To be honest, I'm really at a loss what to do. I don't think I have any leverage at all.
Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support
- Thread starter Zabo
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existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Go through the process, because there's no alternative. But the big prize is the tribunal - just make sure that everything you do is about having your ducks in a row for that.
BCBlues
Lend us a Twenner
Universal Credit fury as claimants blocked from appealing against decisions Universal Credit fury as claimants blocked from appealing against decisions
Apart from the main article there are interesting stats in there that 74% of PIP and ESA appellants were successful in the first quarter of this year and UC stood at 63% but the number of actual appeals is falling considerably.
It confirms what most people in here have been saying all along that the DWP make appealing their decisions so difficult and arduous that a lot of people lose heart but those that can and do battle on eventually get to prove that the DWP have been performing very unfairly and spiteful along the process.
I cant imagine many other organisations that would not be pulled up about achieving a pisspoor succes rate of 26% on legally challenged decisions they have made.
Like I say, for those who are able it is crucial not to let the DWP wear you down along the way, get all the support you can and keep records of everything. Good luck everyone.
Apart from the main article there are interesting stats in there that 74% of PIP and ESA appellants were successful in the first quarter of this year and UC stood at 63% but the number of actual appeals is falling considerably.
It confirms what most people in here have been saying all along that the DWP make appealing their decisions so difficult and arduous that a lot of people lose heart but those that can and do battle on eventually get to prove that the DWP have been performing very unfairly and spiteful along the process.
I cant imagine many other organisations that would not be pulled up about achieving a pisspoor succes rate of 26% on legally challenged decisions they have made.
Like I say, for those who are able it is crucial not to let the DWP wear you down along the way, get all the support you can and keep records of everything. Good luck everyone.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
How's this for irony.
A couple I know are appealing their benefits claim, it has been the usual hard and long slog, and they have a tribunal hearing shortly.
Someone has dobbed a neighbour in for mis-claiming something or other, the neighbour has publically accused the couple.
How likely is that ? given the couple hates the way the DWP behaves towards them, and anyone else attempting to deal with them.
One of the couple has told said neighbour just how wrong that accusation is. Also in public and quite loudly, wjci garnered a cheer and round of applause from the other neighbours.
A couple I know are appealing their benefits claim, it has been the usual hard and long slog, and they have a tribunal hearing shortly.
Someone has dobbed a neighbour in for mis-claiming something or other, the neighbour has publically accused the couple.
How likely is that ? given the couple hates the way the DWP behaves towards them, and anyone else attempting to deal with them.
One of the couple has told said neighbour just how wrong that accusation is. Also in public and quite loudly, wjci garnered a cheer and round of applause from the other neighbours.
Just found out my companion won't be able to attend the appointment with me. Having already rescheduled, because they were on holiday, I'm guessing they aren't going to consider that sufficient reason to reschedule further. I do not see me passing otherwise
BCBlues
Lend us a Twenner
From what I know they are very reluctant to reschedule twice and that in itself can lead to an appeal process.
Is there not anyone else who could tag along ? They dont have to do anything just their mere presence will (or should) make the assessor a little wary of outright lying.
This happened to me a couple of years ago where I had to attend an assessment alone because my friend herself was ill on the day.
Despite throwing this fact in whenever they could, I simply argued that there was no alternative and that just because I had managed to do this as a one off it should not be accepted that I am able to do this repeatedly, consistently and safely. It went to appeal and I won the case.
Keep battling if you can, its draining I know but from what I can gather from your earlier posts you are fully deserving.
xsunnysuex
Life is a horizontal fall.
It may not harm you. I claim for mental health problems. I had no one to come with me to my last assessment.
I had already rearrange the appointment. So I wouldn't have been allowed to rearrange again. So I just turned up on my own and explained I'd been let down at the last min. And as I can't cancel this appointment I had no choice but to come.
I still got awarded. So if you really can't find any one to come with you. It doesn't mean you will fail.
Thanks for the responses. If I only had to attend one appointment it would make all the difference. But i have a WFI a few days later, and despite rearranging the time, they didn't rearrange the location. It's still somewhere that's difficult to get to thanks to shit bus service being shit. Of course missing one means attending the other would be a waste of time. I just want to walk away from the whole thing. I've got £1700 in the bank (money I've saved precisely because I knew sooner or later it'd stop). I know that it probably sounds like venting, but I really feel that dealing with this system is becoming untenable. Humans can't function like this. I'm pretty sure that my WCA will be overbooked; it's always been the case, IME, that when you turn up they make you wait for ages. Part of the 'test' you might say.
I could try and ask for the WFI to be rearranged but, as with the WCA, you get one 'free' postponement, so that won't happen. I don't know how easy it is to get them to change venues. I used to have these done via phone, but I don't think I can ask for that again; they always moaned about it when they spoke to me (though relented).
I'm also tempted to ring up the assessment company and ask for more compensation. They offered me £25 (which they still haven't paid, of course). I'm not greedy, but I'm inclined to ask they stick a zero on the end of that. I didn't ask them before because it felt really gauche to do so. I don't imagine, now, they'll agree of course. But £25 for booking 3 appointments, not turning up for any of them, including a home visit they must have known they'd have no intention of attending (nor giving me any notice of the fact). Come the fuck on!
I could try and ask for the WFI to be rearranged but, as with the WCA, you get one 'free' postponement, so that won't happen. I don't know how easy it is to get them to change venues. I used to have these done via phone, but I don't think I can ask for that again; they always moaned about it when they spoke to me (though relented).
I'm also tempted to ring up the assessment company and ask for more compensation. They offered me £25 (which they still haven't paid, of course). I'm not greedy, but I'm inclined to ask they stick a zero on the end of that. I didn't ask them before because it felt really gauche to do so. I don't imagine, now, they'll agree of course. But £25 for booking 3 appointments, not turning up for any of them, including a home visit they must have known they'd have no intention of attending (nor giving me any notice of the fact). Come the fuck on!
xsunnysuex
Life is a horizontal fall.
They have been great with me twice when I asked to change venues. No trouble at all.
One even extended to wait for a few months.
Was that for a Work Focussed Interview?
xsunnysuex
Life is a horizontal fall.
A Work capability assessment. Both times I was booked for Balham. Both times changed to Wimbledon.
Some people try if to set up a Universal Credit Claimants Union but it appears to be fading.
Groups I join on fb include well intentioned people, but no real help. Everyone is too divided, overwhelmed and atomised. How the hell do we fight this? We all know what must be done, but it just isn't happening
Groups I join on fb include well intentioned people, but no real help. Everyone is too divided, overwhelmed and atomised. How the hell do we fight this? We all know what must be done, but it just isn't happening
I'm talking about a job centre appointment, bus service cuts mean the one I'm booked at for the wfi is no longer the nearest
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
I was about to offer to try to come with you, but bus service cuts means it's probably not London.
But you might be able to claim back taxi costs. You can't for a normal jobcentre appointment, but for assessments you can. They're fairly reasonable about reimbursing those claims, IME (you fill in a form and get the money back and nobody argues), and it adds to your claim in a way, because it means you can't travel by normal public transport.
Rather than not get assessed at all, it would be better to go to an assessment and make it clear how difficult it was for you to go to that assessment.
Even going alone and being forced to can actually help your claim; my daughter's last PIP claim was initially denied because I was there and helping her and that made such a difference to her responses, because I reminded her to respond, had the paperwork etc. If she'd been on her own she'd have answered every question vaguely and got very stressed, but because I was there she was OKish.
The appeal succeeded because you shouldn't need someone there to make you be able to answer questions. But it would not have been a bad thing to send her there on her own, wandering around the jobcentre baffled by the noise and people and unable to answer questions.
That's very kind. I appreciate the thought, but tbh I'm not sure I' dbe comfortable discussing personal issues alongside someone I don't really know (even though that is the very definition of the WCA)
I guess it's a crapshoot and depends entirely on the attitude of the assessor. They could interpret responses as they see fit.
I don't think they would refund a taxi unless you could demonstrate that was the only alternative. Their guidance leaflet has information covering what expenses they claim and it's meant to be public transport. It specifies taxis as an exception so I can't really pay £30 for a taxi and then be told they aren't going to pay it back. They still haven't paid th measly £25 they offered as compensation, though I did email a formal request that be raised. Can't say I feel comfortable about it but there's no way £25 is acceptable IMO, but then what is? They'll just decline anyway, I have no power in this. Maybe they'll be feeling generous, but why would they?
They sent me a letter a couple of days ago titled "Remittance Advice". It seems to be about the £25 'compensation' they offered. It's dated 23/7 and just says my name along with "consolatory payment" and lists the 31/7 as payment date. I haven't recevied anything. Does anyone else have any experience of this? I did email them a ffew days ago, as I said, regarding an increase in this (because I'm greedy and 25 quid is a risible sum, plus I want a new guitar! I'm not even joking). They haven't responded to that so perhaps they've put this payment on hold. Unfortunately I can't get through on the number listed becuase the relevant staff is away till Monday! Has anyone else any experience of getting blood out of a stone?
(I probably sound like a massive arsehole, but that's what this system does to you)
(I probably sound like a massive arsehole, but that's what this system does to you)
no £250 for me. They have declined my higher request, unsurprisingly. Still haven't paid me what they agreed to though
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Got my WCA in a couple of hours. Hope it goes well. I'm sort of fatalistic about it since I really don't imagine passing.
xsunnysuex
Life is a horizontal fall.
Good luck. Just answer no to anything you can't do. Never say "Yes but", their software picks up on the "Yes" only so I was told..
Don't try and hide how your feeling either. No brave face today. Fingers and toes crossed for you. x
Gaia
Urban's Village Idiot
What - on a bank holiday…?! Seems very strange they'd schedule it on a bank holiday… Either you've got the date wrong - or, more likely, they have. The cynic in me says this is deliberate so that they can say you didn't turn up. I've never actually had a WCA - has anyone else had one scheduled for a bank holiday, and it actually went ahead…? If the appointment is for today, I reckon that the DWP has the date wrong and it's supposed to be tomorrow.
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
You are mistaken about it being a bank holiday.
Today is only a bank holiday in Scotland, it's at the end of the month for the rest of the UK.
Hope it goes alright and you get someone decent doing the assessment Rivendelboy
Thanks for the kind words, but I don't think I did very well. I don't expect to pass, but then I never did. I guess we'll find out. I was amazed I passed last time tbh.
Thing is, I understand how you should aswer the questions and that you should answer on your 'worst day', but in practice I find myself weirdly quiescent. I feel like I want to be helpful even though in so doing I'm shooting myself in the foot. My brain just can't process the deceptive nature of this process.
I could bemoan the fact the doctor turned up 20 minutes after I did. Bureaucracy is funny like that I guess. If I'm late, in dealing with the DWP, it's insta-sanction or fight like hell. If they turn up late it's because the trains are running late. Just a routine double standard.
I had to be seen by a doctor (their word) because I presented with eyesight issues. That's why I couldn't be seen at the first appointment (perhaps the doctor's train was really late back then) and why it's taken 2 years and 4 appointments. After all that he didn't even test my eyes. He just mentioned what it says on my (disturbingly thorough) medical notes: I have a nystagmus. I said that my eyes tire really easily and don't focus properly (they sort of wobble about and mutually support each other, which is tiring). That's it. No test. There were two eye charts on the walls and a laminated piece of paper on the desk with a phrase repeated in increasingly smaller font. I wasn't asked to read from them, and, perhaps foolishly, didn't bring it up.
He did get me to bend down and touch my toes, lie on a bed and move my legs about. Not sure why given that I have no history nor any report of movement or limb difficulties.
What a joke.
Thing is, I understand how you should aswer the questions and that you should answer on your 'worst day', but in practice I find myself weirdly quiescent. I feel like I want to be helpful even though in so doing I'm shooting myself in the foot. My brain just can't process the deceptive nature of this process.
I could bemoan the fact the doctor turned up 20 minutes after I did. Bureaucracy is funny like that I guess. If I'm late, in dealing with the DWP, it's insta-sanction or fight like hell. If they turn up late it's because the trains are running late. Just a routine double standard.
I had to be seen by a doctor (their word) because I presented with eyesight issues. That's why I couldn't be seen at the first appointment (perhaps the doctor's train was really late back then) and why it's taken 2 years and 4 appointments. After all that he didn't even test my eyes. He just mentioned what it says on my (disturbingly thorough) medical notes: I have a nystagmus. I said that my eyes tire really easily and don't focus properly (they sort of wobble about and mutually support each other, which is tiring). That's it. No test. There were two eye charts on the walls and a laminated piece of paper on the desk with a phrase repeated in increasingly smaller font. I wasn't asked to read from them, and, perhaps foolishly, didn't bring it up.
He did get me to bend down and touch my toes, lie on a bed and move my legs about. Not sure why given that I have no history nor any report of movement or limb difficulties.
What a joke.
Wouldn't have bothered me if it was a bank holiday
other than getting to the appointment.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Most have reported they are somewhat farcical. At least it is over for now. Be kind to yourself over the next few days.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Today was a Scottish Bank Holiday, not an English one. So no, the DWP didn't get it wrong and had he not gone, they would probably have been unsympathetic at best and not believed there was a mix up.
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