Hey, thanks for taking the time to read and reply. It's good to know there are people out there, strangers, who care enough to do that. The way the JC have treated me, it makes you think the world's a pretty crappy place. What a crazy situation. October = 8 points. March = 0 points. My health has gotten worse in that period, and continues to get worse. And it'll continue to do so, since a large part of is is the stress and worry caused by the whole thing.

I have trouble leaving the house, using phones etc. There's no job I could do, and be a responsible and reliable employee tbh. I sure as hell wouldn't employ me.

It looks like I really need to find out from an independent source if i'm able to claim anything, because the JC are either lying to me or are misinformed. They told me the only thing I could do was to claim JSA. I'd intended to go to the CAB on Monday, but my girlfriend was busy, and I couldn't go by myself. I had a few phone calls to make too, and it takes me half the day to work up to picking up the phone. I'll try and get there next Monday.

It is that. It's making me physically iller, as well as mentally. I'm in the same position, I've appealed the IB decision, waiting for the tribunal on that, and waiting for the ESA appeal papers to arrive in the post.

When I asked what else I could claim, they told me the only thing was JSA, which obviously wouldn't work. :/ Glad I'm not the only one confused about this. It makes no sense whatsoever. It's clearly just a way of forcing people off IB/ESA, and off benefits completely if possible. I phoned up the day I found out I failed the medical, the forms are in the post to me.

Yeah, I didn't realise you weren't meant to, so for my last medical I made it pretty blatant that I intended to record, in an attempt to keep them honest. They stopped me recording, then, I assume, took the initiative to lie even more than the last time, since whatever they wrote down earned me nil points! Definitely a good idea to record it on the fly like I did the first time. I'll know the next time to take the espionage path.

Did you record it sneakily, or were they aware of it? I recorded one of mine, so I had proof they lied. The last one, they knew I intended to record it and stopped me from recording...

Anyone got advice? The only thing the JC told me I could do to get money is to claim JSA in the meantime, but iirc on the claim form you have to certify that you're fit, able and actively looking for work. I'm none of the above. I'd be lying if I said I was able to work, and surely it'd jeopardize my tribunal etc? If so, then what's a person meant to do? Since October I've had 37 pounds in benefit, with no other income. That's ~20p a day from then until now I'm expected to be able to live on. I'm living off the debt I'm creating, and I'm counting on getting this money backdated eventually to get my head back above water.

It sounds like you're in a similar situation to me, both healthwise and at your stage in the struggle to get your IB claim sorted out. It's horrible that they put already stressed people through these ordeals. Stick with it!

Well I've been on the phone to them now. The reason I've not been receiving any money is because I claimed within 6 months of my IB claim being disallowed because I failed that medical. I had a little hope that I'd get some money soon, but now I'm going to have to wait for the tribunal next month, which I'll probably fail. I'm sick of the waiting and not knowing.

I'll give them a ring tomorrow, getting myself into the office will be problematic. If I don't get any joy on the phone I guess I'll go and entrench myself in the JC until they sort it out. Fingers crossed! I'll let you guys know how I get on.

Hi folks, thanks a million for taking the time to reply and give me advice, I really appreciate it. So basically I should definitely have been receiving reduced rate ESA so far? Because I've received one payment of £37-ish, and nothing since. They've got my medical lines. I'm all medical-lined-up until, iirc, roughly a month from now. I know the JC have made a total mess of my claim, because I received a letter in January asking me to send medical certificates, with a deadline of the end of October for getting them in. That was the first contact they made since I made my claim in October. My time machine's broken, so I'm not sure exactly what they expected me to do. I've just done a quick calculation, and if I should've been getting £65.45 a week, that's £1586 I should have been paid so far, minus the £37 they paid me in January. I'll be phoning them on Monday I guess. I'm not looking forward to phoning, but my girlfriend isn't very good at using phones either, so she'd be as much use as me! It's disgusting that they'd treat people like this. I'm lucky enough to live in a country with these safety nets for when things go wrong in your life, but the system has to change, it's making people worse. There was a time when this kind of stress would have made me seriously consider ending it all, and I'm sure there are plenty of people in that position right now. To think that the way ATOS etc treat people could potentially push them over the edge... Soulless bastards.

Thanks folks, it's good to know I'm not alone in this. I'll go to CAB on Monday morning, and I'll put together an email to my MP over the weekend I think. I've stopped using the credit card (small limit, was meant to be for emergencies, so it's done its job). I'm not officially staying with my girlfriend, as far as the JC know I'm still at my mum's, who's also on benefits, and couldn't afford to buy my food etc. I've no idea why I'm not receiving the initial rate of ESA, should I be? I got one ESA payment of 37.40 on January the 11th, but that's all I've had since the 14th of October. I submitted the doctor's lines as soon as they were requested.The forms to appeal against the ESA decision are in the post to me right now. I haven't worked in a few years now. The last place I worked I had to leave due to illness. I was in a pretty bad way at that time, and although I liked my job and tried to keep it, I was just having too much time off ill, and they let me go. I know that if they tried to force me to get a job I'd just make a mess of it again. I'm not stable enough to be a reliable employee. Most days I can't leave the house, never mind put in an 8 hour shift. Is there someone around who knows a lot about ESA? Should I have been receiving the basic rate of ESA? They told me I couldn't get anything until I had the medical I just got last week. The JC don't seem to know what they're talking about, ATOS lie, and I don't know what to do next.

I'm a grown man and I'm sat here almost in tears. I just got a letter to say I'd failed my ESA medical, with 0 points. I can't understand how they'd seriously say that. It's a bit of a long story (aren't they all?) so I'll start back in October. I got my IB medical with Atos in October. The first medical I'd had for 3 years or so. The one 3 years before that, I'd failed then appealed, and the appeal was successful. I failed the one last October (I got 8 points out of the 10 I needed), and appealed. I didn't hear a thing between then and January. In January I heard back that my appeal had been unsuccessful, and I sent off for my tribunal. It's in ~6 weeks. In the meantime, the JC advised me to claim ESA. I got a medical for that last Monday. Today I got a letter telling me I'd failed it, and I'd gotten 0 points. Now, I've no idea how I managed 0 points. It's clear that they lied this time again. The one I had in October they lied about, and I know because I sneakily recorded it. I TRIED to record the one last week, rather more blatantly, thinking that if they knew I was recording it they wouldn't lie this time, but when the woman who was set to interview me saw my recorder she told me we couldn't continue with the interview. We had an argument and she refused to continue with the interview. I spoke to another person at Atos, and they told me I could arrange for a "professional recording" of the interview, but there were terms and conditions that had to be met, and it'd have been prohibitively expensive. I have no money whatsoever because I've had a grand total of 35 pounds in benefits since October. So, it was clear that waiting and paying for someone to record the interview professionally was out of my budget, because I have no money therefore no budget. It was agreed that I'd go ahead with the interview without recording it. I really had no option, and felt forced into it. I was worried they'd lie again, and misrepresent what I said, and it turns out they did. To be honest, going from 8 points in October to 0 in March, when my mental health has gotten worse, it seems to me like they screwed me over on purpose because I attempted to record the interview and accused them of being liars. So it's now April the 1st. They've given me 35 pounds to live on since October. My credit card is maxed out. I've borrowed hundreds of pounds just for food and necessities. I've had to move in with my girlfriend because my mother, whom I was living with before, cannot afford to keep me. I was planning on moving in with my girlfriend, but not under these circumstances. I wasn't planning on being a burden. She knew I was mentally ill, and she was prepared for that kind of burden, but she's going without to keep me fed and clothed. God bless her she's kept me and looked after me, and not grumbled any more about it than she grumbles about everything else. So given that I've had two medicals that I failed, I'm waiting on my tribunal for the first one, and the JC have put appeal forms for the most recent ATOS interview in the post to me today, what should I do? Would writing to my MP help? I've seen people mention that they got things sorted by speaking to their MP. What about CAB? Should I head to the CAB on Monday morning? I really feel as if nothing will help this situation. My health problems, just in case it'll help someone advise me: Since my teens I've had mental health problems. It came and went, but since my mid 20s it's been a really serious problem. A lot of the time I can't leave the house. I can't answer the phone, if the door gets knocked and I'm not expecting someone I just ignore it and hope they go away. I have trouble dealing with people. On the days I can go out to the shops, I'll use the automated checkouts to avoid having to talk to a checkout assistant. I have depression, stress and anxiety problems, connected to what seems to be IBS. When I'm particularly nervous about going out my bowels will just give out. I've lost count of the number of times I've been on the way out the door but I've had to dash to the loo, and cancel going out. I don't even feel comfortable about people coming to see me, most of the time. I try not to arrange to see people, and if my girlfriend has friends round it really stresses me out, even though I've known them for years and consider them to be friends too. My physical health is suffering because I don't get any exercise. I used to walk a lot, or cycle. I've put on 4 stone in the last 5 years. Walking to the shops round the corner tires me out. Taking the bins out exhausts me. I seem to have no energy at all. I haven't had particularly dark thoughts for a long time, but right now I'm wondering what the point is. It seems like they're going to screw me no matter what. I don't have any hope for this appeal, or the upcoming tribunal. I've got no money whatsoever. I owe so much money, I've been counting on getting this sorted and getting my money backdated so I can pay off the debts that receiving no benefits has saddled me with. I don't understand how they can do this to people. Their lies and messing me around are affecting my health directly. They just don't seem to care.