ESA Appeal Success - Back in Support Group.

I’m delighted to be able to share some good news. I heard today by letter that I have been reinstated back into the Support Group from WRAG with benefit backdated accordingly. My next review date has been set for January next year. Can’t tell you what a relief this all is and I thought I’d share my story in the hope it may help others.

I had previously posted on the forum requesting advice on how much information was too much, with regards to what to send in with my GL24 to appeal against the decision to move me from SG to WRAG following my ATOS Medical Assessment at the end of January. I was asking this question because the advice given here was to just send the basic standard letter with the GL24 with a view to securing a face to face tribunal hearing, but this was diametric to what my local DWP office were advising. They told me to send in as much detail as possible as I stood a better chance of getting the decision reversed within 7 to 10 days at the appeal stage. It was felt by the advisors here that in their experience this was highly unlikely, but as I wanted desperately to avoid a hearing and the months and months of stressful waiting, I embarked upon compiling a full scale appeal from the start. I finally submitted a 25 page letter that addressed every aspect of the Medical Report that I disagreed with, was not asked or was not reported upon fully (which turned out to be most of the report!), and supported each aspect with 26 pieces of medical history, specialist reports, MRIs and lab tests, dating from 2001 to present, that ran to some 50+ pages in total and was indexed and referenced throughout. This was accompanied by a letter from my GP that was written with my guidance to ensure that the descriptors for ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ as well as ‘Walking and Moving’ were met in no uncertain terms.

This was all sent back just inside the 4 week appeal deadline (it took me that long to put it together with the help of my husband!) and written confirmation of its receipt by the relevant DWP Office received on the 11th March. True to the advice given by this Office – within 10 days a reversal of decision was made. Considering my main conditions are CFS and Fibromyalgia, conditions known to be considered a dustbin diagnosis by ATOS and DWP, I feel greatly vindicated by this decision. I called the Office to check on the review date and was told that it was not until the end of January 2012 and that my DLA had no review date at all, so I am now hopeful I can have the rest of the year to concentrate on getting better and not having my efforts undermined by the horrendous stress this ridiculous ESA / DLA appeal process puts us all under.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to speak with my Decision Maker so I am not able to confirm whether there was one aspect of my appeal that turned the decision around for me, or if it was the overall “onslaught” of my defence that did the trick. However, I can advise that with my first ESA50 in March 2010, I submitted a 12 page report from a private CFS Specialist with whom I had undertaken a number of laboratory tests to establish the physiological problems underlying my condition. From this ESA50 I was put straight into the Support Group for that year – no medical assessment required. When the 2nd ESA50 came through in December 2010, I assumed that because I had previously submitted the Specialist report, it would be on file and that because I referred to it in my 2nd ESA50, I did not need to include it again. This I feel was most likely my mistake as I was called for the ATOS Assessment shortly after and thus entered the inevitable appeal process that so often results from an ATOS encounter. I therefore have a sneaking suspicion that the more supporting evidence you send in with the ESA50 the better your chance of getting the decision you want at the get go, particularly with conditions like ME, CFS or FM. Certainly, I will be making sure my next ESA50 will be sufficiently bolstered with attachments if my health has not taken a turn for the better by then!

So, besides wishing to thank the team here for their advice and the invaluable help their ESA Guide gave me in understanding how best to address each of the descriptors in my appeal, I hope that my story will encourage others to fight a wrong decision and consider trying the approach I did by sending every possible defence and argument in with the GL24. I know many won’t have the same result as I did and will still have to travel the route of the tribunal appeal, but equally there may be others who will get their decision reversed at the GL24 stage. One can only hope!

Edited at members request

Hi Gordon, Thanks for your reply. I wasn't told NOT to submit supporting evidence, just that the advice being given by the DWP Office sounded unlikely to be accurate and that i shouldn't overwhelm them with information - which was essentially what the DWP Office advised me to do. I believe they said "the more the better"! I understand perfectly the limitations the 4 week response time puts on people and I was lucky in that I had already paid to have my entire medical history a couple of years previously so had to hand everything I needed to support my appeal. Having said that, I only just managed to get it all in on time.

BTW - for anyone else reading my first post - when I refer to ESA85, I actually meant ESA50 - the ESA Application. The ESA85 is the reference for the ATOS Medical Report. Sorry for the confusion, all these terms can get a bit much and my brain of fudge doesn't help much!

Hi Ratroom,

Very well done.

Kathy