Atos medical

Peggie wrote: Can Atos send for a client without an up-to-date ESA50 please? My brother has been advised by Atos to attend a medical next week, authorised by DWP, yet, the last ESA50 he completed was 2 yrs ago. His health has deteriorated during these past 2 yrs, therefore, Atos or DWP will not/do not have a full picture of how disability affects him day to day , many thanks

Legally yes, where the claimant is believed to have Mental Health issues which might mean that they would fail to return the form or if they did, that it would not actually be reflective of their problems then they can forgo the issuing of an ESA50, although they should write to the claimants GP for their view of their issues.

The reality is that this often disadvantages the claimant even further than they already are by having MH issues.

If you think there is still time to complete an ESA50 in detail then you can use the downloadable version and take it to the assessment for the assessor to read before they start the interview.

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Returning a partially completed form may do more harm than good, but this is a judgement call that only you or your brother can make. No ESA50 being issued will significantly undermine the validity of an adverse Decision but will not reduce the time that it may take to challenge.

If you can speak to his GP to see whether they have been contacted and if so, what they said.

Gordon