No ESA50 at WCA

Great news! My friend not only won at the tribunal but was put into the support group, whereas previously he'd been put in the WRAG.

I don't have all the details yet but when I speak to him I'll ask whether the missing ESA50 or the case law about the burden of proof when reviewing entitlement figured in the decision.

Thanks for all your advice and help. Thankfully my friend found a very helpful woman at the CAB to help him with his appeal and attend the hearing and who was very positive about his chances, unlike the people he spoke to at the "Welfare Advice" service, so he didn't have to deal with it by himself.

That is indeed great news.
It would be interesting for us to hear the detail of the judgement that was made in relation to the missing ESA50 etc.

That's great news DJ, thanks for letting us know

I've had a chance to catch up with my friend and ask him about his tribunal now.

It seems the points about the missing ESA50 and the onus being on the DWP to prove there had been an improvement that justified stopping ESA didn't come up. These were included in his written submissions, so it may be that the tribunal read and were influenced by them. I guess points like this might only get discussed in detail at the Upper Tribunal.

It sounds like the tribunal didn't really question whether he should be on ESA but when his CAB rep argued that he should be in the Support group rather than the WRAG, they referred to their textbooks which say that WRAG activity can be carried out online and queried whether he couldn't manage that, even if he couldn't get to the jobcentre. His CAB rep was apparently quite insistent that their textbooks were wrong and she'd dealt with other people who'd been told that, only for it to turn out to be rubbish and they were forced to attend the jobcentre, which seems to have been persuasive as they concluded he should be in the Support group.He was clearly very lucky to have someone with independent experience of how things really work prepared to stand up for him.

I wonder if there's likely to be any paper records he could make a SAR for that might reveal anything interesting or useful for when his ESA next comes up for review? I'm not sure if the DWP submitted anything to try and justify their decision.

David Jones wrote: I've had a chance to catch up with my friend and ask him about his tribunal now.

It seems the points about the missing ESA50 and the onus being on the DWP to prove there had been an improvement that justified stopping ESA didn't come up. These were included in his written submissions, so it may be that the tribunal read and were influenced by them. I guess points like this might only get discussed in detail at the Upper Tribunal.

It sounds like the tribunal didn't really question whether he should be on ESA but when his CAB rep argued that he should be in the Support group rather than the WRAG, they referred to their textbooks which say that WRAG activity can be carried out online and queried whether he couldn't manage that, even if he couldn't get to the jobcentre. His CAB rep was apparently quite insistent that their textbooks were wrong and she'd dealt with other people who'd been told that, only for it to turn out to be rubbish and they were forced to attend the jobcentre, which seems to have been persuasive as they concluded he should be in the Support group.He was clearly very lucky to have someone with independent experience of how things really work prepared to stand up for him.

I wonder if there's likely to be any paper records he could make a SAR for that might reveal anything interesting or useful for when his ESA next comes up for review? I'm not sure if the DWP submitted anything to try and justify their decision.

Hi DJ,

He should have The FTT Decision Notice, and it is now too late to request a Statement of Reasons (S of R) as more than one month has elapsed since the date of the Decision Notice.

As he was successful, it would not have been advisable to request the S of R, as this is only generally done when either party is considering appealing to The UTT.

Once his SG award is in place, and he is receiving payment, he could of course send a SAR to DWP requesting all documentation that they have pertaining to his ESA.

bro58

OK, I'll probably suggest he sends a SAR, as it might provide some useful paperwork for future reference.