non receipt of ESA 50

Client says he sent it back, DWP says they’ve not received it. Benefit stopped.

Am drafting letter for MR but can’t argue good cause because client says he DID send it back, so what is my argument? Is it as simple as “Please believe he sent it back because he said he did…”?

Well the test is ‘good cause for not returning the form.’ It has not been ‘retuned’ until it’s both been ‘sent’ and ‘received’. So surely the letter can be phrased : ‘I have good cause for not returning the form on time because although I posted it on XX which should guarnateed it return in time, it has not been received, therefore I can only conclude that it has been lost in the post.’ After all we all know that forms don’t ever get lost by ATOS or DWP.

(Actually I did once encounter the reverse of this, my son sent his ESA 50 in by recorded delivery, when the royal mail website was still saying it was undelivered a week later I rang ATOS only to be told that it had been logged on their system as received a 5 days before, but no doubt that kind of nonsense will end now that RM has been privatised too)

From the other end of the telescope but it might come in handy…

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/briefcase/summary/Consideration-of-good-cause-for-failure-to-attend-a-medical-examination-whe

here’s R(SB)33/85-

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/pdfs/rsb/33_85.pdf

Thanks all. It’s now turned up apparently. Arrived on the 7th according to post logs but claim was closed on the 8th. Obviously my client can’t remember when he sent it but we’re now dealing with a late form instead of a missing one.

If only they’d managed to find the form and call me back as they promised to tell me they had it before I did an MR on the basis that it had been posted but had not arrived.