Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support
- Thread starter Zabo
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panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
Dodgy questions? what - please only post if you can actually offer me some help.
If you were only joking, then I will let you off.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
Thank you
Yes, she's for real - She can be a bit of a clown though, which is why she's on the sick for MH reasons. Don't give her a hard time about it, eh?
No, like cesare's already said, I can't see it being a problem either.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
Are you saying I can be a bit of a clown?
If so, surely you are referring to the impression I have given you, and that impression comes from MH symptoms, and with the greatest of respect, I find "a bit of a clown" very insulting.
Thank you.
I was sticking up for you, sorry if it didn't come over that way. Audiotech was asking if you were for real & what I was trying to say was that yes, you are for real/genuine and if you come across as anything other then it's probably down to MH symptoms. "Bit of a clown" was a figure of speech - I can see how you would find it insulting though, sorry I should've expressed myself better. No harm meant.
audiotech
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Far from it, one of my close friends has been labelled with the term "schizophrenia" all her life and has been incarcerated under the Mental health Act. Some ignorant people judge her, others harass her for being who she is. She never has and wouldn't harm anyone.
I have spent a lot of time this evening reading the Work and Benefits site, maybe too much time, I am boggle eyed - but it seems to me I am well out of time to appeal or ask them to look at the decision again, I didn't understand the difference of having made support group or WRAG -
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
You get 28 days to appel I think but someone more in the know can confirm.
Support group = slightly more money and no conditions, they leave you alone.
WRAG - conditions apply and sanctions can be imposed if conditions not met. After one year the benefit is means tested.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
Hi Kitty
Sorry, I did not mean to come across as worrying in my above post, I was just telling Celt the rules.
and is support group non means tested?
The guy in the benefits advice shop said that there was an absolute limit of 13 months months but I don't understand what that means. I was so traumatised by the whole process and was so relieved to have made ESA I didn't look at the papers. Living takes all my time and energy.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
I think so.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
You are worrying about the form, whether or not the signatures were right, unfortunately this process is long and the available time in which to worry is sometimes months and months.
audiotech
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Income to contributions based (means tested). After 12 months you will more than likely be re-assessed by Atos. I was and found "fit for work" (I had two appeals running concurrently after this decision). Even before this Job Centre Plus will expect you to be in some work related activity. Getting a CV a ready, on a work programme, etc.
audiotech
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On points (It was 15 for the WRAG, not sure now). From what you are saying it appears that they've decided you have limited capacity for work, but will be expected to move into work at some time in the near future.
so how many points do I need to get the move from WRAG to support group? I was given no points on mental health problems. I may be asking apparently stupid questions but its taking me a bit to get my head round it. Also does anyone know, or can point me in the direction of anything that might indicate whether a late appeal, or request to review their decision will be allowed. I feel like I have brainfog .
audiotech
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It's more about "satisfying the regulations" than points at an appeal stage Celt. Ask yourself this: 'Do the "descriptors" in the regulations apply in your case (some clearly do as you are in the WRAG), but it appears that the Decision Maker, who will have received a report from the Atos Assessor, does not think they are significant enough to be in the Support Group.
Does the "special circumstances" rule apply? Would there be any significant deterioration in your mental health that would put you at risk, or other people at risk if found "fit for work"? Would there be any significant deterioration in your mental health that would put you at risk, or other people at risk participating in group activities to make you work ready?
That is the nub of it. You will need a report/letter from either a consultant, your GP, psychiatrist stating this. A letter from all three, if you are in such a position, would certainly assist your case in satisfying the "special circumstances rule", along with other documentation, reports etc that you have.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Yes, in their usual sneaky cunt-arsed way, they've become a LOT more restrictive about who they'll accept letters from, too. They are essentially looking for "expert witness" standard evidence of disability, not a mere opinion from any practitioner.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
I just read over the first part of what I put on the extra sheets.
In the physical aids bit, in bed, I have always slept with a big cushion below my lower legs to keep them elevated. Dunno why but not having this cushion has always made me uncomfortable.
Anyway, I wrote down that I have a cushion under my lower legs, but I forgot to say that I use this cushion in bed.
should I do anything?
Thanks
In the physical aids bit, in bed, I have always slept with a big cushion below my lower legs to keep them elevated. Dunno why but not having this cushion has always made me uncomfortable.
Anyway, I wrote down that I have a cushion under my lower legs, but I forgot to say that I use this cushion in bed.
should I do anything?
Thanks
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
panpete - you've sent the form off, and, frankly, there isn't anything you can do except wait.
So I suggest this:
So I suggest this:
- keep a notepad somewhere into which you can write things you've remembered that you think might be relevant: write them in, and then mentally unload them, in the knowledge that you've got a note in case you need to remember it later;
- use this as an exercise in being able to "let go" of things - do some learning around "radical acceptance", or explore using mindfulness techniques as ways of stopping the ruminating/going around in circles process.
purenarcotic
Conveniently Pocket Sized
Panpete, I think you need to try as much as possible to take a bit of a step back about this. You seem to be obsessing about every word or phrase you have written.
You can't do anything about it any more, it has been sent off and you need to wait for the decision to come through. Try and remember that cunty though ATOS are, it isn't 100% of people who come into contact with them who are denied money they should be. Some people are successful in getting the correct financial support they need the first time round. You may be one of those people.
I don't think they're going to care whether you sleep with a cushion under your legs or not tbh.
You can't do anything about it any more, it has been sent off and you need to wait for the decision to come through. Try and remember that cunty though ATOS are, it isn't 100% of people who come into contact with them who are denied money they should be. Some people are successful in getting the correct financial support they need the first time round. You may be one of those people.
I don't think they're going to care whether you sleep with a cushion under your legs or not tbh.
panpete
Blokes name, birds body.
That's worrying. My ex key worker said if I had not have been discharged from mental health services a lot more doors would be oeen to me.
Its hard not to worry cos I could end up with just my pension of five hundred quid a month to live on and that includes mortgage. In other words my quality of life will be very low, and I will hve to think about money all of the time.
I do have an appointment for an assessment with a self harm charity this week for an assessment. I wonder if they would do instead of a psychiatrist.
Also MIND and Alabare are doing more for me currently, than the MH services can. I can get evidence off them if needed. Don't worry I know I can only wait, it's just that I am scared stiff of being in a position where I am on £500 a month and have to rely on scrounging off friends etc.
I can only echo that you need to take a step back from this pete, you will possibly be waiting some time before you are called for assesment, you need to make notes of things that occur to you but there is nothing you can do to help the process now. If you or I do end up with basic ESA meanstested, you will become eligble for means tested benefits, and will have to survive on the same as a lot off other people who for whatever reason don't have an occupational pension will. it is worrying but you won't be left without a home, its an odd little quirk o the system that a pension isn't counted as income, its the same quirk that used to allow police officers retire from the police, get jobs as planning enforement officers or similar and get salary plus pension.
Its possible that my unwillingness to face up to things has meant I am out of time for getting it reviewed/appealed, (I am finding out about that now), i know that I was medically retired because it wasn't anticipated I would be fit to work again.
I also think that the call I had (which I now know to have been from the decision maker) seemed quite decided before they spoke to me that I would get WRAG, and I think is calculated to reduce my benefit(and so the governments benefit bill), I had thought it was because of my existing MH problems and the backlash there had been with people like me killing themselves, but it has little or nothing to do with the likelhood of my being fit to return to work. I didn't pursue it at the time, I was so relieved to get ESA at all, at a difficult time in my life, my very dear friend lost her fight with breast cancer at the age of 49 around that time, I was just grateful to be alive, it may mean I have fucked my benefits, but I am still here, still breathing.
Its possible that my unwillingness to face up to things has meant I am out of time for getting it reviewed/appealed, (I am finding out about that now), i know that I was medically retired because it wasn't anticipated I would be fit to work again.
I also think that the call I had (which I now know to have been from the decision maker) seemed quite decided before they spoke to me that I would get WRAG, and I think is calculated to reduce my benefit(and so the governments benefit bill), I had thought it was because of my existing MH problems and the backlash there had been with people like me killing themselves, but it has little or nothing to do with the likelhood of my being fit to return to work. I didn't pursue it at the time, I was so relieved to get ESA at all, at a difficult time in my life, my very dear friend lost her fight with breast cancer at the age of 49 around that time, I was just grateful to be alive, it may mean I have fucked my benefits, but I am still here, still breathing.
audiotech
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Bear in mind that the 'Decision Maker' is not a qualified, trained health professional in anyway, just a DWP bureaucrat and will more than likely not have reviewed your file. In my experience (they told me this) they go on the Atos, drop down, tick box assessment alone.
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