My ESA has been stopped

ellie1511

I have had my esa stopped after an assessment at 5ways Birmingham on 3rd jan, I have a serious khyphosis of the spine from which I suffer chronic pain all day every day I am on the the spinal registry for a operation to correct the curviture and hopefully half the pain, I also suffer with ostio arthritis in my neck,back,hips and knees on top I also suffer with depression.I have high blood pressure and high collesterol and also suffer with severe hypotension which has caused me to blackout twice, im always in pain and I cant walk far.I take high dose zapain/codiene, amytriptoline,iboprufen,ramipril,simvastatin,sertraline,dioctyl,lansoprazol I also take oromorph for the pain too how can they say I can go back to work its disgusting!!! I scored 0 points on there assessment because I (scratched my head) and I walked 65 yards down corridor to interview room but I could only walk very slowly with my stick and I was in pain, I dont have a pain meter on my body so how can they say I wasnt in pain they also said I didnt need help getting on examining bed when I clearly was struggling to do so without offer of assistance and couldnt lie down because of my khyphosis I struggled to get off aswell its a joke they say what they want to say to get you off esa I cried in front of assessor when talking about my depression yet no mention was made of it unbelievable!!! These assessments need to be stopped because they also didnt take into consideration doctors reports and my surgeons report can't be right can it? Can anyone advise me what to do please!!!

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi Ellie1511,

Unfortunately you are by no means alone in the land of crazy ESA refusals.

Clearly you are not fit for work, and as such that means challenging the decision to refuse the benefit.

The first stage in doing this is to request a Mandatory Reconsideration by letter to the office from which you received your refusal. I would enclose copies of the doctors reports again in case these have not been considered, and explain in detail why you feel you meet the benefit. In doing this, I would refer to the descriptors which relate to you (remembering that not all of them will) and link this to the specific difficulties you face, and to the medical evidence where appropriate. E.g.

"Mobilising - due to significant pain in by back, as well as joint pain from osteoarthritis it is very painful for me to mobilise at all.  am certainly not able to repeatedly mobilise 50m due to the pain [explain what happens, and refer to any supportive points in the medical evidence]"

Hopefully this way the decision can be turned over by the DWP and an appeal can be avoided. However if the claim is still refused on Mandatory Reconsideration, you will need to appeal on form SSCS1 (can be downloaded from the internet) and attend a tribunal.

I have pasted links below to the CAB guide to challenging ESA decisions, and DWP list of the ESA descriptors.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/while-youre-getting-esa/challenging-an-esa-

decision/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535942/esa214-july-2016.pdf

On a side note, if you are not in receipt of DLA/PIP I would also recommend putting a claim in.

Hope this helps - good luck!

Mary

Solicitor

The Benefits Training Company

crazygal2501

There group on Facebook supporting esa and pip got some great advice helps yu with appeals advice x

Dougal

Your Right It is Very Disgusting.. these demoralising, Assessments, i would like to know how the Assessors sleep at night?... the pain and Anxiety they cause is inhuman  and very unfair.
Appeal , Appeal and Appeal Keep going..
Get Evidence as much as you can