Please help - ESA denied after assessment

PurpleCrutches

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our ESA MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the ESA area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report (ESA85) if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.

Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;

"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"

than their opinions

"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

PurpleCrutches

Please forgive the following it's intended to help but may not sound like it

You need to look at the ESA Claim guides for the legal definitions of the criteria against which you are being assessed, at first glance your issues derive from not understanding this criteria.

The Standing and Sitting activity looks at your ability to remain at workstation; standing, sitting or moving from one to the other, it is only when you have to move away from the workstation that the clock stops. Although you mention standing in your post it is not clear how long you could do this for and you make no mention of having to move away from the chair.

Although you mention issues with sitting, having been observed to sit for 28 minutes the assumption will be that you could have easily have propelled a wheelchair over the 200m that is tested. In fact, even at a slow pace you could likely propel a wheelchair over 200m in 4-5 minutes.

You are not required to complete the ESA activities pain free, however, any significant discomfort (to use the correct phrase) that limits your ability to complete an activity should be considered.

Are there other reasons why you would not be able to propel a wheelchair, I'm guessing that upper limb issues are not a problem if you are using crutches but do you have angina or breathing problems, can you show that it would be impractical for you to use a wheelchair?

I'm afraid ESA does not consider your ability to carry a large cardboard box.

The reference to you going out supports the view that you can walk in excess of 200m and that you can sit for long periods of time.

The reference to a 4 pint carton of milk is because ESA looks at your ability to move a 1 pint or 2 pint carton on a level surface, there is likely an assumption that you are lifting up a 4 pint carton from the fridge when you make a drink.

My best advice is for you to sit down with your ESA50, the assessment report and our Claim guides and go through each activity to make sure that you have shown that you meet the criteria to score points and where you don't to work out how to explain why you do, where applicable.

Gordon