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HELP!!! Incapacity Benefit (failed medical) appealing.
Hi,Found out the other day i have failed my medical, didnt get a point, the questions were irrelevant to me as i suffer from severe depression. I have told them i am appealing and am in the process of filling the form in and also a letter explaining why i disagree with their decision.. . The thing is do i put my sicknote in with the appeal or do i send it somewhere else..
Any advice appreciated,before i tear my hair out :mad:
Any advice appreciated,before i tear my hair out :mad:
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Surely if the doctor diagnosis it that should be enough. It doesn't seem right to me?
Why are you posting things like this here and sympathising in the other thread about mental illness?
Go to the Citizens Advice Bureau OP.
Sadly the work capability assessment doesn't really take depression into consideration. I have anxiety too and have passed my last few medicals (first one on appeal) and all of my points come from my anxiety rather than depression
I strongly suggest you familiarise yourself with the descriptors for the assessment (google work capability assessment). Knowing what they are looking for will go a long way in subsequent medicals and possibly your appeal too
Edit - the following PDF contains all the descriptors. You need to look through them and see if any apply to you. Will help your appeal if you say where you think you should have scored points on the appeal form
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@disabled/documents/digitalasset/dg_177366.pdf
Perhaps the stresses and goings on in the workplace make the OP's depression worse? Work isn't always a solution.
This is exactly what the Gov is trying to action. I don't believe the OP can't do ANY work??
I dont think they do, but they can get ESA I think.
ETA from the Gov site
If you are aged between 16 and 20 (or under 25 if you were in education or training at least three months immediately before turning 20), you must:
have been too ill to work because of an illness or disability for at least 28 weeks (this limitation only applies to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance, but you may still be eligible for income-based Employment and Support Allowance)
have been too ill to work before you turned 20 (or 25 if you were in education or training at least three months immediately before turning 20)
I was failed without a point when I went to mine and i'm currently in the process of appealing. Just a word of advice OP, be prepared to wait. And wait a LONG time. The advisor from the CAB told me that some appeals have taken up to a year to be heard.
Shame there are hardly any jobs though.
Would you have been so flippant if the two people in this article had posted the same question ?
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/demand-for-fairer-benefits-tests-as-two-die-1.1085915
My son was put in the work based group so we appealed knowing he simply could not hold down a job, and we appealed, 2 weeks later we had a letter saying that the decision was wrong and he did in fact have more than enough points to be on the support based group.
If things are very black and white then it should not take as long.
Any existing claims still receiving the old incapacity benefit are in the process of being migrated over to ESA
It's clear some people in this thread have never had, or had someone close to them have, depression though with some of the attitudes in the thread the posters concerned could have a very promising career at Atos who perform the medicals for the DWP and who have target numbers of people to fail the medical whether they are capable of work or not
It took 9 months for my appeal to be heard in 2010. I was awarded 6 points on my medical and 15 points on appeal. I was called back for a medical 3 months after winning my appeal in January last year and got 24 points that time. Got another medical form in August where they didn't bother calling me in to another medical, probably as my form basically said the same as my January one so a new medical would have been a waste of time. Another medical form dropped through my door last week.
The tribunals service is bogged down to breaking point with appeals as Atos are passing genuinely sick people to meet targets who then appeal and a significant number of them win on appeal
And nobody really seems to realise this. What makes it worse is that Atos still keep the fee they get if the person successfully appeals, so it gives them even less of an incentive to do it right the first time around.
I got zero points on my initial assessment so i'll be lucky if my appeal is heard before christmas this year.
With respect, this is exactly what I mean. I don't understand how you can claim incapacity benefit when you can amass 5,662 posts on this forum? That shows you can use a computer and do some sort of work surely? Genuinely interested in your reply.
Exactly. Some sort of typing job if they like doing it that much.
You do realise he's been a member here for 5 years and averages three posts a day ?
THREE
Some people have upwards of 15-20 or even more per day.
But then this is a typical response from people who assume that just because you can post on an internet forum you're fit and capable of work.
Haven't thought of a smarmy enough answer to my post yet then ?