ESA stopped for failing to attend medical

[toasterpocket]

Hi guys,

 

I wonder if anyone here is able to offer me any help or advice with regards to ESA and what my options are.

 

First some background information, I've been signed off with serious depression and anxiety by my doctor for around the last three years. My anxiety is so bad that it often stops me from leaving the house. I missed my first two ATOS appointments because the thought of going gave me panic attacks and I didn't get to sleep the night before. The third failure to attend happened because the appointment letter was sent to an old address, even though I had let them know about the change. They accepted this as their fault and rescheduled.

 

On the day off my ATOS medical examination, the dwp didn't pay me my usual ESA payment due to a gap in the medical certificates I had supplied. This was an admin mistake as my usual GP was on holiday and I saw someone else who got it wrong by a day. Of course I wasn't informed of this by the DWP and the first I knew of it was that morning and I spent the majority of the day on the telephone to the DWP and the GP trying to get it all sorted out. I informed the first person I spoke to when I made the call that without the payment I would not be able to attend my medical because I had intended on getting a cab there. I have no transport myself and no family in the area. I also made them aware that the whole situation made my condition significantly worse. I eventually got my payment and returned the form with regards to the missed appointment in letting them know why I hadn't attended.

 

I now haven't received a payment from ESA for over a month. They stopped my payments and closed my claim. When I contacted them about it (again no letter from them) they told me I need to start a new claim before anything would be done, and that I had to do this by post as their system wouldn't allow this. I made a point of questioning this at the time, but was told it was all I could do. This form was sent to them as soon as I was able to fill it in. I also have a severe atheritits in my right hand which makes writing anything extremely difficult and painful for me.

 

They now have everything they need from me, but are refusing to make any sort of payment from me until it's gone through their process which I was told could take another 2 weeks. There's no help available for me since they stopped crisis loans, i have no family to ask for help, my local council won't help me because i'm not receiving benefit and I'm now at a complete loss.

 

I have received my mobile bill too which is £50 more expensive now due to the expensive calls to the dwp. I have no way of paying it without any money, have no food and as a result have lost around 3 stone. The dwp don't see this as an urgent case and anytime i quote anything from the decision makers guide, which i have accessed online they clam up and end the call.

 

I'm not getting anywhere and don't know what to do.

[toasterpocket]

No advice?

 

The guy I spoke to earlier was supposed to get someone to call me back and never did either.

[antone]

Folks here often have jobs or families or other commitments that limit the time they can spend on the forum. You will get responses when the guys are around.

 

To start with, let's be sure we're understanding you correctly. Your claim has been closed because of repeated failure to attend the WCA, is that correct? At any time did you request a home visit?

[toasterpocket]

I did ask them for a home visit, when I sent back the first failure to attend. I tried to attend but I had a massive panic attack and explained that to them.

 

Thanks for your reply

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I agree with antone that this seems to be because you haven't attended your Atos assessments. When did you miss the most recent one please? I'm a bit confused by what you've posted above.

 

My best, HB

[toasterpocket]

Towards the end of May. I didn't just miss it though, i informed them before the appointment

[honeybee13]

Towards the end of May. I didn't just miss it though, i informed them before the appointment

 

When did you inform them and please could you confirm which of the problems you mentioned prevented you from going? It should help us advise you.

 

HB

[antone]

Towards the end of May. I didn't just miss it though, i informed them before the appointment

 

This is (or can be) a confusing aspect of the ESA benefit. Basically, you are expected to comply with the general terms and conditions of the benefit, and in most cases that includes attending Atos exams when you're asked to.

 

Now of course, sometimes stuff happens and you simply can't attend. There are two possible scenarios here. In the first one, you knew in advance and informed them that you couldn't attend. In most cases when this happens, Atos will accept that and simply rearrange. But you can't continually do this. Eventually, the DWP will start seeing it as non-compliance.

 

In the second scenario, you would simply not attend an appointment. If this happens, the DWP will write to you and ask you to show "Good Cause" for your failure to attend. In my experience, they'll accept pretty much any halfway reasonable explanation the first time, but after that things get a bit stricter. (I once had to deal with an ESA claimant who missed three Atos exams because they had to bury his mother - repeatedly, apparently. It actually turned out that he did have a case, but you could see why folks were sceptical at first...)

 

Right, so...what to do. I'd first advise you to seek the help of any Welfare Rights organisations in your area, because this is complicated. As you've repeatedly failed to attend (FTA), the DWP staff are probably seeing this as quite simple - you were asked to attend multiple times and didn't show up. If six months has passed since your last FTA, you could make a new claim. If not, though, it's going to be difficult to be paid until you attend an Atos exam and are found not fit for work.

 

If at any time in the future you wish to have a home visit, it would be very helpful if you could supply evidence from your doctor to support the request.

[estellyn]

Yes as Antone said, when your claim is ended for non attendance, even when claiming immediately, you won't be paid until you attend another ATOS assessment and a decision is made on that.

 

Your best bet is to appeal the decision to close your claim for non attendance, and give all the info you can about the reason why you didn't attend the latest assessment. There should be a record of your calls to the DWP, if not a phone bill to show the calls will help as will a bankstatement showing insufficient funds to meet the cost of a taxi (giving info as to what the cost of a taxi there and back would have been), and an explanation as to why you required a taxi and couldn't use public transport. also explain that you had previously requested a home visit. Whoever you spoke to at the DWP should have informed you that you needed to call ATOS to tell them of the situation before your appointment.

 

Your best hope is that the DWP decision is overturned promptly, and the more info you give, the better chance.

 

In the meantime, you should contact your local council for welfare support as you are in an emergency situation.

 

It is also worth considering in advance how you will be able to attend the next ATOS assessment, as funds will be an issue - there may be a volunteer service in your area that can help with transport.

[estellyn]

Oh, and Antone, burying his mother three times??????

[antone]

Oh, and Antone, burying his mother three times??????

 

Heh, yeah. They had to postpone the funeral twice because of a coroner's inquest. It was a bizarre story, but in the end it checked out - every failed funeral attempt did fall on an Atos medical day. Good cause was accepted. The claimant had a field day, calling us "cruel and inhumane" for questioning this story. I don't really think we can be blamed for our scepticism, though.