The call I was dreading, got M.E./CFS, been on IB and now being moved into..

[CrapBag]

ESA but the work related one which means they are now expecting me to get ready for and return to work.

FFS, if I could work I would. But I can't. Now I am going to have to fight them and it probably won't even bloody work (I am a pessimist). I read through my answers after the phone call, they didn't even bother to call me for a medical, the things I wrote down are not what makes a person suitable for employment. DH's wages are not enough for us to live on, we rely on my money as well, its a quarter of our income and we really don't have a lavish lifestyle by any means.

I don't know what I am going to do. I feel so down and its yet another shitty thing going wrong in my usually shitty life. I just can't take much more.

My DD (21) has ME/CFS and got transferred a while back. Like you she was put in the work related group and was given an appointment to meet the advisor. At this stage she had relapsed badly and was basically bedbound so I appealed on her behalf and she was transferred to the support group without a medical. There is a lot of useful information on the Benefits and Work website. It is worth joining for their guides. Good luck - it is worth fighting.

I've got cfs, depression and another chronic pain condition. I got put in the support group using the benefits and work website. Good luck!

Appeal to be put in the support group. The most important thing to accompany your appeal is a letter from your GP or consultant to say that attending work related activities would put your health at risk etc. if you have been transferred from ICB then you are on contributory based ESA. You can only be on this for 365 days in the WRAG then unless you qualify for income based it will stop paying. The 365 days does not apply to the support group. Go to your local CAB if you need help appealing

While you are in the WRAG you must go to the meetings they ask you to otherwise they will sanction your benefits. I think they are no more frequent than every 6 weeks.

Thank you for your replies.

I fully intend to appeal, just a bloody pain and more crap to deal with. I will get my doctor to write that letter, thanks for the idea, and thats if she will. I did ask about a supporting letter when I filled in the claim form but she said she didn't need to unless they write and ask her too and then they pay them to do it!

I did find that Benefits and Work website when looking around on the net last night. At the moment I have just had to write a letter asking them to review their decision (like they will suddenly just change their minds and do a u turn!) then if that doesn't work I will need to go down the appeal route. When that happens I will be joining that website, I need all the help I can get!

So at the moment I am ok for the next year? Do you know the threshold for income based? My DH doesn't have a high wage, but according to the government her earns 'too much' for us to get any other benefits but we are still well below the child tax credit threshold.

The threshold should be the same as basic ESA/JSA for a couple. About £111. I think you get the first £20 disregarded. You can appeal on a GL24 form and when you put the reasons you disagree with their decision check the descriptors which you think apply to you and try and connect your health problems to these in order together the points. It has to be very specific to get overturned. GPs sometimes charge between £25-50 for a report. Are you on DLA?

Sorry to hear that, CrapBag. Good luck with your appeal, in all it's many stages.

I'm interested to hear whether ATOS did in fact contact your GP before making their finding.

They used to request reports from the GP as a matter of course, and as your GP said, it's part of the GP contract to provide them without charging to the patient - as long as ATOS/DWP have done the requesting.

But since they started the migration to ESA, I've seen increasing evidence that they're simply not requesting the report.

Since they repeatedly claim in the press that their decisions are overturned at appeal because "more evidence was presented", this is very interesting indeed.

Sorry, my reply sounded very flat and uncaring. I'm in the middle of exactly the same myself, also with M.E. - it's been more than a year of complaints, appeals, re-assessment, etc.

It's actually been going on so long, they stopped my emergency ESA anyway because the new 12-month limit was up. As usual, they informed me AFTER stopping it, and I hadn't been aware of the date they migrated me from IB and started the clock, because of their whole fuck-up.

So if you were getting contribution-based IB, 12 months from the start date the contribution-based ESA will stop without warning.

Make sure you are aware of the date, and put in an application for income-based ESA shortly BEFORE then.

CrapBag
Just a few words of encouragement DD27 (DS, heart problems with pacemaker etc.) was placed in WRAG. I appealed on her behalf and got every professional who knew her to write a report and she was put in the support group and gets £112.05/week.
It really isn't fair that you have to go through this it is unnecessary stress Uncaring buggers
Good luck