ESA Appeal confusion

[Lumbricoid]

Hi all,

I'm hoping that someone can help me with my current ESA appeal dilemma.

 

On 14/11/2011 I was sent a letter saying that I failed my ATOS medical assessment that I had in September.

I started the appeal process soon after and was sent a letter notifying me that I needed to send in a medical certificate from my GP.

[This letter I noticed came from Aberdeen benefits office - I am in South Wales]

I was given the certificate on 7/7/2012 and sent it off (signed-for) the same day to the address of the office in Aberdeen. I thought nothing of this at the time as the letter notifying me of my ATOS medical assessment came from that office. Sometimes I've had two letters in the same envelope with two different addresses on the top! - Namely, Wrexham and Aberdeen.

 

I thought everything was going OK as on 21/12/2011 I received a telephone call saying that my appeal is being put together and that I will be receiving a reduced benefit during the process and would I like to receive the money by direct debit, cheque, etc..

 

Now yesterday I received a letter that said my medical certificate (that covered 8/12/2012 to 21/12/2012) was about to run out.

Confused, I phoned the number on the top of the letter as the certificate was meant to cover three months at least [note - the office that sent this letter was Wrexham]. After talking to the agent there I was told that they had not received my certificate. I gave the address that I sent it to and was told that was the wrong one and should have sent it to Wrexham, as that is the office that is dealing with my case. The agent was unable to either contact Aberdeen office or advise me on what I should do. I was told that Aberdeen may forward it to the office in Wrexham - or they may not!

 

So now I am in a state worrying about this thing - do I obtain another certificate and send it to the office in Wrexham? Write to the office in Aberdeen and notify them of the problem? Or wait until after xmas and see if these two offices manage to sort this mess out?

 

I find this doubly confusing as neither office appears to know what the other is doing, and the phone-call on the 21st and I wonder why on earth I was contacted by an Aberdeen office if my 'local' office is in Wrexham.

 

Hope someone can help or shed some light on this, or even advise - thanks!

[antone]

I can, perhaps, shed a little light. Bear with me here - I'm a former benefit processor. There is an office that is designated to handle your claim, and in your case it is probably the Wrexham office. This is allocated by postcode. So for most matters, you need to deal with Wrexham.

 

There is confusion, though, because some Benefit Delivery Centres (or BDCs, the large offices which process claims) are suffering backlogs of work. As a result, they sometimes farm some of it out to another BDC with spare capacity. Usually, this takes the form of them bundling up a bunch of unread mail or unprocessed med certs and sending them by courier to the relief BDC. I handled such mail on occasion, for the BDCs at Ilford, Stratford and Belfast. It's called something like "Exported Work."

 

So what should a processor do when he or she needs to send a letter? If the system is well-organised (ha!) then they'd have access to mailing templates, address stamps and so on, for the office whose mail they're dealing with. And I usually did. But the cock-up potential here is huge, and so cock-ups happen. After all, I couldn't claim to work at Ilford, because I didn't. But then I didn't want routine mail or phone calls directed to Glasgow, because my Glasgow colleagues wouldn't normally be able to help. It made for some oddly-worded letters.

 

What should you do? I'd suggest calling Wrexham to confirm that they are the BDC holding your case. Assuming that they are the correct office, I'd ask for an appointment to hand in a duplicate certificate at your local Jobcentre and have it sent to Wrexham via fax or courier - this should be faster.

 

It might also be worth, if you have the energy, making a polite complaint about this situation, and ask that staff in Aberdeen should clearly state when they are acting on behalf of another BDC, and should advise of the correct office to send a response.

 

What I wouldn't do, based on personal inside experience, is wait for the two offices to sort it out between themselves. You want this sorted before the sun blows up and engulfs the planets.

[osdset]

Don't post medical certs, the DWP have a system in place, phone your BDC ask them to arrange an appointment at your local Jobcentre to submit a cert (usually done the same day) the Jobcentre scans the cert and faxes it off to the BDC you get a signed and more importantly date stamped photo copy, the BDC cannot then say that it was lost/not received.

[Lumbricoid]

Thanks for the info guys.

Incidentally, my Benefits Centre is the one located in Wrexham.

I will ask for another certificate from my GP after Xmas and have it sent via fax at the job centre.

[jules9906]

I completed esa50 jul 2011, placed in WRAG, appealed. Rsceived later 13 Dec confirming a reconsideratiion of my claim anx had been moved to a Support Group, letter arrived today from Atos askinv md complete Esa50, noa i am confused. Can anyone give md advice please. Tried ringing jobcentreplus continualy engaged.

[Rover87]

Antone is right in saying work often gets exported to other BDC's to help manage the workload, but on this occasion there is another reason why you have two benefit centres dealing with your claim! Aberdeen is where all of the IB reassessment cases are dealt with for Wales. That is where the appeal and FIRST medical certificate should go to. Once Abnerdeen have completed a Reconsideration (first part of the appeal) then you claim and all documents would be forwarded to your local BDC - in your case Wrexham. What you need to do is ring the normal 0845 number and ask to be put through to the reassessment team - an agent should be able to do this. The person you are put through to should be able to see what info has been received, if not then they can pass your query to Aberdeen and ask them to call you back.

 

Can you just clarify the date of your certificate though? You've put it was given to you on 07/07/2012!! I'm assuming you mean 07/12/11?

 

The only problem really is that the offices are now shut until 29/12.....

[antone]

Thanks for the correction, Rover87. I'll stand by my feeling that when an office issues paperwork, it should make it clear why that particular office is doing the work (if it's not the claimant's normal one) and where the various documents should be sent.

[Conniff]

Now yesterday I received a letter that said my medical certificate (that covered 8/12/2012 to 21/12/2012) was about to run out.

Confused, I phoned the number on the top of the letter as the certificate was meant to cover three months at least [note - the office that sent this letter was Wrexham].

 

So how did Wrexham know it was about to run out if it hadn't received it ?

[antone]

So how did Wrexham know it was about to run out if it hadn't received it ?

 

These letters are sent by the JSAPS computer system. It would have put the Wrexham address on the letter as that's the office that holds the claim.

[Lumbricoid]

Antone is right in saying work often gets exported to other BDC's to help manage the workload, but on this occasion there is another reason why you have two benefit centres dealing with your claim! Aberdeen is where all of the IB reassessment cases are dealt with for Wales. That is where the appeal and FIRST medical certificate should go to. Once Abnerdeen have completed a Reconsideration (first part of the appeal) then you claim and all documents would be forwarded to your local BDC - in your case Wrexham. What you need to do is ring the normal 0845 number and ask to be put through to the reassessment team - an agent should be able to do this. The person you are put through to should be able to see what info has been received, if not then they can pass your query to Aberdeen and ask them to call you back.

 

Can you just clarify the date of your certificate though? You've put it was given to you on 07/07/2012!! I'm assuming you mean 07/12/11?

 

The only problem really is that the offices are now shut until 29/12.....

 

Oops, sorry - yes, the medical certificate was dated 7/12/11! Tiredness and stress!

Unfortunately I've only just now been able to come on here due to Christmas and a dodgy router.

I decided to try to get a new medical certificate but have been unable to get an appointment with my G.P. until the new year (3rd Jan - thanks to a bank holiday). As if to taunt me, I received another letter on the 30th Dec saying that if they don't receive a certificate by the 4th of Jan my benefit will be stopped and I *may* have to attend a(nother) medical examination.

 

Is this void if my certificate arrives the day later (or the same day?), or if I have extenuating circumstances?

 

I have also sent one of their reply forms back as safeguard, and informed them that due to the mix-up, I sent my 7/12/11 certificate to Aberdeen and because I only found out about my error on the 23rd, the busy Christmas/New Year/Bank Holiday period, I was unable to make an appointment until the new year.

What a mess!!

 

Is there anything more that I can do or have I made a complete cockup?

Thanks in advance!