Hi all, I have recently had yet another WCA and have been placed into the WRA group, obviously this is not the worst decision that I could have got but I was previously (from a WCA only a year earlier) in the care group. I don't understand why I have been moved down a tier after only recently having been moved up, I have been getting ESA WRA for years and have previously been in the care group many, many years ago and have had periods of bouncing back and forth between JSA and ESA under ATOS, the point being, my condition back then should have had me in the care group, but ATOS... and although things have been getting better gradually over the years I still have years of recovery ahead of me, which I thought had finally been reflected in me being put in the care group, but now no longer! The thing is, I provided the exact same information this time as i did last time, I told them that my condition was unchanged, and that it's not going to change if an ESA50 lands on my doormat 6 months after every decision (btw, it took another 6 months from sending in my ESA50 to getting an interview, so that was half a year of barely contained nervous breakdown and another big hit to my recovery). In my ESA50 I stated that given that they are making a decision based on the same set of rules, using the same information, speaking to the same person with the same condition, then making any decision that differs from the last time would be a logical fallacy. The implication of that of course being that if all the factors remain the same then the outcome should remain the same, if it does not then it implies incompetence, dishonesty, fundamental flaws in the system or simply that the decision has been unduly influenced by the personal feelings of the assessors and/or decision makers, it was only implied, but I don't think they liked that...I can't escape the feeling that they know I am not fit for work and have bumped me down a notch out of spite because they don't like being told what to do, even when they know it's perfectly logical and the correct course of action. Pointless though it is anyway. I know what will happen, I'll go to a WRA interview, the conclusion will be reached that they should just leave me alone to recover on my own time and if I want help I will ask for it, and that will be that, same as the last 3 times. Essentially all they have done is cut my income for no good reason, at a time when I actually need that extra due to a drop in our household income, and moreover, they are giving me less to live on while requiring me to shell out extra travel expenses for WRA? wtf? Initial ramble over with, and thanks if you've read this far, I will now endeavor to get to the point. I want to ask for Mandatory Reconsideration but I have a fear that if I do so then they will yet again reinterpret the same information and somehow come up with a way of throwing me back into JSA hell again, and I don't think I can take that, in fact I know I can't. If that were to happen now, i'd lose my mind, my home, my friends lives (who share my home) would be turned upside down too and I'd likely end up back on the streets, living in a forest and selling the big issue again, i'm basically on the edge here, i'm at a turning point in my life where things could start to get much better, or they could get much much worse, and the decisions that influence that are out of my control. Sorry for the ramble, but I can't take my meds til this is done, my question is, has this ever happened to anyone? Asking for reconsideration and ending up with a worse result? Second question, the sticky on MRs states that benefit payments will stop while the reconsideration is going on, I understand that there are different rules for differing circumstances but the CAB website says that I will continue to get ESA while the process is carried out, can someone clarify this for me, will I retain my ESA while asking for MR? will it be at the same WRA rate or will it be cut? One final thought, if my benefits will be cut in any way then I simply cannot afford to ask for MR, seems like an effective deterrent to fair treatment to me, ahem, but is it possible, under those conditions, to make a formal protest without asking for MR? e.g. I have them send me the reports from this and the previous WCA, I pick them to pieces and write up a statement elucidating where they are right and where they are wrong and why the decision is unfair (or indeed fair, i am prepared to concede to a logical argument) but with a clear caveat that this is for the benefit of informing future assessments and I cannot at this time financially afford to ask for a MR as any cut to my household income would be harmful. Would there be any point to this? do the WCA people even look at past decisions and evidence?. So to sum up: 1. Has anyone ever had a MR return a worse result than the one you were appealing? 2. What happens to my ESA WRA payments while in MR? 3. Is there any point in making a formal protest if I cannot ask for MR? If you got this far then thanks again for sticking with it, I do tend to produce TLDR walls of text. Any input will be greatly appreciated, I only have the next few days to decide what to do. Thanks again, Stu.