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Delay in WCA
I have a service user who applied for ESA in July and is still awaiting a medical assessment. Is there anything I can do to push this forward? Complaint? Maladministration? She reaches pensionable age in July but she’s been living on 67.50 for over six months and is just about at the end of her tether.
I have a similar case and have assisted client in lodging formal complaint (he has yet to receive a response). In his case there has been a problem with building his claim on the system and he is being paid clerically- because of this, he seems to be invisible. They haven’t even sent him an ESA50 yet even though he has been in receipt of ESA since last May.
No help to your query but BBC reporting today that DWP research shows 35,000 people who applied for ESA before May last year still waiting for Atos assessment.
I think DWP research referred to may be research report 788 - title to this is on website but no link to it - instead note saying that DWP has not completed ‘quality assurance process’ for the report.
here’s a link to rightsnet news story -
Gosh , must be an area thing as my new clients get an ESA50 before the first payment of ESA goes into their bank account! I think an MP’s letter might help.
You could serve notice of a claim by way of judicial review against the Sec. of State because the delay is unreasonable and noting that the action you expect the respondant to take is to arrange a WCA within 14 days. You should outline the contact with DWP to date to try to resolve the delay.
notice should be served on Office of the Solicitor, DWP, The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adams Street, London, WC2N 6HT.
Fax 0207 -962-8924 DX: 276 LDE
It can be helpful to ask you clients MP to take up the delay at the same time.
Many thanks all. Will try the MP route in conjunction with an official complaint and think about the judicial review.
I am also experiencing lengthy delays in my clients being called for a medicals, one has been waiting since May 2011 and another has been waiting since early September 2011.
One particular client reaches SP age on 6th March 2012 so she really needs the medical done before this date else she is at risk of loosing backdating of the WRAC. Upon contacting the Job Centre a week ago I was advised that her details were passed over to ATOS on 13th September 2011 to arrange the medical. Following this I made contact with ATOS who confirmed that they had received the referral but they were just waiting for an appointment to be allocated and couldn’t give me any indication on when she would get an appointment. It seems that the delay is down to ATOS rather than the DWP.
I’ve had two cases recently and referred both to the MP. Both sorted pronto (one without an ESA50 too). Have two more now and am looking at Atos formal complaint route, but will revert back to MP if not sorted. Think MPs should be copied in anyway as it’s a disgrace.
I have a client who claimed ESA in August 2010 and her medical was meant to be this Tuesday
She didn’t mind the delay as she was fairly sure she’ll fail the medical so we didn’t complain about it…
It can be a double edged sword. I had a client who had issues with the social fund and when i did a benefit check i noticed he had been on the assessment rate for over a year. He was oblivious to this and thought that his £67 was all he was going to be entitled to as he had no idea he was getting an assessment rate.I called medical services and they said they would get round to him when they could. The guy (in my opinion) would never score enough points to pass his WCA,however 1 month later he was diagnosed with lymphoma and therefore i managed to get him put in the support group with a 1 year SG backdate, without the medical that he would have previously failed. Some you win / some you lose.
The DWP could do themselves a favour by curbing the enthusiasm of some staff to repeatedly re-assess people already on ESA and in particular to stop sending out ESA 50s the moment they learn that some claimants have had a successful Tribunal.
I hope someone from DWP is reading this.
Neil, unfortunately this appears to be a growing issue. Many of our clients are now receiving a new ESA50 immediately after a succesful tribunal. Our understanding is that re-referral for a WCA is based on advice from ATOS. This recommendation used to be within the IB85 report contained in appeal subs. but does not appear in the ESA85. We understand the recommendation is now to DWP notifed seperately. Presumably ATOS are increasingly recommendting re-referral within 6 months rather than say 12, which at least gave claimants a few months grace before the process started again.
The WCA revolving door revolves ever faster!
Presumable there is some contractual advantage to ATOS in frequent re-referral in terms of meeting WCA’s undertaken targets and payment?
It will be interesting to see how frequent re-referral is affected by the Welfare Reform proposals for mandatory review before appeal and the additional delay that no doubt will add further to the end to end timescale for appeals.
DEAR MODERATOR - there appers to be a problem with the spell check for posts under the new website - it freezes the site when used!
hi peter -
sorry you’re having that problem. i have checked and it seems to be ok for me -
could you perhaps say what browser you are using, and what version,
thanks ros
Neil, unfortunately this appears to be a growing issue. Many of our clients are now receiving a new ESA50 immediately after a succesful tribunal. Our understanding is that re-referral for a WCA is based on advice from ATOS. This recommendation used to be within the IB85 report contained in appeal subs. but does not appear in the ESA85. We understand the recommendation is now to DWP notifed seperately. Presumably ATOS are increasingly recommendting re-referral within 6 months rather than say 12, which at least gave claimants a few months grace before the process started again.
The WCA revolving door revolves ever faster!
Presumable there is some contractual advantage to ATOS in frequent re-referral in terms of meeting WCA’s undertaken targets and payment?
It will be interesting to see how frequent re-referral is affected by the Welfare Reform proposals for mandatory review before appeal and the additional delay that no doubt will add further to the end to end timescale for appeals.
DEAR MODERATOR - there appers to be a problem with the spell check for posts under the new website - it freezes the site when used!
I was at a tribunal user group some time ago. A member of the ESA department said that when there is a successful appeal, a new ESA50 is always sent out within six months.
In parliament yesterday, Chris Grayling said that there were 37,909 ESA claims waiting for Atos assessment for more than 13 weeks -
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are presently waiting longer than 13 weeks to undergo a work capability assessment since completing the ESA 50 questionnaire.
Chris Grayling: There are currently 37,909 ESA initial referrals open and awaiting an assessment that are in excess of 13 weeks from the date that the questionnaire was returned.
However, Atos Healthcare and the Department are negotiating a realignment plan to ensure the increases in outstanding referrals are cleared as soon as possible and additional practitioners are being recruited and trained to address this.
here’s a link to hansard -
I have a service user who applied for ESA in July and is still awaiting a medical assessment. Is there anything I can do to push this forward? Complaint? Maladministration? She reaches pensionable age in July but she’s been living on 67.50 for over six months and is just about at the end of her tether.
Please see my thread made today on this issue you raised.