ESA Appeal Tribunal

[halecromp]

Am really scared and stressed at the mo. I failed the medical to claim ESA in March last year despite passing the previous two I'd had and my circumstances remaining the same. I suffer from severe anxiety, depression, agoraphobia and bouts of retching/vomiting. I appealed the decision and again scored 0 points even though I sent pages of evidence including letters of support from my GP and CPN, appointment reports from my psychiatrist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, haemotolgist and occupation health reports. Having waited over a year it is my tribunal tomorrow and I cant stop panicking. It is not so much the outcome that is worrying me, but the fact that its taking place in a county court and I dont know how I'll cope with getting there, sitting in a waiting room (the Welfare Rights Officer who was supposed to represent me but now cant as she has a hospital appointment said they often run late), answering their questions and then getting home again. My husband is taking me but on one past occasion we were on our way home from somewhere and I was so anxious I jumped out of the car whilst it was still moving. Also it should be my daughters sports day tomorrow afternoon - weather permitting - and if they run late we will probably miss it. I'm so petrified I just want to run away. Has anyone else had an ESA tribunal or does anyone have any words of wisdom? Thanks for reading xxxx

haven't had a tribunal sorry but had some ups and downs claiming ESA (they put me in the wrong group at first and then stopped the payments because I missed an appointment, because I was in hospital with the very illness my claim was based on ) however have heard it tends to go well, on appeal so fingers crossed

let us know how you get on

Don't have any experience of ESA tribunals, but lots and lots of good luck for tomorrow.

My guess is that if they gave you 0 points in the face of letters from consultants you should probably win easily (although the new test is a bit bonkers and deliberately fails to record a lot of stuff).

Btw, I have attended a variety of courts and tribunals to support friends in all sorts of cases, and the court staff and magistrates/tribunal staff have been unfailingly kind and pleasant and keen to hear what the participants have to say.

Thanks for the replies, am so worked up. Sports day is cancelled so at least that is one less thing to worry about. Will post when I know the outcome xxxx

I was thinking of suggesting a dry run to the court this afternoon/evening, just so you know where parking is and the door etc. But that might not be feasible given your agoraphobia?

Going to any unfamiliar place is always a lot more effort than going to somewhere you've checked out in advance, even for people who don't suffer from severe anxiety.

In fact some legal venues encourage people to visit and watch other cases from the public seats, before their own comes up, just to help with this. Sorry that you won't now have time to do this.

Lots and lots of luck for tomorrow.

Thank you, I won, from 0 to 18 points. Never want to have to go through that again x

Hurray!

And you survived. Well done for keeping going - though of course you shouldn't been put through all this in the first place.

well done :) hope it wasn't too horrible

If you ever have a review again please go to your local CAB, they cab help with the whole process.

40% of people win at tribunal, ATOS who do the medicals for the DWP are utter scum bags, the Dr's and Nurses who work for them should be struck off IMO, some of then have been.