ATOS waiting times

Mesozoic wrote: Hello

In December 2011 I moved from Incapacity Benefit to ESA WRAG without a medical. The ATOS doctor stated that I was unlikely to return to work in the long term. Last December I was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers disease. After advice from CAB I wrote to DWP asking for a reconsideration. My year of WRAG money came to an end in January and I've still heard nothing. Can you tell me how long ATOS take over reconsiderations?

Thanks in advance

Can I just confirm the dates; transferred from IB to ESA in 12/11, diagnosed with new condition and asked for Reconsideration in 12/12, ESA(CB) payments stopped in 01/13.

Reconsideration can take anywhere between 2 weeks at one extreme and 6 months at the other, however, I am concerned regarding the advice you have received.

A Reconsideration looks at the original Decision on your claim (12/11) and more importantly, your condiion at that time, so for your request to be successful you must be able to show that you met one or more of the descriptors for the Support Group at that time, your change in condition (12/12?) cannot be taken into account.

Have you had any confirmation from the DWP that they have received your Reconsideration request, if not, then you might want to conact the DWP office that deals with your claim to see what is going on with with it?

Have you submitted any additional evidence or a submission in connection with this request?

Gordon

Mesozoic wrote: When I first wrote I told them of the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimers. In January I was able to send a copy of the consultant's report that confirmed this. I have spoken to the DWP, but they told me that all paperwork was with ATOS and to contact them. All ATOS would say was that there are a lot of people ahead of me in the "queue" and no decision has yet been made.

Can you confirm when you "first wrote"?

I am trying to understand whether your early onset Alzeimers was something that was affecting you when you completed the ESA50 in 2011? If it was, then it is something that the DWP can include in a Reconsideration, however, if it was not, then it outside the scope of the Reconsideration.

If your papers have been passed to ATOS, then either the Decision Maker has asked for medical advice, or they have requested a face to face assessment for you. If the former, then this team is in-house to the DWP and I would not expect the normal ATOS HealthCare contacts to be aware of this. If the latter, then this would be very unusal, given the time since the original Decision was made and the fact that a medical report already exists.

To be clear, ATOS do not make any Decisions on an ESA claim.

Gordon