IB - ESA Support Group - took 21 months!

I wonder if this is a record???

It has been 21 months since the initial phone call advising that my claim for IB was going to be migrated to ESA.
Finally, last month, I received the good news that I have been migrated and put in the Support Group.
The whole thing has been a beautiful and farcical exercise in DWP and ATOS incompetence - here are some highlights:

- ATOS failed to take into account - or even read - my ESA50 or 7 pages of accompanying detail and demanded I attend a WCA
- they stopped my claim in error due to not processing a change of address properly
- it took three SDA requests to find out what was going on
- repeated failures by the DWP to acknowledge or answer letters
- repeated rudeness and incorrect info given out by DWP staff on the phone
- it took the intervention of an extremely helpful DWP complaints officer to finally get the claim processed
- even after I had been advised that a WCA interview had been cancelled, ATOS still sent me a letter the same day stating it was not cancelled
- initially placed in WRAG, following a request for reconsideration (thanks for the template letter, B+W) I was placed in Support Group for 2 years.

I think I have written at least a dozen letters, made multiple phone calls, and been caused serious stress by the whole carry on.
And for what? To be in exactly the same position (at least financially) as before.

But they did give me a special payment of £50 for the inappropriate manner the claim was handled.
What a nonsense this entire process is, and the longer it went on the more convinced I became that it was all about wearing down the geniune claimant so that you give up and fall of the statistics.

THANK you so much for all the really useful info on this site, it was very helpful, and gave me the heart to carry on.
My advice to others? Keep at it, you will get there in the end. And if you can find a way to contact the local DWP Complaints Officer directly - I managed to get a phone number - and explain your situation, you may find that helps.
Thanks again B+W.
All I need to do now is try and claim DLA......
Kind regards
MissPink

MissPink wrote: I wonder if this is a record???

It has been 21 months since the initial phone call advising that my claim for IB was going to be migrated to ESA.
Finally, last month, I received the good news that I have been migrated and put in the Support Group.
The whole thing has been a beautiful and farcical exercise in DWP and ATOS incompetence - here are some highlights:

- ATOS failed to take into account - or even read - my ESA50 or 7 pages of accompanying detail and demanded I attend a WCA
- they stopped my claim in error due to not processing a change of address properly
- it took three SDA requests to find out what was going on
- repeated failures by the DWP to acknowledge or answer letters
- repeated rudeness and incorrect info given out by DWP staff on the phone
- it took the intervention of an extremely helpful DWP complaints officer to finally get the claim processed
- even after I had been advised that a WCA interview had been cancelled, ATOS still sent me a letter the same day stating it was not cancelled
- initially placed in WRAG, following a request for reconsideration (thanks for the template letter, B+W) I was placed in Support Group for 2 years.

I think I have written at least a dozen letters, made multiple phone calls, and been caused serious stress by the whole carry on.
And for what? To be in exactly the same position (at least financially) as before.

But they did give me a special payment of £50 for the inappropriate manner the claim was handled.
What a nonsense this entire process is, and the longer it went on the more convinced I became that it was all about wearing down the geniune claimant so that you give up and fall of the statistics.

THANK you so much for all the really useful info on this site, it was very helpful, and gave me the heart to carry on.
My advice to others? Keep at it, you will get there in the end. And if you can find a way to contact the local DWP Complaints Officer directly - I managed to get a phone number - and explain your situation, you may find that helps.
Thanks again B+W.
All I need to do now is try and claim DLA......
Kind regards
MissPink

Hi MP,

Well, you have been put through the grinder, it's a disgrace.

Well done for persevering, and thank you very much for your comments.

Hopefully you will now be left alone for a time, to concentrate on dealing with your medical conditions.

bro58