Cl on ESA assessment rate for nearly 3 yrs

Cl was on IB of £94.25 pw and was asked to migrate to ESA in July 11.  She did ESA50 with no help and had inadequate medical assessment in Oct 11. Turned down for ESA with 0 pts in Nov 11. She appealed in Dec 11 and was put on ESA assessment rate.  Decision reconsidered June 12 and failed. Detailed submission and considerable amount of compelling medical evidence supplied Jan 13.  Appeal held Feb 13 and again turned down (awarded 6 pts).  Cl was told the Tribunal preferred medical assessment report. Cl was told by Judge that she would be sent for another medical but has not heard anything since.  She continues to get assessement rate and is supplying Med 3’s. I am awaiting copies of paperwork and details of Tribunal decision from her.  In the meantime any thoughts?  I think this cl should definitely be in Support group and has missed out on a significant amount of income over a long period.

Well..if appeal definitely failed (as seems to be the case) the DWP should have ceased paying your client ESA completely..

My guess is that when they gave client the bad news, the tribunal said something to the effect that she could always make a new claim for ESA (and that if she did, she would be reassessed in due course) and that her current ESA claim was made after Feb 13 (probably a week or two later when her local BC acted on the tribunal outcome and ceased to pay her). She’s now in the queue for a further WCA. Admittedly, it’s been 18 months, but that’s not particularly unusual in my experience (unfortunately).

Either that, or the DWP has never picked up on the fact that her appeal failed (and is still paying assessment phase ESA on that basis). That, too, is possible- I’ve come across it a few times- in which case she’ll be stuck there forever unless she rocks the boat (which, whilst it will disrupt her ongoing benefi for a few weeks, will at least mean that once her new claim is made she’ll be back in the queue for a further WCA).

As for the tribunal outcome- you could try submitting a late request for the statement of reasons but I wouldn’t hold your breath that they’ll agree to deal with it. Personally, unless there is some factor not immediately obvious, I think she’ll have to let it go and concentrate on hopefully getting through the WCA next time.

I concur with 1964. Based on the facts you’ve given, most likely either DWP forgot to stop the ESA (it does happen) or she put in a new claim and forgot she’d done it, in which case an assessment should be in the pipeline.

Try for a statement of reasons, but it’s probably too late.

If DWP have forgotten to cancel the claim, rocking the boat will either cause them to correct it and them claim will end, or they’ll be nice and issue an ESA50 - this happened for someone I saw, but admittedly was a decision made by a complaints/customer service manager.