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Potential ESA sanction due to non-attendance of work-focussed interview
My client has a number of health conditions both physical and mental which mean she has not been out of her house in a year. She gets DLA - middle rate care and high rate mobility.
She is in WRAG and is appealing this to try and get in Support Group. She requested a home tribunal four months ago and we have not had a response yet - so no tribunal date. I have written to tribunals service stating there has been no response for 4 months, that my client is at risk of being sanctioned and that she needs a home tribunal to be arranged ASAP -I don’t know whether this will have any effect.
My client has had the work-focussed interviews over the phone for a few years but was told today that this can no longer continue. She has explained her circumstances to the advisor but has been told that unless she physically attends an interview in 2 weeks she will be sanctioned and lose £72.40 a week. I think the advisor is being unreasonable threatening a sanction without considering the reasons for my client not being able to attend, however, i expect they will stop her money first and i will then need to ask for an MR of the sanction decision before this might be changed. The advisor is trying to blame the reasons for the sanction on her manager but apparently she will make the decision to apply the sanction anyway.
Does anyone have any tactical advice about how to ensure the ESA is stopped or if stopped how to reinstate it as it appears it can be stopped until she attends an interview? any other advice would also be appreciated. I will write to her MP because my client is at risk of being impoverished for being placed in the wrong ESA group and being too ill to fulfil the criteria for this group.
I hope this makes sense. Thanks for reading.