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ESA 0points - what happens now?
- Gordon
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Judith wrote: Gordon, took your advice, have phoned Job Centre Plus and DLA and neither of them have paid me any money extra to what I normally get, so am more mystified now.
Housing benefit, Council Tax, Tax Credits, Tax rebate?
Gordon
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- Judith
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- Judith
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Well, here I am again. When I phoned the DWP they said that the money in my bank account had NOT come from them but I was right, it HAD. Today, I have received the dreaded brown envelope but an A4 size this time telling me that after reconsideration I still do not have limited capability for work but what they did say was that my IB was stopped too early according to the law, so I have worked out that the extra payment into my account was 2 weeks payment of the difference between IB and ESA.
They did change one of their decisions but that only gives me 6 points so no difference to me really. At last I have a copy of the ESA85 form which I did not have prior to submitting my appeal - and so much of that information is inaccurate. The trouble as I see it is that it is their word against mine and as they are not finding in my favour they obviously do not believe me.
I must say I did not expect to hear back from them this quickly or have I misunderstood from comments on here? Is it from now that it could be a much longer wait? So far it has been 7 months since their first letter and it is very difficult trying to not let it bother me

The letter accompanying my papers says that they have sent the same papers to the T.S. and that they will be in touch to tell me what happens next??
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- Gordon
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Having looked back over your posts it was about three months ago that you submitted your appeal, this is about the time that we would expect/hope that a Reconsideration would take.
Appeals for your area were running at about 10 months, although this information is about 3 months old, so it may have changed.
You now need to think about presenting your case to the Tribunal panel. they will look at everything from scratch and also tend to look at the ATOS medical report with a much more critical eye than the DWP Decision Makers tend to, so you should not assume that it is simply a question or your word vs. theirs.
Have a look at the following
Disability Rights UK Factsheet - Appeals and reconsiderations
Preparing for a Tribunal
MOJ Video of ESA Appeals Process and Tribunal
Gordon
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- Judith
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Gordon - you have said that the most important thing now is to prepare for my tribunal. I have read through reams on here and am trying to establish which set of Descriptors I need to look under in order to prepare by showing how I qualify in the various descriptors. My form was sent back in January 2013 but my decision was in March following a face to face on 28th February. Can you please point me to the correct descriptors for me both WRAG and Support Group.
Also, another question I have is, has anyone with zero points ever been put into the Support Group following a Tribunal? I assume it would be a huge jump but I am going to try my best then I wont run out of benefit in April 2014.
All advice very much appreciated. Thank you.

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- Gordon
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Judith wrote: Hello Mods and everyone
Gordon - you have said that the most important thing now is to prepare for my tribunal. I have read through reams on here and am trying to establish which set of Descriptors I need to look under in order to prepare by showing how I qualify in the various descriptors. My form was sent back in January 2013 but my decision was in March following a face to face on 28th February. Can you please point me to the correct descriptors for me both WRAG and Support Group.
Also, another question I have is, has anyone with zero points ever been put into the Support Group following a Tribunal? I assume it would be a huge jump but I am going to try my best then I wont run out of benefit in April 2014.
All advice very much appreciated. Thank you.
Sorry about that, my computer decided it could not take the heat anymore.

You want the guides marked
'Old' ESA50 form, decision on or after 28 Jan 2013
It is not usual, but we do have members that have gone from Fit for Work to the Support Group, I think this may include some who scored zero points. It is not as big a jump as it seems as many, but not all, of the 15 point WRAG Descriptors correspond to Support Group descriptors.
Gordon
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