Incapacity to ESA ATOS test without form?

rococo wrote: My MP is the biggest waste of space on the planet - I wrote to him when I was going through problems with the local council and he did nothing except forward the private letter I sent him to the people i was complaining about!

To be honest with you im so exhausted that trying to write yet another letter with all the ins and outs of my case seems redundant as far as this particular MP is concerned.

I would rather know if its grounds for complaint for them to force a F2F without looking at the ESA50...that's my energy better spent I think

Hi r,

I suggested your M.P. as they do have direct avenues of contact into The DWP.

You could make an official complaint to The DWP, but it would seem that time is not on your side.

Did you get to speak to a Manager / Team Leader when you phoned The DWP, as generally your first lines of contact are with call responders. Sometimes you have to persevere, and request an escalation and a call back. This can take 2 or more calls over a couple of working days.

You could request a direct telephone contact number to The Complaints Resolution Team for your area, as well.

As I have previously stated though, unless you can gain some written verification that you do not have to attend a F2F, you would have to attend, or face the possibility of your benefit being stopped.

bro58

Hi r,

You could also try telephoning your M.P.'s local constituency office to see whether one of the M.P.'s caseworkers could help, as it is generally they who do all the work anyway.

I would not let my M.P. fob me off, they are paid to represent and help their constituents.

Sometimes, they need reminding of this.

bro58

Thanks for all of this Bro, I will look into it- I suspect that even though I asked to speak to someone 'higher up' in my last phone call they may well have just passed me to another front line worker!

I will call them tomorrow and insist on a number for the complaints team at the least. Thank god I have a Dictaphone. I will also insist on a recording on the ATOS assessment if I must go, maybe that will slow them down and make them reconsider just throwing me to ATOIS without looking at my forms and evidence.

Here's hoping, thanks again

rococo wrote: Thanks for all of this Bro, I will look into it- I suspect that even though I asked to speak to someone 'higher up' in my last phone call they may well have just passed me to another front line worker!

I will call them tomorrow and insist on a number for the complaints team at the least. Thank god I have a Dictaphone. I will also insist on a recording on the ATOS assessment if I must go, maybe that will slow them down and make them reconsider just throwing me to ATOIS without looking at my forms and evidence.

Here's hoping, thanks again

Hi r,

The last time that I had reason to complain, I had to get past 3 numbskulls responders in the call centre, before getting to speak to a Manager/Team Leader in the local BDC.

Make sure that you request an escalation, stay calm, and be patient.

Good luck.

bro58

Hi r,

Even though the WCA Handbook is only "Guidance" and not law, you may want to draw reference to Page 19 onwards, which advises that the ATOS HCP should review The MED 3 (fit note, if there is one) the ESA50 and any other evidence before deciding whether a F2F is needed.

The WCA Handbook can be downloaded from the 2nd link from bottom on this page :

ESA Claims Guides

bro58

hello - thanks for this! I will cut and paste this for the likely rebuke to my complaint to ATOS which I sent last night along with a request for recording.

I tried calling my local IB to ESA team today and had the phone cut off 10 seconds into the call after waiting for ages, however they have sent me a complaint guide and envelope in the post so I guess im going to have to do a snail mail or try and ring again tomorrow.

Im no benefits virgin and have been through the ringer a few times but the way they wear you down with all this tooing and froing and losing documents etc is very wearing