please can anyone help

hi there i am new to this site but here vgoes, im wondering if anyone can give me advice, going back last july my partner went for medical board, then on the 30 dec we received a letter saying he was being put on esa where he would have to go to work related activitygroup and then in july his money will stop completely, the problem is he has been on longterm ib for a few years for mental illness and its really hard day to day going out and speaking to other people let alone sit in a room with people he doesnt know, now i have requested an appeal form to try and get him switched to the support group coz i know he wont cope very well with the activity group, so any advice anyone can give me would be brill, thankyou .

kirsty wrote: hi there i am new to this site but here vgoes, im wondering if anyone can give me advice, going back last july my partner went for medical board, then on the 30 dec we received a letter saying he was being put on esa where he would have to go to work related activitygroup and then in july his money will stop completely, the problem is he has been on longterm ib for a few years for mental illness and its really hard day to day going out and speaking to other people let alone sit in a room with people he doesnt know, now i have requested an appeal form to try and get him switched to the support group coz i know he wont cope very well with the activity group, so any advice anyone can give me would be brill, thankyou .

Hi K, and : Welcome to Benefits and Work

With regards to your partner having to attend WFI's etc, have a look at this post, and the associated topic links therein : www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=top...id=10&id=96520#97088

If you wish to appeal the WRAG award to gain entry to the SG, you must do so within one month of the date of the WRAG award notice letter.

The GL24 Form to do this can be downloaded and printed off from the link on this page :

How to submit an appeal

You only have to print off from around page 20, as the rest of the document is advisory notes. You can add extra typed A4 pages if you need to.

See also :

Is there any risk to challenging a decision?

Do I have to attend WFIs while I appeal?

What will I be paid while I appeal?

Where to get advice?

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS

Qualifying for the Support Group

You may also wish to review all our : Appeals FAQ’s , and our : ESA FAQ’s

You should also review our : ESA Claims Guides 3rd and 4the links down, you will see that there is also an Employment and Support Allowance appeals guide, 5th link down.

You may wish to "Favourite" this topic, so that you can return to it, please repost on this topic, if you have any further queries.

bro58

Hi. I was also put in the WRAG group and appealed. I found it quite distressing after waiting so long for a decision, to read the letter, and went into a complete flap. In the end, thanks to people on here, I completed an appeal form. I believe the form has to be submitted within 4 weeks of the date of the letter you received. I thought it was 6 weeks but I think it said 4 on the form, so it was a rush to get it there on time.

Have a look at the guide on here about appealing. I considered writing to ask for the decision to be reviewed, but decided to send the appeal form in, after reading info on the guide. What I did in the end, was incorporate the letter I had been going to write asking for reconsideration, into the appeal form in the section why you write your reaons. I also followed the guide in terms of filling out the appeal form (did this bit first and added my personal wording afterwards). My 'reasons' were about 3 pages long!
I found I was repeating a lot of what was on my ESA form, but I wanted to make sure these things had been read! I would definitely put about specific situations which would mean your partner would not cope in a work situation - particularly situations where he could cause a danger to himself or others.

I then had another long wait - about 4 months, and have recently had a letter which indicates I am now in the support group. I assume when my year is up I will have to claim again from scratch.

As you say his income will stop in July, maybe you don't have much to lose by appealing. I assume you have other income (maybe yours). This is my problem - my partner is earning - but very little! We couldn't manage on just his income - I buy all the food.

I found it better to do the forms at home, using the guide, than going to the CAB to get help filling them in, because I find it stressful having to talk about my condition, even with people who are helping.

There is no guarantee that appealing will get him in the support group, but at least you will have tried, and I believe the guide points out that you should say if your partner has put on the ESA form that he cannot do one of the things that mean you should be in the support group - I pointed out, as the guide says that - I put this on my form but have not been put in the support group.

It's a lot of hassle, but the appeal form is a lot easier than the ESA50. Try to see it as a bureaucratic process rather than a personal rejection or not taking his problems seriously.

Good luck.

hi eleanor thankyou for your advise i find it distressing god knows how my partner feels, i will go through the guide to fill out the form for him and put a letter in from my point of view hopefully they will reverse the decision, thnx again will keep you up to date, glad to hear you got the decision you wanted