i found strange and i told her that and she said not to worry,thats when i knew i had passed but it took the DWP 4 weeks to let me know and they only paid me from the day they made their decision but if i had failed my medical my ESA would have stopped on the day i had my examination,which i found was a joke as the 1st medical i got i failed and they contacted me within 3 days to tell me i was no longer entitled to ESA as of the date i got my medical.In my opinion if you fail a medical it goes to 1part of the DWP and they stop your money straight away but if you pass (which it clearly states on my report) then it goes to a decision maker and its up to them when they look at it ( in my case 4weeks) then they call you and you are only awarded ESA (support group) from the day they call you but even better than that they have took my 18 months from the day of my medical and not the day they called me so they can do what they want with you. Hope this helps
Just reading through your comment and was wondering.. I had my ESA medical on 27th June last week.. I don't know about points and stuff but would like to know if they stop your ESA Benefit straight away as in immediately from that date if you failed? or do they continue to pay you until they make a decision? I got paid today and was wondering if its a fluke or I won the medical..?
Take it you have heard about your award by now, sorry was offline for a while computer problems, Not health, if you dont recive any or 15 points from ATOS the DSS / ESA Will stop your benefit without warning , what You need to do is phone and ask them to look at the situation again and get appeal papers sent out to you , fill them in and go back to living on assesment rate till its sorted out,
I have my ESA medical coming up and not looking forward to it.. I passed my last one but the day I went you could clearly see that I was not well within myself. I don't have any evidence but didn't take any with me last time either.. To be fair I don't think I'm going to pass this time but I do feel better than I did last yr but still not fit for work by a long shot.
The only thing that scares me if I lose the benefit is paying for my prescriptions, I won't be able to afford them. I am a carer and do get carers allowance but thats not alot is it..
I suppose like all of you I'll keep everything crossed and hope for the best. I will say that if I felt fit to work I would take myself off the benefit myself..
oh dear this is so common i have a medical coming up this month and i only got the decision overturned in december , all this adds to depression and anxiety ..good luck on ur appeal best get ur local age concern or cab to help you .x
CAB are Far tooooo busy for me to get them involved, Didn,t use them last time, got the descision overturned by evidence sent and sticking to it on the Day,
David
Hi Stitch, if you don't score 15 points you won't get ESA Support, but will be required to work. The following pdf may help in understanding this:
No didn't goto CAB as they are now sooo snowed under with all appeals from every dept of DSS
But as last time will deal with it myself,
as to stuwer231267 yes your comment WAS very helpfull, i did not relise that ATOS had that power to award the points to an indival as its upto DWP to oversee?? ( who gave it to them)
Asked DWP to look at it , and the agreed that i quilifed last time But dont NOW.
qualified with 21 points last time
cant walk more than 100mts ect
and cant stand sit for more than 30 mins
yet nothing has changed leg, ( circulation and nerves getting worse).
under the new discriptors should have 18+ points ( also showed Her the Tribunals Desicion to overturn the last one made .
Update is that i got my MSP involved ( needent have no change ) ESA are going to Tribunale it will be heard on the 3rd of August ( due to back log of cases) thats from Jan, this year,
having found out that ATOS get paid a fortune for knocking us back , what do the Govt get out of the Tribunal cost's?? or does it just cost the Tax payer More?? tried that tack with my MSP and He agree,s it should NOT goto appeal but ESA are sticking to there guns, and the SO Called ATOS assesment, which was totaly lacking in ALL relevent info for COPD and Heart problems, could go on and on and on ( Father Ted style) but i wont anyone need help please message me
Had Tribunal on Friday the 3rd, heard today Monday that i didnt win, they awarded 9 points for not being able to sit ect, but Watch out if you go for hearing as trick questions WILL be asked, Like is your upper body okay,? can you proppell a wheelchair over 100 mtrs , ( My answer suppose so) WRONG one to choose .
??? cant sit for more than 10mins (9 points awarded) HOW do i do that in a chair ( if i had one????)???
I sent all my medical info about all my health issues and they did not even mention them. I failed because I could lift both arms so that meant I could lift an empty box? My arms are the only things that seem to be working. I was pulled up on not having a stick to walk but I was told not to use one as that throws my spine shoulder neck out which all have arthritis. I was told that a manual wheelchair would be out of the question for the same reason. I believe the new rules are 20 metres walking now. But government building regs state they have to be within 50 metres for disabled parking. So if you are awarded and a government building has disabled parking 50 metres away under the new rules you should not be able to enter it?
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