Waiting for tribunal hearing, DWP are pestering to open a new WCA. Terrified of confusion by the DWP

brandon1999

Hi,
I've already made a couple posts about my situation - to go over briefly I had a WCA with the DWP and this was initially about back pain (The fit notes they asked for before they sent me the WCA form) On the WCA form itself I mentioned the descriptors according to my mental health issues do apply. I never got a fit note about my mental health and couldn't speak to my GP about it due to the nature of my conditions.

I'm currently waiting for my hearing (been over 5 months, they said on average in my area they can take around 34 weeks which would place my hearing in early feb) I received a sanction by the DWP because I missed appointments (due to my anxiety) and had to go in today to get it removed. My work coach explained I had to speak to a GP to get a new fit note about my mental health and they could open a new WCA. 

However, I spoke to someone from scope on the phone yesterday and they mentioned if I can get the fit notes and they help my situation (not needing to attend appointments for the time being) then great however they explained to not open a new WCA while the current one is pending. (Advised against it) As say my appeal was accepted by the tribunal but the new WCA after the hearing decided to be another decline 0 points, I would have to go through the entire appeal process all over again and be found fit for work regardless of the first tribunal's decision.

This was something I brought up with my work coach who didn't mention this piece of information at all prior and I had to bring it up. This was a concern as although I didn't tell my GP about my mental health issues, I did explain in the form and video assessment I suffer from it and can't cope with changes or engage in social engagements because of my condition and have included more detailed anecdotal evidence and clearing up details with my appeal to the tribunal, so I'm hoping the tribunal will acknowledge my reasoning for not being able to speak to my GP about my mental health issues due to the nature of the condition itself and will accept my anecdotal evidence for how the condition affects my life according to the corresponding descriptors.  My work coach confirmed the part about if the new WCA awarded me 0 points it would override the appeal if it was accepted. They explained though that if I have not spoken to my GP about my mental health problems and there's no medical evidence for the appeal then they wouldn't overturn their decision. They also went on to state they have never seen it be overturned before. 

I'm just pretty freaked out and wondering if anyone had gone through a similar experience with their appeal where they weren't able to speak to a GP about all the conditions but still mentioned them in your form and explained to the appeal why you weren't able to speak to a GP about it and seek professional help. My work coach made it abundantly clear that pretty much my appeal wouldn't be overturned and emphasised because I have no medical evidence on record about my mental health problems despite the circumstances of not being able to get them that the appeal would basically rule against me.

I'm just completely more confused than I was before. My mind is thinking the appeal is completely pointless but dreading having to go through the whole WCA ordeal over again. I mentioned an attempted suicide on my video assessment though I wasn't able to go specifically over my other attempts or self-harm from episodes of increased anxiety. (This whole stuff I've been able to go over more thoroughly while giving real life examples to the tribunal.) But while they mention that on my evidence sheet, they then go on to say I have no signs of self-harm and that the attempted suicide isn't a sign I have substantial risk. Stuff like this makes me completely untrustful with the decision makers, it's completely hypocritical, how would an attempted suicide not be classed as self-harm and considering I mentioned it was from working my first job how is that not a sign of substantial risk for taking part in WRA) 

Honestly, I'm grateful if with the fit note, (though I'm dreading having to tell my GP about my condition), I may at least be able to avoid having to attend work coach appointments and having to look for work. Despite this I'm confused as to if they were completely honest saying that I wouldn't be overturned as they would look to see if I have medical evidence or not, and that they've never seen one be overturned before.

brandon1999

P.S. I'm also just freaked out that if I hand in the new fit notes, they'll make me do a new WCA and risk that I mentioned above. If I refused to do a WCA as I wanted to first focus on my initial appeal would this automatically be regarded as me failing the WCA instead of just not taking one and lead to the initial ongoing appeal, regardless of their decision, being overturned. I'll send them my fit notes, but I want to make it clear if they send me a new WCA form I want to still focus on my appeal and not fill out a new form while its ongoing. I don't want it to jeopardise my ongoing appeal.

calcotti

brandon1999 said:

My work coach confirmed the part about if the new WCA awarded me 0 points it would override the appeal if it was accepted. They explained though that if I have not spoken to my GP about my mental health problems and there's no medical evidence for the appeal then they wouldn't overturn their decision. They also went on to state they have never seen it be overturned before. 

Tribunals frequently overturn DWP decisions on WCAs. The advice about what happens if you start a new WCA is correct. 

If you previous WCA submission included information about your mental health issues then these are part of the tribunal - it doesn’t matter what the Fit Note says.

Getting a new Fit Note with a new condition will trigger a new WCA.

brandon1999

Thank you for the response. The last part about them trying to say they've never seen a decision overturned felt like I was especially being pressured to do a new WCA. Even more aggravating after I had to ask them about if that new WCA overturning an appeal decision thing was even true. They were telling me to get a new fit note but never brought that fact up. I know there's a lot of horror stories on here about DWP and a lot of people defend a lot of the people there and I understand it's just after today I've never felt so used. Withholding that information and trying to goad me into doing a new WCA risking my appeal and outright basically saying that these decisions don't get overturned (they phrased it specifically as I've never seen them get overturned after I was worried about the risk of the new WCA messing with my appeal) this all felt like I was being manipulated.

Thanks for the clarification. It did mention my anxiety and depression though not in a lot of detail since the boxes are quite small in the form and with the medical examiner, I mentioned some key stuff just not a lot since it felt like he just wanted to move on, and I was uncomfortable already talking about my health issues. Appeal has given me a chance to give a lot more anecdotal evidence of how my condition affects me corresponding to the LCWRA activities. 

I didn't even realise that just getting the fit note itself would immediately start the WCA process. Thank you for the information. I'm incredibly disappointed I won't be able to then avoid having to look for work with the fit notes while waiting for my hearing but at least I didn't already send one and put my appeal at risk.

calcotti

Even if you did provide new Fit Notes that doesn’t stop you having to look for work - it would be at the discretion of your work coach.