Strange Developments

Strange developments with regards to my ESA tribunal appeal - but at the same time good ones.

After having a mandatory reconsideration request to be put into the ESA support group turned down last year, I sent off the SSC1 with an accompanying letter setting out my grounds for appeal.

The tribunal service then sent a letter saying they had received the request.

I then got a letter today from the DWP saying that they had looked at the original evidence again, from the Maximus medical, the form for the medical, and the evidence I had submitted for the mandatory consideration and had decided to "overturn the appeal" and put me into the support group.

While this is good in itself, it does suggest that the DWP always knew that they were trying it on and that their arguments would not be sustainable.

So I am happy with the result - but I also wonder out of curiosity if this is normal standard procedure?

Infoseeker251
Congratulations on the award. When a mandatory reconsideration fails and the claimant requests to go to appeal, the DWP will usually re-examine the claim before the appeal actually takes place and sometimes, although not very often, they will revise their decision.

Thanks Gordon and Izzy.

Yes as I said, I think they knew perfectly well their arguments were untenable in the first place but great that it has been resolved. Thanks for your advice especially Gordon, as knowing that the process would not be as open as the next level of tribunal really gave me the confidence to go forward.