Just jumping in, I too will try this tactic and see what happens. My own case is so similar to that of Busters - mountain of evidence submitted - DWP say that they used the ESA50 and the F2F assessment to make the decision. We will see what happens - it will be a very interesting exercise to see who is right - to allow the DWP to do a re-consideration or wait for the Tribunal.

I echo what Honeybee has said. Don't worry about the DWP in their ability to do the right thing. Just think of the builders of the Titanic as being the DWP - it will never sink - but it does and in the case of the DWP, under a mountain of overturned appeals. The tribunal will see you right - they are the only ones that really know what they are about.

I seem to have confused HB - my fault, sorry It seems that very few on here have had your good luck. The majority seem to have had their evidence overlooked.

IIDB. The review took place in Jan 04, my earlier award ceased payment (40%) in June 04. I wrote to them in late June 04 asking what is happening and that I hadn't heard the result of the review medical that took place in Jan 04. I also made a point of saying that I wanted full details if I had failed of the decsion and that I intended to appeal. I heard nothing until I did a SAR in 2011 when it became apparent that the decision notice had been sent to an address I lived at up until 2003, in late June 2004. Yet Medical Services managed to write to me at the new address re the Jan 04 review! I hold a copy of the letter I sent to them in 2003 advising of the new address. I applied in June 2011 for a review I had a medical with ATOS and was awarded the 40% again only from March 2011 (max 3 months backdating) to February 2014. I then applied for an any time revision of the 2004 review (based on what I found out following the SAR request). I submitted evidence that existed in February 2004 to show my condition at the time, evidence that the condition remained unchanged from 2004 until 2011 and evidence that was used to support the 2011 decision which also showed no change. The DWP then accepted that and revised the decision to allow the award from February 2004 to February 2014. However they then said that even though the award had been given I could not have the backdated money as no appeal had been lodged. So in December 2012 I lodged an appeal against the 04 decision telling the DWP that I couldn't lodge one earlier as I had not been served the decision notice. They countered and said that a notice had been sent out in July 04 to the correct address. I disputed that correctly and asked them to prove it. They admit they can't as no one took a copy of it and put it in the file, but 'but you can be assured we did'.

2 to 1 against at the moment then? Oh no, sorry 3 to 1 against, I forgot to include Honeybee. It does seem strange that some do and some don't!

Welcome to the world of ATOS & the DWP!! They and the DWP appear not to consider relevant anything that you send in - same boat as you!

Yep, 3 years in the SG and then came the review assessment and last month I was told to get a job as I am as fit as a butchers dog! What has upset me is that my DLA has now been taken off me even though I was awarded HRM & MRC only 12 months or so ago!! Also in the post this morning another letter turned up from somebody called the 'Pension and Disability & Carers Service' in Glasgow, a Jo ***** wants to come and interview me on the 26th February in the morning about my benefits. That was the last straw, I don't need somebody coming to rub salt in he wounds so telephoned them and gave them a piece of my mind and told them to p*** **f!! Don't the shower ever give up? Sorry I'm a little tetchy tonight as all of it is just sinking in.

Thank you for that info. I don't need to see the GP regarding medication, I am already a patient of the local CMHT and do already take anti phys drugs that they have prescribed. If I didn't take them, I dread to think what I am capable of.

Well I doubt that you would be able to help if I asked. I'm currently appealing against a decision not to award a benefit that appears to date from June 2004! I already have persuaded the DWP that the decision was utterly wrong and they have now changed the decision that benefit should have been paid to me from Feb 2004 until March 2011. However as an appeal was never lodged in time, they have refused to pay the money. My late application is based entirely on the fact that the decision letter was sent to an address that lived at years before despite informing them of the new address. So still to this day I have never seen the decision notice so an appeal could not be sent in. The Tribunal Service are considering both submissions as the moment - just under £20,000 is involved.

I don't know how you could say that, you have no idea what has gone on for the past 40 years and in particular over the past 10 years. As I have said I would pay the whole £250,000 to a solicitor if it meant that it would cause enough grief to my sister. Oh yes it is revenge. Put it this way, if you believed and knew that for years people, including family had systematically caused problems in your own family, have taken large amounts of money from you and were so vexatious and devious that they committed perjury which resulted in you being sent to prison, I doubt whether you would be so forgiving! Yes I came out a broken man, having lost all faith in everyone. I approached all concerned and wanted to know why - which resulted in another prison term. Coming out and finding that no one had told you that your mum had died, and that all of her personal and valuable belongings had been removed 'and no one knew who did it'? Then being told by my niece that her mother, my sister had everything and had disposed of it. It left my father a destroyed man - he begged my sister to hand back mum's wedding and engagement rings which she refused saying that they had been sold.

Ummm, there doesn't seem a way then of forcing my sister to lose all or part of her inheritance with the way I am thinking. Obviously I will have to think of another way round this problem. To be honest, i don't particularly care what she could do to me, it would be such a pleasure if I could do something that would cause her sufficient grief - her only interest in life is money and what she can do with it! Me, I'll be just be as happy with my wife and dog living in a bedsit on benefits with nothing just as long as she doesn't get much out of the deal and it all goes in legal fees. But I thank you for the advice and pointers given.

Yes I understand that, the costs would be deducted from the £250,000 that I would be entitled to under his will? Money that I don't want.

I'm sorry to hear about the ESA problem - I'm in the same boat - extensive evidence, OT reports, Social Worker report, 8 consultants reports etc etc - they have told me to get a job after being in the Support Group for the past 3 years!!! Never mind we are only at round 1! As regards your DLA award. I had a letter today telling me that based on the ESA assessment they believe that I am no longer entitled to the HRM & MRC which was awarded 12 months ago!! The DLA payments will now stop - however I do have the right of appeal!! I'm now waiting for Mobility to sieze my car which is under HP with Motability!! It's only a car!! Yes a failure and/or a poor assessment for ESA does normally trigger the automatic removal of the DLA award.

When the notional income reduces the capital enough to enable you to requalify. Could I ask why you receive GPC and your husband contributory JSA? Surely the easiest way forward is to have all of your income paid as GPC where there is no upper limit for savings. Your income is being reduced at the rate of £1 a week for every £500 (or part) over £10,000. So with savings of £20,000 you will be receiving a notional income of £20 a week. In other words your capital will be going down by £20 a week. As an example if your Appropriate Amount (the amount that the government say you need to live on) under GPC is £250 a week, they will take all of your joint income (say £205 a week) off that figure + another £20 (notional income) which will give you a GPC payment of £25 a week and you get to keep the £20,000. Even if you had £100,000 in the bank, they would only take £180 a week off your GPC. You might consider that a lot, but many people that claim GPC have an Appropriate Amount of £450 a week. In this example if they had income of £200 a week already coming in + the notional £180, they would still get GPC of £70 a week and get to keep the £100,000!!!

If my maths are right, the appeal was lodged after the 13 month deadline. Yes if the DWP reject any appeal it is sent to the Tribunal for their final ruling on the matter. That has now happened and the Tribunal has ruled that the appeal is out of time. The only alternative is to either appeal to the upper tier or put in a request that the ESA claim be reviewed now on the basis that the original condition has become worse.

I wouldn't even understand them if they did send my results to me!

Are you thinking that because you are on 'morphine patches that leave you in a zombified state' you should be in the Support Group? Personally I can't see that the conditions of that group would apply to you. I may be wrong, but you have to be pretty seriously ill to get into that group. I am prescribed 100mg of 12 hours lasting Morphine (MST) twice a day (200mg daily) topped up with 120mg (60ml) or Oramorph (quick acting oral Morphine) daily and I can't even get onto ESA - I was told to get a job!!

Thanks I would be more than pleased if the legal costs exceeded the value of the estate. Unfortunately, I am not the type to forgive and forget. Even my wife tells me that she can't understand how I can hold grudges for decades. Once someone upsets me or crosses me that is the end - family or not. Even now I still plan retribution towards people that 'turned me over' back in the early 90's! Without that anger and bitterness I am nothing, the thought that people be allowed to get away with things without suffering consequences is what drives me forward every day.

Thank you for the information. There are only two beneficiaries, myself and my sister. I understand that she could apply to to be the sole executor and that the costs etc including my costs of defending the action would be bourne by myself. I have no problem with that, that would be her intention from the start, she has made that clear already via her solicitor to my solicitor. Obviously that would cause a huge dent in the half that I would be entitled to. I can't stop her appointing her own solicitor to act for her in her own personal capacity as executor, nor can she stop me doing the same - that has already been agreed what will happen. So as I see it, it would be quite easy for me to run up a considerable debt that hopefully will wipe out my half - £250,000. As for her half, she will have to fund her own solicitor and be half responsible for any solicitor that she appoints to deal with the estate. That seems to be the way forward and is what my solicitor has already told me. Personally I was looking for a way that would ensure that her half was sufficiently depleted as well. Delay is one thing, but what will really annoy her is if she sees her inheritance being swallowed up in legal costs as well. Hopefully I have a few years to sort out the best way forward to make that happen. My relationship with my sister became impossible following the death of our mother in 2003. i have no intention in even wanting to meet her or talk to her. We currently communicate with each other through our own solicitors. If I can cause her as much delay and loss the better it is for me. If it was at all possible for the entire estate to be taken to cover legal costs, I would throw a party! Thanks for your input.

Hi, I know a little about insolvent estates and intestate, but nothing about this subject. Myself and my sister are named as joint executors of our father's estate and are the only beneficiaries. I haven't spoken to my sister for many years and don't wish to do so in the future. Father is in poor health aged 89 and he insists that he will not change his directions. So when the day comes following his death (hopefully not for many years to come) what powers do we have. Yes I know how the whole thing works but the problem I have is that my sister would want a solicitor to handle the estate, whereas I, due to the family breakdown, would want to cause her as much difficulty and cost as I can. I will not accept any solicitor being appointed by her - can she over rule me and appoint one in her right as the joint executor? Personally as far as I am concerned I don't want any of my father's money (estate will be net worth in excess of £500,000). On the other hand I want to make it as difficult and as costly as I can for her to have her half share. What can happen if the estate is never wound up because of my actions - can anybody else forcibly intervene? Ideally, I would be more than happy for the State to take ownership of the estate until an agreement is reached between us which will be never!

This whole thing confuses me no end. OK you have say 10 people all suffering from RA, all have the same problems with mobilising and pain. Yet you find that a good percentage will fail to qualify for DLA whilst some will be awarded it. Yes I know it is all about what your needs are. To me it all comes down to how good a liar you are, how well you can portray you problems in writing on the claim form and whether you can get your GP to agree to say that what you tell him/her is the truth about how you are able to live. I cannot see how anybody can get medical evidence to prove that they have these needs unless they specifically have an OT or suchlike carry out an assessment on them. To be honest DLA is a joke and a lottery. I filled out the claim form fully and included evidence of the various conditions. It came back as a failure, yet when I asked for a reconsideration and I sent in a copy of my enhanced mental health care plan they awarded me MRC! Why? Having the care plan didn't change my needs and it certainly didn't describe what my actual care needs are or were. It was a document that showed what I was being treated for and by whom. Then, in for a penny, in for a pound, I submitted a copy of a report that was sent to the GP that indicated that I am suffering from Peripheral Arterial Disease in both legs, had had surgery to my right leg and that they were to look at my left leg in due course. No where in that report did it say anything about my ability to walk. The DWP then upped the award to MRC + HRM!! To me those two reports gave no more information than what they had before when they failed me. So now I have an indefinite award of DLA and don't have a clue how I ended up with it. I would add that the GP sent a report to the DWP stating that I have no difficulties with getting about and can self care quite easilly - hence why I failed in the first place. The whole thing seems to be shielded by smoke. So here is me now with my blue badge, I don't pay road tax for my car and have Motability funding the purchase of my car but if someone was to ask me why am I disabled and entitled to all of this, I genuinely cannot answer the question. Err I have dodgy legs and I'm a nutter???? Far too much reliance is placed on (a) how good you are at filling out the claim form and (b) dubious evidence that gives no indication of needs but is accepted just because of what it is. To my mind, the awards should be given based on relevant evidence only. This self assessment thing is ridiculous and as for the DWP choosing what evidence is best is all wrong. It should be based on all evidence and evidence alone.

I know what you mean, but something is better than nothing! I remember telephoning the Pension Service back in 2009 to enquire about Pension Credit. I put a claim in to see if we were eligible. After about 4 months and hearing nothing I telephoned again to find out what was happening. The first thing I was told that it would take up to 20 weeks for a reply to come out with a decision. When I queried this by asking how are people supposed to live I was asked if we had any money coming in from anywhere at the moment. I said that we certainly had, but not enough. Well, came the reply, there are many that have nothing coming in so they are dealt wth first! It seemed that we were the lucky ones on a low income, others didn't have a pot to p**s in!!

Yes all correct apart from living in a rural area - I live on the outskirts of a large city!!! I don't drink or go to any pub!!! And I don't go round checking tax discs!! Where you get that load of bunkum from I don't know. Yes, I can ill afford to give money away, but surely there comes a time when you feel that you have to do something. Are you that heartless? That chance meeting has made me think differently about the homeless. Up until then I would go out of my way to ignore them even refuse them a cigarette. I saw them all as alcoholics and druggies. Now I realise that there are some that reallly do deserve our help. For the sake of what cash I had in my pocket, I have helped a young vulnerable girl/woman to have hot food, hot showers and a bed for a week. I just hope that somewhere out there there are others that will be just as generous next week towards her.

Hang on, are we not deviating from the original thread here? Are you talking about before a decision is made by ATOS to call you in for a F2F assessment? Or after the F2F assessment has been carried out but no decision on entitlement has been made by the DWP? I only ask because until either an ESA85 or ESA85a has been prepared and submitted to the DWP. the DWP have no interest in the matter, it is for ATOS to deal with.

I'm sorry but you are very much mistaken. I have no idea what the 'connection' is between me and those names, but I can assure you that they have nothing to do with me.