Good news

Gordon, thanks - good point. I've written to the DWP to get my paperwork bundle and hopefully will have an idea of when to expect the next form. Hope it's a long way away as it has seriously affected my condition.

Gill, well done on getting a result at your tribunal. I'm not sure what tips I can give you, especially as you'll be appealing a decision rather than filling in the ESA50 form so presumably it's a different process. I wonder if a lot of it is down to the person that does your assessment or deals with your appeal, ie. do they even understand or believe in ME/CFS.

I think the biggest tip, if you can at all afford, it is to become a member at Benefits and Work if you aren't already so that you can use the guides, which really are invaluable in helping you to present your evidence in the most efficient way. Try and see your case from Atos/DWP point of view (forget for now what ogres they can be and assume they are human)...it doesn't matter how ill you are, it's how your illness affects your capabilities that they are interested in, so term all your evidence in terms of each activity being asked about. It might be that they accept you are indeed quite ill, but if they can't make definite statements about how far you can walk, how long you can sit etc, then I imagine they can only recommend a WRAG or Fit for Work decision (this is how I look at it anyway). It might sound an obvious point, but it took quite a while for this realisation to dawn on me and made a big difference to how I approached the form and assessment - it isn't necessarily about convincing a disbelieving person that you are ill, it's about demonstrating where your capabilities limited. This helped me to be objective in my own mind about my condition and also in how I gave my evidence.

I sent in a long essay in response to the question about how the illness has affected my life, including an account of each of the symptoms that affect my capability for work, and details of how I manage my symptoms usually. Then I pulled no punches in explaining the huge impact being ill has had....maybe that was helpful or not, i don't know. If you are appealing, will they only be interested in hearing new evidence? Maybe you could get some statements from friends or relatives as new evidence? I used one supporting letter from the friend who took me to the assessment (although to be honest I feel the nurse had already come to her recommendation, but maybe it helped in the decision-makers eyes).

Do make sure your GP is up to date on how your condition is going too, even if your GP has little involvement in your case, send them a letter updating them. Last year, I wrote out an up-to-date list of symptoms, severity and frequency which they photocopied and placed in my notes. This may help if Atos contact your doctor.

Include the same information many times if necessary, so that if one aspect of your condition affects several of the descriptors, write about it fully in each answer rather than assuming they will infer your capability from info you wrote in an earlier answer.

As I suffer from other conditions than ME/CFS, this is the one that I feel has the most effect on my capability. It could be that the nurse assessing me recommended the support group based on my other conditions, in which case maybe the above tips aren't so useful. I'm waiting for my reports back from the DWP to find out.

Good luck with your application.

Biscuit

Hi Gill,

As I understand it, you are not allowed to appeal against a tribunal decision unless there has been an 'error of law'. This is a very difficult area and I strongly advise that you get advice from an expert.


Where to get advice

What is an error of law?

As a first step, you need to obtain your 'statement of reasons' from the Tribunal Service

Tribunals - requesting a Statement of Reasons

Hi biscuit68

You're advice has been helpful, as I too suffer from moderately severe m.e/cfs and fibro', among other conditions. I haven't received my esa form yet but I'm trying to prepare myself the best way I can but struggle to string even a few sentences together due how ill I feel, and the stress of it all is making me worse. I've had some helpful advice from b&w, but I was wondering if you can tell if you sent supporting evidence from your gp or consultants etc, along with your esa form, and also how did you find the atos assessment went, as there seem to be a lot of horror stories about it. Also did you ask for a home visit, as I am worried I will be too ill to make it there. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.