Citizens Advice Bureau

[colleenofminster]

Hi, because I am having to go through an appeal etc. with my ESA I have been advised that I should go to the CAB for help. The problem is that I have tried to telephone them on the number given on their site but there is no reply. I have to have someone go with me so I need to try and make an appointment to see an advisors as either my mum has to come down to kent from london or my friend has to arrange for time off work to accompany me. Any thoughts please much appreciated. xx

[Hidden]

Try e-mailing them your phone number and asking them to ring you Colleen .

it takes them a couple of days to answer but they generally will ring you then.

Find the website for your local branch and it should have an e-mail address.

xx

[colleenofminster]

Hi Helen

I just found a phone number for my nearest cab and rang it. I have been told to ring again on Thursday morning at 9am and then I will be give a time slot to ring back and speak to an advisor. Hopefully then I can explain to an advisor that I need to have someone accompany me for appts and as I have to give them notice of the day and time hopefully they will give me an appt date. Will keep everyone posted. xx

[Shortnsweet54]

Hi Colleen,

glad you got through to CAB, I went for help with an appeal and found them very helpful. I was rather alarmed though to find ALL the lady i saw did was appeals. Must say something about the whole shambolic system. Some CAB offices only work on a part time basis i think so hopefully you will have an appt for a suitable time.

I was also asked of they could use my info re putting in an appeal, as they collate it from from the CAB offices and send it off to the gov't to support the "it's not working" campaign. i found that very interesting, so another reason for folk to use CAB.

Wishing you good luck, been there done that lol, so my thoughts are with you.

Take care and please keep us posted

Jan xx

[Lima6MCT in reply to Shortnsweet54]

My CAB sounds very similar to yours. Originally my husband saw someone who helped fill out his ESA50 form and when it had to go to appeal we saw a dedicated appeals adviser who helped with the process. They also have someone who only does tribunals (she waits at the appeal location & when you arrive goes through the process with you and will go into the Tribunal room with you). They have a 72% success rate in overturning ESA decisions!

They also asked us if they could use the information we gave regarding the appeal in a report for their campaign. They weren't in the least surprised when we showed them all the inaccuracies that were in my husband's medical report. They were even less surprised that he scored zero points as that seems to be par for the course.

They now have a triage system on drop-in days so those that can be seen on the day are and those that need more time can be given an appointment.

Both OH & I have also had assistance with DLA claims and appeals.

[Shortnsweet54 in reply to Lima6MCT]

Hi Lima,

yes does sound very similar. 72 % is SLIGHTLY higher than to 40% the gov't statistics would have us believe,then again the are statistics, government statistics and the damn statistics they churn out and would have you believe.

Sad that they are not surprised by what they see, but good they use cases to prove info for campaigns.

Take care

Jan xx

[Hidden]

Most offices aren't open all the time, therefore ringing different days at different times may work. Our local office is only open 2 - 4pm Tues, and Thurs.

[colleenofminster]

Did speak to them today but as the official letter from decision maker hasnt come yet they have asked me to ring again once I have that then they will sort it out for me to see an advisor who deals with this problem solely and see how they can help me from there. I now have a telephone number for the CAB I will actually be using so have been able to get through okay. So now ladies and gentlemen its just a case of waiting for the brown envelope to come through my day and then "Battle can commence" !!!!! Thank you all for all your advice and support so far. xxx

[lynnh]

I have a lady at my local cab who has been helping me since 2010, she usually has 12-14 cases at any one time but currently it is 40+!!

[pepperflo]

'm so glad I found this link, as I'm just about to sort out about going for a tribunal for my DLA, I have the form to complete, but want help with this, and have e mailed my local CAB yesterday, so just waiting for them to reply, i feel so much better now knowing that I haven't dreamt that I can get help and support on this, and that others have had the support from an adviser, and its great knowing were not on our own out there , there is someone who is willing to listen to us, good luck to you all who is appealing, its about time this government listened to us, or more let them have our pain or discomfort for just 1 day, and then see how they judge us x