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satire

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  1. I have two current accounts with Nat West. A joint one with my wife and one in my name for my business. My wife also has her own current account with the Halifax in her name only. None of these accounts are overdrawn, all have a reasonable credit balance at all times. But just like the other poster, I refuse to allow the DWP have access to any of these accounts. I receive my ESA every two weeks by giro, my DLA every four weeks by giro, my wife gets her OAP by giro every 4 weeks. Once they have access they can withdraw money out if they have made a mistake in paying too much. Would you trust the DWP to have access to your accounts and money?
  2. I know all about the ATOS assessments. I failed mine, not because I am not ill or disabled but because I expected them to contact my GP/consultant and didn't bother to complete the ESA50. As soon as they saw the evidence I had at the reconsideration stage, I was put into the Support Group and am re-assessed every 3 months. I never worried about it as my failing was down to me not the assessment. If I had done what I was told to do on the form there would have been no problems. So it was my fault entirely. On my medical report they sent to the DWP, they stated that 'Claimant is very obnoxious, sarcastic and complained about the assessment..........he asked if I had contacted his consultants..........Claimant is very unco-operative and makes the assessment difficult. He purposely took additional medication throughout the assessment.'
  3. I am confused. Why is ESA harder to get?? Surely you are either unfit for any type of work OR can work. If the poster is genuinely ill and has no work capabilities (including putting letters in envelopes at home as a job), then he/she will pass. For people to worry about failing ESA does make me think that they may just be pushing their luck a little and really are able to carry out some type of work activity yet choose not to.
  4. Yes thay can use any or all evidence they choose. The ATOS one for ESA is the most respected as it is the one that has looked at abilities, not diagnosis. ATOS are accepted by the DWP as the most experienced in terms of Occ. Health Assessment as laid down by Parliament The new medical for DLA (PIP) will follow the same format as the ESA one and will be carried out by ATOS.
  5. Whilst you now don't have to produce anymore sick notes, there will come a time when you will be re-assessed. In my case re-assessment is every 3 months. I too am in the Support Group and quite rightly expect to be reviewed at regular intervals, just in case I fail to notify the DWP that I get better. The only drawback is having to fill out those ESA50 forms with up dated information every time, and have the assessment. With the odds stacked against a 'win' at the assessment (sometimes you can fail completely even though three months earlier you went straight into the Support Group), I prefer to keep my 6 monthly sick notes up to date. I get 2 a year and send them in to the DWP even though they say they don't want them. With four re-assessments a year I am likely to fail two of them! Law of averages!!! I do it this way because I don't fancy trying to convince my GP every few months to start issuing them after a failure whilst waiting to go to the Tribunal appeal.
  6. You could do, though I don't think that it will change anything. ATOS do whatever ATOS want to do. If they come unstuck their initial answer is generally a denial of everything and anything, but putting over that they feel so sorry for your feelings - BUT!!!! On my medical report they reported to the DWP that 'Claimant is very obnoxious, sarcastic and complained about the assessment..........he asked if I had contacted his consultants..........Claimant is very unco-operative and makes the assessment difficult. He purposely took additional medication throughout the assessment.' When I complained they suggested that this was a matter of opinion reached quite rightly by the assessor and was the reason why he felt that I may have been exagerating my illness. Additionally, the assessor also reported verbally that he felt very unsafe with me. I was racked with pain and besides which, what do they think an OAP was going to do to him!! No ATOS are never wrong!!
  7. Yes I presume it does make a difference being a mother with young children. But on the other hand we had twin girls aged 4 at the time, and because of the type of job I did, the court knew exactly what would happen if I was incarcerated. There would be no income for my family and I would never be able to continue to work in my job. So my children suffered even more than most as I came out as totally unemployable. The business closed down because I could not legally run it. Ironically I then spent the next three years on Income Support. The house had to be sold to repay the £12,000 as they would not accept weekly payments out of my benefits. Mitigation, oh yes, my problem was not having a good enough brief who should have pointed out to the court that I WAS only responsible to disclose my NET income, not my GROSS income as the court saw fit to accept from the prosecution. I worked hard on the appeal to the Commissioners who at the hearing asked why had I not put over the argument.. Told them that was down to my brief. I won the case and had it not been to Crown Court and I had been found guilty, the Commissioners said that they would have quashed the whole of the 'overpayment'. In fact in their opinion no criminal act had taken place. As it was, and with great misgiving, they had to abide by the Crown Court sentence!! British Justice!!!
  8. Right. Honesty. I claimed to be unemployed and claimed Income Support, HB & CTB. I told the DWP that I was starting a buiness off. Every 2 weeks I signed on and disclosed a figure of income (net after deductions & expenses). This claim went on for 18 months then I stopped it as I was starting to earn more money. In that first 18 months I made a loss (agreed with HMRC) About 4 years later at 5am one morning I was arrested and the house and office searched. They took away everything paperwise covering the 5 1/2 years I had been in business. Spent 36 hours in a cell being questioned. I was charged with a total o/p (UB/IS/HB/CTB) of £12,000. Went to Magistrates, then to Crown. Pleaded not guilty. I had disclosed my net income and HMRC documents backed everything up. Found guilty because I should have disclosed my gross sales, not the net after expenses. If I had done it another way, I would have had other benefits to help start the business but didn't know about them. All in all, my brief put it forward that the actual loss was only £1750 with set offs!! That wasn't accepted because I never claimed them so couldn't use it to notionally reduce the debt. I was aged 42, never been in trouble before, not even a parking ticket. I was sentenced to 12 months in prison, with 6 months suspended for two years and two years supervision order. I actually served 7 months in prison because I would not accept that I was guilty and had further charges of disruptive behaviour found against me. (Normally I would have been let out after 3 months.) Spent the whole time in a CATA prison along with some right head bangers. Got into drugs whilst in prison. Never touched anything like that on the outside. I later found out that the Judge was wrong on two points - yes only the net income counts, not the gross and yes, whether I claimed or not, any set off must be given credit for. Too late to complain. On top of that I had to pay back the £12,000 even though it was later found wrong at an appeal hearing of the Commissioners of Social Security!!! So yes for a gross £12,000 o/p I ended up with a 12 month prison sentence. Destroyed me after, turned to alcohol, more trouble, been in prison since for many things - mainly for assaulting the police as I feel that I was stitched up like a kipper. Lost my family, my business and unlikely to find work again due to alcoholism and other now associated illnesses. This was 15 years ago. So yes ordinary law abiding people do get sent down for that level of OP
  9. Hello I do hope that this is the right place for this. Anyhow, I like many others have failed the assessment. I have appealed and yesterday received copies of the 'medical' report amongst other things. Now the report I can deal with having seen comments on here as to what I should be doing. However, the last page of the report from ATOS to the DWP has me feeling very upset. I don't know what to do about it, or even if I can do something. All I know is that they have in my opinion gone too far. Yes I know I can complain to ATOS, but that gets nowhere. I think I want two things. a. Are they allowed to make comments like this as part of the report. b. What are my options apart from getting an apology (if I am lucky) This is what is printed at the end of the assessment report. Claimant very obnoxious, sarcastic and complained about the assessment format and the typical day. He stated that they are not relevant and asked if I had contacted his consultant. Claimant very unco-operative and makes the assessment very difficult. He kept taking his medication throughout the assessment. This is the assessors opinion of me and has absolutely nothing to do with the assessment. Yes, I did complain to him because he kept on muttering from behind a screen, I couldn't see his face. On top of that he had a very heavy Asian accent that made it even worse. I must have said 'Pardon' at least 20 times because I couldn't make out what he was saying. When I eventually understood a question, as soon as I started to explain that it was variable, he would put his hand up above the screen and say 'yes/no!' I became ill in the assessment and had to take some medication. If this is on my record it will obviously be seen by everyone including the Tribunal. Thanks
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