Son's ESA stopped

treemoth

My son's ESA has been stopped because he failed to turn up for an assessment an did not fill the form in to eplain why. Does anyone know the criteria for being reconsidered for ESA in these circumstances.

Chris_Alumni

Hi @treemoth, welcome to the community. I've moved your post to our benefits advisor page as they may be able to advise you.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi Treemoth,

I've answered your query elsewhere (it came up on someone else's post), but just to give the advice again:

• it's worth asking for a mandatory reconsideration of the decision to stop ESA. Explain why your son didn't attend and didn't fill in the form to say why, and state if any confusion was due to his disability - insist on a mandatory reconsideration notice even if the DWP say (on the phone for example) that the decision is unlikely to be changed;
• if there are mental health problems involved, let us know, because the DWP are supposed to use safeguarding procedures - we can explain these if they are relevant;
• complain if you think the whole procedure isn't working, especially if this is because of your son's condition - maybe DWP communications aren't accessible to your son. That could be disability discrimination;
• meanwhile, your son can claim ESA again (he'll need to supply medical certificates), but he won't get ESA until he has his medical, unless he's got worse, has a new condition or it's more than six months since the decision to stop his ESA.

I hope that helps. Do challenge the decision; it's often hard for people to understand what they are supposed to do.

Will