ESA

hadders64

My Son is 26 years of age he has Asperger as well as Mental Heath Issues.
He has just been for a reassessment of his ESA and has scored 0 points in his assessment and it has been stopped.
On reading the comments on the form from the DWP it seemed to concentrate on the fact that he can go for a haircut on his own and can converse with the hairdresser. Yes he can walk the required distances he can raise his hands and he can carry things. He can stand up for periods. What is wrong with him is invisible and cannot be assessed in a twenty minute interview with questions posed by a computer program which in the end says Computer says No!.
This is a guy who spends the day time in his bedroom either asleep or trying to sleep, his indication that his day starts when we decided its time for us to go to bed. He spends his time playing computer games and on his computer they sometimes seem like his only friends and something that he can relate to. Conversation with him is limited in fact it is practically non existent . Yes he can dress himself and yes he can cook a meal most of which are ding ding chicken or ding ding whatever. Yes he keeps clean he should do he takes over the bathroom for two hours at a time.
Myself and my Wife are so frustrated by this tick box assessment we have lived with him for years and know what his capabilities are and accept them he is our son. According to this system someone sat at a computer for twenty minutes can evaluate him and put him in a box. We have known him all his life and we cant lol. so what makes them different.

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @hadders64, and a warm welcome to the community!

I'm so sorry to hear about your son's ESA outcome. It must have been really frustrating for you all, particularly to feel as if you haven't been heard. Unfortunately, I'm sure many of our members will be able to relate to your experiences.

Will you be appealing the decision? You can find guidance on doing so on Scope's page on appealing DWP decisions. Have a read, and do feel free to come back to us with any questions.

poppy123456

HI,

Your next step is to request the Mandatory reconsideration and you have 28 days from the date of the decision to request this. You should put the request in writing, stating what you disagree with and which group you think he should be placed into and your reasons why.

There's 2 groups for ESA...WRAG and Support Group and each group has descriptors which is the criteria for being placed into one of them.

Link here for WRAG. 15 points are needed for this.  https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-glossary/1354-work-related-activity-group-descriptors

Support Group. For this apply, then he needs to satisfy at least one of them the majority of the time.

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-glossary/1353-support-group-descriptors

Reg 29/35 explained here. This is substantial risk, which means if he's a danger to himself and others around him then this may apply. http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/making-exception

I'd advise you to get further face to face advice from an advice centre near you. Good luck.