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attending appointments at job centre when awaiting court date for ESA tribunal

Katieh382

Hi, first time posting.

could anyone advise on attending job centre appointments when your ESA has been stopped and you haven't received no payments since September 2018.

I'm posting on behalf of my mom who has received ESA for 5+ years, back in September after attending an assessment they advised her that she was fit for work and scored her 0 points and stopped her money, the report told several mistruths and completely ignored the condition she has and just called it 'abdominal pains' which it isn't.

we did a mandatory consideration and that wasn't accepted so now we are currently awaiting a court date for her tribunal.

if anyone could advise on this I would greatly appreciate this

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Comments

wilko

Not an expert, but as mum has been accessed fit for work then until the court rules otherwise she will have to attend interviews at job centre.

Katieh382

ok, I just wanted to see as this is all very stressful to my mom at the moment. thank you for your reply

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @Katieh382, and welcome!

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, it must be a tough time for you both. I'm glad to see you've had some advice above, and hopefully other members will share their experiences too.

If there's anything else we can help you with in the meantime, please do let us know.

Benistmonk

Hi Katie, yes your mum must attend the JC or she will face sanctions, ie they will stop the component rate, but as she is not getting any money at the moment, I don't know how that would work, they might even close her claim.

I take it you got the MR letter and started an appeal, you should get a letter from the Tribunal acknowledging your appeal. Now you should phone the DWP and explain you have appealed and give them the reference No from that letter.
The DWP should pay her ESA at reduced rate.

To qualify for ESA at reduced rate while in appeal. She has to send or scan in Fit for Work notes from her GP. Or as we used to call them, sick notes.

Good luck.

Katieh382

thank you for your reply,

I will look into this as I'm her appointee. they haven't even mentioned getting her ESA at a reduced rate and just stopped the payments in September last year so she has had no source of income since then. I will find out her court pack for tribunal and see if there is a reference on there and give them a call as we are still awaiting a court date for her tribunal.

I was just a bit confused when we got a call today about her attending a jobcentre appointment but it has been rescheduled as a telephone appointment now.

I really appreciate the replies

poppy123456

HI,

I'm assuming she's not claiming assessment rate for ESA while waiting for the Tribunal?

Did you start a claim for Universal credit when she was found fit for work?

Katieh382

hello,

im not sure what rate it is but I know payments were about £204 fortnightly, we were advised against making a UC claim by a charity that is helping her with the tribunal process.

we've had no correspondence from DWP since we recieved the court pack and was advised they will write to us with a court date, so wasnt expecting a call from jobcentre as she hasn't even received a letter about the appointment.

I think I will give them a call with regards to the ESA at reduced rate.

its just all so confusing.

Benistmonk

Katieh382 said:

thank you for your reply,

I will look into this as I'm her appointee. they haven't even mentioned getting her ESA at a reduced rate and just stopped the payments in September last year so she has had no source of income since then. I will find out her court pack for tribunal and see if there is a reference on there and give them a call as we are still awaiting a court date for her tribunal.

I was just a bit confused when we got a call today about her attending a jobcentre appointment but it has been rescheduled as a telephone appointment now.

I really appreciate the replies

You should have received a letter from the tribunal, the reference number will be on that letter. She also needs to send in Fit for Work sick notes from her GP, I am not sure how far her GP will backdate them, but you need to get those sick notes ASAP before she can get any payments.

Good one on the telephone appointment.

poppy123456

That rate will have been for the WRAG for ESA. As you haven't claimed UC for her then i have no idea why she needs to attend her local JC because there's no reason for her to attend as she's not claiming any benefits.

Benistmonk

Hi Poppy, when you appeal, the DWP can still call you in for interview. They did that with me, not only that, they sent me of a course run by the Shaw Trust. I didn't attend so they sanctioned me, that led to another appeal. I had 2 appeals running at the same time.

I complained to my MP and the Shaw Trust head office which is supposed to be a charity, when the staff at head office heard what what was going on, they all walked out.

Because of that, the DWP tried to silence me with threats and warned me not to contact Shaw Trust head office again, I told my so called adviser that if the DWP sends me on another course when I am not fit for work, I will do exactly the same thing again.

To date DWP has not asked me to attend any more courses.

poppy123456

Hi Benistmonk.

That's actually the first time i've ever heard them sending you for appointments like this. I can understand them doing if you're claiming assessment rate for ESA while waiting for the Tribunal. To have to attend appointments when you're not actually claiming ESA id completely wrong. I know what i'd be doing about this.....contacting my local MP. DWP can not make you attend appointments when you're not claiming the benefit.

Benistmonk

They do make mistakes, I could go into more detail but writing about a case that generated over 160 pages between the DWP, TS, CAB and my MP is probably not a good idea. It would bore you all to tears.

The outcome is, they have no right to ask you to attend the JC or go on courses when an appeal is underway. Even the post I replied to today about an ESA appeal, the woman has not received any money for the last 5 months, yet the DWP contacted her to attend the JC.

But as I understand it, her carer arranged a telephone appointment, even though the DWP has no right to do this, they are still treating people like they are in WRAG.

PS; I left out one, the Shaw Trust contributed a fair amount of letters and records as well. It was their fault for causing the sanctions by reporting me to the DWP for not attending.