thanks for clearing things up Erika not so confused now lol Is it normal to go from income based back onto contribution based benefit when changing fron jsa to esa ????

Up until Nov last year I was homeless and living on the streets claiming income based JSA, in the Nov I was advised to go onto ESA due to various mental health problems which I did and was put on contribution based ESA then after a spell in a council B&B I was offered a flat and applied for a community care grant in Feb to help with furnishing the property, I was turned down for the grant the reason being I was on a contribution based benefit. I appealed the decision in the begining of march and today finally got a reply after phoning every week and was told they would not be changing the decision, can anyone please tell me why I went from income based to contribution based benefit ??? I was told by an advisor at the job centre that the fact that I could have gone onto either income based or contribution based meant I had an underlying entitlement to the grant HELP !!!!!!!! lol

Hi all and thanks for the welcome to the forum. Erika I understand what you are saying that they can sanction or terminate my ESA and if that is the case then so be it, my main concern with the appointed HCP is their qualifications and their area of expertise, I for example don't want to be assessed by a midwife or anyone other than someone who is qualified in mental health issues which would result or at least should result in a fair assesment being taken. Once they give me that information I would gladly have the assesment provided the HCP was qualified in the field, this is now a matter of principal for me and I intend to see it out to the end no matter what the outcome. I am going to call the ESA in the morning to ask why they have not supplied the information requested and will inform you all of the outcome all calls recorded lol. Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my post Mike

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and I am looking for advice as to my next step should be. I have various mental health issues that meant I was told by an advisor at the jobcentre that I needed to go onto ESA, this was back in either Nov or Dec last year, in feb I had a letter from ATOS telling me to go for a medical assesment and after reading the various horror stories of the assesments I wrote to both ATOS and the DWP asking for information such as the name and medical qualifications of the person who decided that a face to face medical assesment needed to be carried out and also the name and medical qualifications of the HCP carrying out the assesment so that I could check they are suitably qualified to asses my medical conditions with the BMA, I stated that once I had recieved the required information I would consider making an appointment. I had a phone call from ATOS on the day of my assesment and explained that I had written to themselves and the DWP and would not be attending, I was informed I would recieve a did not attend letter I would have to fill in and send back, which I did and once again went over the same issues raised in the first letter. I heard nothing more until I got another letter from ATOS yesterday asking me to contact them to make an appointment, it seems to me they are totally ignoring my request for some basic information, it seems to me that they are or could be in breach of the freedom of information act and a possible violation of my human rights. So should I just write to them again demanding the information or seek possible legal advice ?????? Many thanks for taking time out to read this and any advice gladly recieved.