Awaiting Reconsideration Decision

I have been awaiting an ESA wrag to support reconsideration since End August 2012. They have acknowledged my appleal letter for reconsideration to be put in the support group and reasons why but I have heard nothing since! I was told it takes around 9 months but ive been waiting over a year now.

I was awarded indefinite dla from October 2012 until Nov 2015 higher rate dla for both mobility and care and distance confirmed of mobility was no more than 25m. Even though the dwp never had anyone assess me at al for ESA they said that I had been assessed and thats how they come to the decision to put me in wragl. I have since had a right payment programme form sent to me july, returned august 2013, filled in, returned before deadline (first time ive had one in 11 years). Then came the Atos medical assessment letter for a doctor to visit me which they did in September 2013 and had copy of assessment sent to me on sat 16th November 2013 as requested by me to compare with my recording and of which a distance i could walk was put down as <30 meters and <50 meters stopping with help for 5-10 mins while I recover... This was not the case as I could not even get up off of sofa without help and walk more than a couple of steps before being told to stop by the doctor (the same doctor who assessed me initially when i first qualified for dla 11 years ago) (kept that to myself). How do I firstly go about finding out about my reconsideration into the support group request decision that im awaiting and secondly how do i handle bringing to light the inconsistencies that have appeared on my form that wrongly differs from what i said on the recording? I said that I have been suicidal at times and doctor put not suicidal, i had x3 people with me at my assessment so there were 3 witnesses to what was said on that saturday. Any advice greatly appreciated and welcome.

Hi C,

We have heard of members waiting some time for reconsideration, but yours is extreme! Have you contacted DWP to find out what is happening? If not, it would be worth doing so, phone the number at the top of communication from DWP and ask to 'escalate' the call which will result in a call-back from a more senior person.

If you have been chasing DWP to no avail then the only other thing I can suggest is that you contact your MP and see if they can help. They cannot influence the outcome of the claim but they can, and do, put a rocket under the tails of DWP and get things moving!

Contacting your MP

I'm afraid that I have lost track of the time-line of your claim. When you talk about the ATOS assessment of Sept 2013, is this regarding your DLA? You can write to DWP and point out the discrepancies, but they probably won't take much notice!