6 months since appeal acknowledged - nothing since

My wife appealed against her ESA decision last November, and got an acknpowledgement letter, but there's been nothing since (apart from a WFI interview). That's six months. Is that normal. Should we do anything?

Sorry if this is answered elsewhere. I read the guide, and searched the forum, but couldn't find anything.

chris wrote: My wife appealed against her ESA decision last November, and got an acknowledgement letter, but there's been nothing since (apart from a WFI interview). That's six months. Is that normal. Should we do anything?

Sorry if this is answered elsewhere. I read the guide, and searched the forum, but couldn't find anything.

Hi c,

As you may know, once an appeal is submitted, an automatic reconsideration should be carried out by a different more senior DWP Decision Maker.

You should then be informed of the outcome of the reconsideration by letter.

If the decision is not changed in your favour, the appeal should then be sent forward to The Appeals Tribunal Service, in which case, you should receive an "Evidence Pack".

6 months after The DWP acknowledging receipt of your appeal seems a very long time to hear no more.

You may wish to contact the DWP for an update.

bro58

I called them, and the woman answering said the current wait time is 4-6 months because of the backlog. She asked if the appeal was against a decision to put my wife in the WRAG group. I said it was. She said very few people get put in the support group, because they have to be seriously ill. I said nothing. She said "is your wife seriously ill?". I said I didn't want to discuss that on the phone, I just wanted to know the status of the appeal. She said someone would call back later today, or tomorrow. I said they could call tomorrow. I'm now wondering if they'll try to talk about my wife's illness. Following the B&W advice, my wife said in her appeal that she didn't want to dsicuss her appeal on the phone. So I suppose I can refer them to that if they try to do that.

No one rang today. I'm wondering if I should persist in finding out the status of the appeal, or just leave it.

Chris I was in your wife's position and I waited until my CB benefit ran out before asking what the decision makers decision was. I couldn't get any response from the DWP . Please write to them and ask for a response in writing and give a date you want the reply back.. If you still don't get a response follow the complaints procedure. I had to write to the independent case examiner ICE (although they are busy too). I was told may months later by the DWP that there is a document you can ask for explaining if your case has been looked at again what the decision maker has made his decision on. My argument is if you don't know to ask for it and you never received it in the post how are you supposed to know.

I got the benefit for 2 years in the end so don't give up. log every phone call and copy every letter.


Good Luck