Can't begin to tell you how much i admire you and VP for all the excellent and consistent advocacy work you put into this thread in particular. The fighting spirit you both display really is outstanding. Marvellous comrades!That was the general idea - any time that one of us wins, it adds to the case law which improves the chances of every other claimant.
Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support
- Thread starter Zabo
- Start date
We wouldn't be here without the help, support, and advocacy of others over the years, so it's really only paying a small amount of it forwards.
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
crossthebreeze, thanks for links. I go past the miners hall frequently and never realised they had them advice sessions. I have until the 26th of this month to return it so i am hoping I can get to see someone next wednesday.
ViolentPanda, thanks also for your help. Have pm'd you my email.
ViolentPanda, thanks also for your help. Have pm'd you my email.
crossthebreeze
Well-Known Member
I'm a little bit unsure about the set up at the miners hall because its a fairly new project (run by sound trade union people though) so i'd suggest giving them a ring or email (from the contact page of their website) before heading down. Good luck with your form, and I hope you get the help you need!
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
£518 of Her Majesty's finest quids deposited in my account yesterday: 19 weeks of P.I.P. back-pay. Half to Greebo, and half to me. 
Which was just as well, because the ESA and IS which were due were delayed - apparently one third of all benefit payments due yesterday were.£518 of Her Majesty's finest quids deposited in my account yesterday: 19 weeks of P.I.P. back-pay. Half to Greebo, and half to me.
chainsawjob
Kipping in the dunes
Thanks. I'm sort of tempted to phone just to get it done with, but I don't know if they then go on to ask questions on the phone. Letter might be better in permitting me to state quite simply "want reconsideration". Oh god, a bad little rhyme invades my post just when thinking things couldn't get much worse.
Edited to make more sense
Edited to make more sense
Last edited:
chainsawjob
Kipping in the dunes
Yes, I suppose they might go on to ask the questions if you phone, but it would also be nice to have it done without waiting for a reply. Not sure.
VP did both.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Thanks. I'm sort to phone jsut to get it done with, but I don't know if they then go on to ask questions on the phone. Letter might be better in permitting me to state quite simply "want reconsideration". Oh god, a bad little rhyme invades my post just when thinking things couldn't get much worse.
I phoned them, but wouldn't answer questions over the phone because the reasons for asking were quite complex, and needed careful explanation on paper, hence requesting in writing too.
i am very dim and stupid when worried, so bear with me. Is it the case that you phoned them, and during that phone call, they demanded all your reasons? (See, I'm kind of hoping I can get away with a simple phone call for now, and write with reasons later, giving me time to make a list gradually - also it it is difficult to get out to a post box).
And I am horribly sorry that my whining takes over from your great win, and the generality of congrats to VP and Greebo.
And I am horribly sorry that my whining takes over from your great win, and the generality of congrats to VP and Greebo.
It's not whining - this is a support and information thread.
AFAIK VP gave a rough summary of why, but made it clear that there were several complex reasons better put on paper.
Right. So what's needed, really, is me to put on fake bravery a pick up the sodding phone and dial. 
It really was a genuine request for advice too, but I now must admit to myself that my Demon of Procrastination was also at work.
Just bloody do it, Celyn, and you can have nice cup decaff afterwards!
It really was a genuine request for advice too, but I now must admit to myself that my Demon of Procrastination was also at work. Just bloody do it, Celyn, and you can have nice cup decaff afterwards!
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
They didn't demand.
They wanted to know my reasons.
As I know that they have dialog boxes on their computers that don't allow long explanations, and so would paraphrase anything lengthy I said, I told them that my reasons were complex, and would take a couple of pages of A4 to cover, and that I'd prefer to give them my substantive reasons by post. They were fine about it.
Bear in mind that you need to get your letter in fairly promptly after asking for the reconsideration - 7-10 working days at most - so it doesn't give you extra time at all, so to speak.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
You can do it Celyn
ViolentPanda and Greebo congratulations on your amazing win, well done - any reason given for the payment delay?
ViolentPanda and Greebo congratulations on your amazing win, well done - any reason given for the payment delay?
Damn, I thought a month. VERY lucky that I posted here then. Right, me do letter soon.
The lady I spoke to was a bit unpleasant or a bit dim or both, which I hadn't expected, so very soon I wanted nothing to much as to be off the phone, given that I had been on hold twice for ages.
Example, her office having the wrong phone number for me is somehow a failure on my part to prove my identity, Except that the DWP do indeed have my phone number. When that sort of odd little muddle happens, I'm always inclined to think "little clerical error, no big deal", but that person wanted it literally to be a "fail" on my part.
Not a chat that went particularly well. But could have been worse, I suppose.
Edited to add - good point about them having little boxes to fill in.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
The official time period is a month. However, if you look near the top right-hand of your letter, it'll have something about being sent from a mail-handling site. Basically, if you post off your letter tomorrow, it'll take anything up to 7 days to arrive at the desk of the appropriate person, because first it goes to a handling site, where it's opened and sorted, then it's forwarded to the appropriate dept's mailroom, and only then does it reach a desk.
I've found that unless you phone first thing in the morning, most of them are abrupt at best, rude at worst. Possibly something to do with DWP call centres - and most of the rest of the dept - running on less than half the staff they had when the coalition took over in 2010. I won't make excuses for them - bad "customer service" isn't excusable, even if the customer is a thoroughgoing cunt - but theirs isn't a job I'd ever want to do.
Yeah, you're right, but I never say things like "you are wrong and silly", only "gosh, I don't know how that happened and they do have my number, oh well, these things happen and we can sort it out blah blah" and I don't like it when someone's first and apparently only thought is to assign right and wrong and blame.
I did encounter a nice one once who made me laugh - me phoning DWP to explain that I had changed address, so he obviously wanted to know if any other things had changed, so I said "no, everything the same, same name, same phone number - just the address, so you'll be glad to hear this is all nice and straightforward" and the chap said "oh, NOTHING is straightforward in this place, madam".
I did encounter a nice one once who made me laugh - me phoning DWP to explain that I had changed address, so he obviously wanted to know if any other things had changed, so I said "no, everything the same, same name, same phone number - just the address, so you'll be glad to hear this is all nice and straightforward" and the chap said "oh, NOTHING is straightforward in this place, madam".
WouldBe
Dislicksick
Ha. Got the stupid brown envelope this morning. Got awarded the grand total of 0 points on both sections. 
This was decided on the 'fact' that I was observed to walk 55M from the waiting room to the assessment room unaided with a normal gait (even though I was bouncing off the walls to get there) and therefore I can walk 200M unaided 
This was decided on the 'fact' that I was observed to walk 55M from the waiting room to the assessment room unaided with a normal gait (even though I was bouncing off the walls to get there) and therefore I can walk 200M unaided
chainsawjob
Kipping in the dunes
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Cunts. Devious, scheming, lying cunts.Ha. Got the stupid brown envelope this morning. Got awarded the grand total of 0 points on both sections.
Being observed and covertly assessed from the very moment of a claimant's arrival is nothing new. The same goes for observing and assessing the state of the claimant while departing.
I appear to have been put in the work related activity group. Haven't had a letter about their decision and what I got points for though, just a hugely confusing letter about various changes to the amount of ESA I receive, which says I've been at WRAG rate from May ( 
) and that I've been underpaid because of something else but I might not get it back because of an overpayment from years ago I'm paying off atm. Loads of different "from [date] you will receive [£]", none of which match with the amount I've actually been getting. And another letter, sent the same day, just saying that I've been underpaid but by a completely different amount.
) and that I've been underpaid because of something else but I might not get it back because of an overpayment from years ago I'm paying off atm. Loads of different "from [date] you will receive [£]", none of which match with the amount I've actually been getting. And another letter, sent the same day, just saying that I've been underpaid but by a completely different amount.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
No, I gathered as much. But to covertly observe and then deceitfully (mis)use the results of that observation...
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
I think it's usual (although not helpful) to receive multiple letters saying different things. If you feel able to, it might be worth phoning or writing to them asking which is correct. Although, that may prompt another wrong letter...I appear to have been put in the work related activity group. Haven't had a letter about their decision and what I got points for though, just a hugely confusing letter about various changes to the amount of ESA I receive, which says I've been at WRAG rate from May (
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Sadly standard practice I believe. ViolentPanda wrote an entertaining summary of him and Greebo leaving the assessment centre once which went along the lines of 'if they were watching me to see if i would walk normally they would have got bored of me proceeding at the pace of an arthritic snail'. It is a standard and evil practice that should be excluded from the assessment.
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