ESA claim closed

[pinky39]

hello,i hope somebody can help me and give me some advice please as i just dont know what to do. i had been claiming ESA and missed the medical appointment as i was away over christmas visiting family,as ive been suffering from depression and needed to get away.Didnt realise they had sent for me until i got back after the holidays and sent in the paperwork explaining this.Since then ive had no benefit,they said they never recieved this paperwork,and my claims been closed.ive got nothing to live on except ive had to apply for crisis loans but i need to know what to do next! i dont want to claim for jsa as im not fit for work,so can i reclaim esa?thanks in advance!

[rebel11]

Hi Pink

 

Welcome to CAG

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

[anyt]

Have you tried to claim ESA again? a rapid reclaim i think it's called. Always send stuff to them recorded delivery and get names of people you speak to. You cant claim JSA as you and your doctor dont think you are fit to work. What i would do is try claiming ESA immediatly (there is no harm in trying) and send a sick note in aswell to cover you. If they say anything about you failing to attend the medical just play dumb.

You should have just done what they did to you and said you never got an appointent letter it must have got lost in the post etc.

I also suffer from depression so i know what your going through.

Edited February 21, 2011 by anyt

[pinky39]

i was just being honest and told them i was away from home at the time and didnt know about it till i got back,some weeks later.ive had nothing to live on for weeks now and as far as i know you cant re-apply if youve been dis-allowed because you failed to attend a medical.this is really stressful living on nothing and not even sleeping properly because of stress

[jabba jones]

If you try to reclaim ESA within 6 months of your current disallowance date then you will not be paid anything until you've attended & passed a medical (unless you can prove your condition has worsened or changed). You could appeal against the disallowance (providing you are still within the 1 month limit) however again you will not receive payment unless the claim is reconsidered & allowed or you win the appeal.

 

I'm afraid as you are now finding out being disallowed ESA or IB for failing to attend a medical leaves you in limbo.

 

Like it or not JSA may be your best option as far as your next payment is concerned, but that's up to you.

Edited February 21, 2011 by jabba jones

[speedfreek]

that's a bit of pickle pinky.

 

As it stands with your claim being closed the 6 month rule runs from the date of the decision to close your claim.

This means you can not reapply within 6 months unless you have a deterioration in your condition which as Jabba says would only lead to payment if you passed the ATOS assessment.

 

The only other way you could get a payment out of ESA now would be if you could get the 1st decision looked at again and over turned which would re-instate payments and appeal rights etc.

 

As Jabba says JSA might be the only option here unless you can get some pretty good supporting evidence from professionals supporting a deterioration in a second claim. Even then it's a 13 week wait.

 

Before you do anything though you have to seek advice from a Welfare Rights advisor.

 

DIAL & MIND both run telephone helplines and your Council website may list more local drop in centres etc other than the CAB.

 

You need somebody to see if you can make a late appeal against the decision to close your ESA claim and they will also help you un pick the mess that is caused by you being forced to apply for JSA. I'm not saying here that JSA is the wrong move as if you need paid you need paid. Far from that it's just in this case you are going to need somebody experienced chapter n verse in DWP rules and regulations to remind them what they can n can't do as most of the time they don't know their arse from their elbow.

 

It's a complete mess of a system and you're feeling the full force of its lunacy but remember if you get help you just may get a decent result out of all this. Although granted it probably doesn't seam that way now.