ESA Appeal Problems.

Hi,
I joined the site a couple of weeks ago and have found the info and the guidance notes very helpful, so first of all a big thank you to all concerned.
After well over a decade on Incapacity Benefit, I was transferred onto ESA and placed in the Support Group. In May 2013, I filled in a questionnaire, but heard nothing more until I was summoned by ATOS in November 2014. The subsequent interview was nothing short of a disgrace and I received a letter saying that I had been awarded 0 points and was not entitled to ESA. My words were filtered or distorted, medical evidence was ignored and I seemed to be caught up in a process designed to arrive at a pre-determined conclusion rather than a considered assessment of my state of health.
I knew nothing about the Mandatory Reconsideration Process. All I knew was that at the bottom of the letter from the DWP, it stated that I should get in contact immediately if I wanted the decision to be looked at again. I was not told that the process could be in writing. After explaining why I thought the decision should be reviewed, I was told that my comments would be passed on and that I would be called back within 48 hours. I stayed in for the next 3 days, but heard nothing. The Mandatory Reconsideration Notice arrived about three weeks later, upholding the earlier decision. It misrepresented my reasons for appeal, it claimed that attempts to contact me had been made by phone on two days. I have no record on my landline or my mobile of any call and no message was left. It made great play of having carefully studied a letter from my GP - there was no letter from my GP - and it regurgitated the findings of the ATOS interview. It was a travesty. In spite of repeated requests, the full report of the ATOS interview did not reach me until after the MR decision.
I determined to appeal and downloaded the Notice of Appeal form. On it, it was recommended that guidance notes (form T97) should be read carefully.
My psychiatrist very kindly saw me on Christmas Eve and I showed her all the documentation. She wrote up a report, but had to wait until after the Christmas and New Year break before she could have it typed up. I received the report on January 6th. By now, my health was deteriorating rapidly and I had a huge amount of difficulty in completing the forms. I tried again and again and just couldn't get it right. I was also faced with a very tight deadline. Although the MR notice was sent on December 15th, Christmas post meant I did not receive it until 5 days later. There was then a shutdown of 11 days. There was a deadline of 28 days to get the appeal in and so I had to move fast. I was advised to restrict myself to a few paragraphs and to worry about making a case for any subsequent tribunal later.
At the end of the guidance notes, there were two addresses - one in London, for appeals regarding transport - and another, in Leicester, for "appeals in any other General Regulatory Chamber Jurisdiction". I duly photocopied everything and sent it by special delivery on Thursday, knowing it would reach its destination on Friday and that I would make the deadline. This morning, however, I received the appeal back, with a note saying:
"This office does not administer appeals against DWP decisions".
Somewhat unhelpfully, it did not tell me where it should be sent. The net result is that I still have my appeal, I have missed their deadline and I don't know where to send it. If the guidance notes are wrong, that is pretty hopeless. If addresses have been changed, then surely appeals should be forwarded to the new address without being returned to the sender.
I am in a worse state than I have ever been now. I have the distinct impression that for the penpushers a corpse represents a good result.
I apologise for this being garbled and disjointed. I seem to have been going round in circles with forms for weeks and I would rather just send this than start all over again.

Hi,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

If your forum name is also your real name, you may wish to change it to maintain some anonymity.

This can be done quite easily by following the instructions on this FAQ :

My full name is showing, how can I stop it?

I am sorry to hear that you have had problems with lodging your appeal.

If you live in England or Wales send your appeal to :

HMCTS SSCS Appeals Centre
PO Box 1203
BRADFORD
BD1 9WP

If you live in Scotland send your appeal to :

HMCTS SSCS Appeals Centre
PO Box 27080
GLASGOW
G2 9HQ

You should have downloaded and filled in The SSCS1 Appeal Form, which can be accessed : Here.

These return addresses are included on the final page (Page 6) of The SSCS1.

The download link is also provided at Page 11 of our : "Employment and Support Allowance mandatory reconsiderations and appeals.
40 page guide to mandatory reconsiderations and appeals for ESA, for decisions made on or after 28 October 2013."

Which is on the first link under : "ESA appeals" on : This Page.

You should include a copy of your MR Notice, and a covering letter explaining why your appeal is late, and all the conflicting/poor information that you have suffered, and the time constraints due to Xmas & New Year.

The Tribunal will then make a decision on whether to allow your "late appeal".

Late appeals are allowed for up to a maximum period of 13 months after the date of an adverse decision.

You may also find the following links helpful :

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS (& The Tribunal Service)

Disability Rights UK Factsheet - Appeals and Mandatory Reconsiderations.

Mandatory Reconsiderations Explained

How to write an appeal submission. DR UK

MOJ Video of ESA Appeals Process and Tribunal

ESA Claims Guides

&

ESA FAQ’s

Please reply to this topic if you have any further queries.

You can Bookmark/Favourite the page in your browser for future ease of access.

bro58

Thank you very much bro58, both for the advice on changing my name, but also for the very helpful pointers. Quite how I contrived to get the wrong form, the wrong guidance notes and the wrong address is beyond me although, given the state I have been in since ATOS stuck the boot in, I don't suppose I should be surprised.
Anyway, the appeal is sent - this time to the right address and I just have to hope that missing the deadline by 24 hours won't come back to bite.
Is there any way of finding out the likely time scale before an eventual tribunal may happen?
I rather hope there may be a lengthy delay because I need to feel a great deal stronger before having a cat in hell's chance of managing an appearance before a tribunal.

Nick 3535 wrote: Thank you very much bro58, both for the advice on changing my name, but also for the very helpful pointers. Quite how I contrived to get the wrong form, the wrong guidance notes and the wrong address is beyond me although, given the state I have been in since ATOS stuck the boot in, I don't suppose I should be surprised.
Anyway, the appeal is sent - this time to the right address and I just have to hope that missing the deadline by 24 hours won't come back to bite.
Is there any way of finding out the likely time scale before an eventual tribunal may happen?
I rather hope there may be a lengthy delay because I need to feel a great deal stronger before having a cat in hell's chance of managing an appearance before a tribunal.

Hi N3535,

Once The Tribunals Service (TS) accept your appeal, you should receive notification in writing, the DWP will also receive the same.

I do not know whether you have been signing on and receiving Jobseekers Allowance in the interim period, but once you have written confirmation that The TS have accepted your ESA Appeal, you should be able to revert back to ESA payable at The Assessment Rate.

Once the DWP have received written confirmation they then have 28 days to make their submissions.

So, that should take at least 5-6 Weeks.

You can submit evidence up until around 7-14 days before your hearing, you can even submit a small amount of fresh evidence (no more that 1-2 A4 Pages) on the day if absolutely necessary.

Even though Tribunal waiting times have come down, I would expect that you would have at least 2-3 months before a hearing

Please keep us updated, we will try to help as much as we can within the remit of the forum.

bro58

Things have moved on since your last reply, bro58. I received a letter from Job Centre Plus, saying that I would be paid ESA backdated to November 25th last year during the appeal process.
I then received a mysterious letter from the Courts and Tribunal Service, saying that the Appeals Officer had revised the decision on my case and that the new decision is a more favourable one. As a result, my appeal has lapsed and no further action will be taken. I was advised that I must lodge a fresh appeal if I think the new decision is still wrong, but, somewhat unhelpfully, there was no mention of what the new decision is.
I have now received a second letter from Job Centre Plus, making no mention of the appeal, but saying that I will be paid ESA, but not after November 22nd 2015. In the meantime, I may need to attend a Work Focus Interview with a Personal Advisor, that I may need to attend a Work Capability Assessment (Is this another ATOS fiasco interview?) and that I need to provide Medical certificates until a Work Capability Assessment is carried out.
The point of the original appeal was that my psychiatrist was convinced that I should be in the Support Group and her report made this point in the strongest terms imaginable.
I suppose that I now have to go for Mandatory Reconsideration again. When the rubber stamp is applied, confirming the original decision, I will then have to embark on a fresh appeal if I am to have any chance of being placed in the Support group.
I will also run the risk of losing the ESA I have just been awarded.
My health has deteriorated drastically in the last few months and I am beginning to question whether this fight is worth the candle. I am not in a fit state for interviews, tribunals or anything else. I have barely left the house since before Christmas and, to make matters worse, my wonderful psychiatrist, who has been my saviour for the last nine years, has moved to the other side of the country. The only contact I have at present is with the crisis team at my local hospital and they do not seem to have much to offer in dealing with my appeal.
I am reluctant to give up, because the last thing I want to do is to allow this appalling, unjust, uncompassionate and quite disgraceful system to win. If continuing to fight, however, takes much more toll, I may well not be here to see the outcome.
In short, I simply don't know where to turn.