Following my spinal surgery in August ive had to submit a claim for Employment Support Allowance (ESA)...after receiving a letter confirming that i would be paid a whopping £71 per week I then had the pleasure of attending an assessment interview. Today i received another letter stating that i wasnt entitled to any money because i had scored a zero on their points test... So apparently having a major operation with a two year rehabilitation, having wires and tubes sticking out of me, my neuro surgeon saying that i was unfit to work for at least 12 weeks, a letter from my GP stating the same, an Occupational Health Officer saying the same, a Physio saying the same means that they are all wrong...i should have been up and about and that everything was rosey in the garden... The letters confirming the above, details of my medication and hospital appointments, photos of me zombied out in HDU, having to live with my parents for a month and being unable to to do anything except existing in agonising pain all count for nothing. What a wonderful country we live in and what a wonderful government policy..Perhaps they thought i was wagging it? Maybe a life of quadraplagia would have helped my claim. Perhaps i could have had my house modified or got a new £1m place in chelsea. Im cant express my disgust and loathing. These people and this system are both utterly dispicable.
Perhaps you should have got a letter from your Imam stating that you are incapable of kneeling on the floor facing East every hour on the hour. That would have swung the balance of power in your favour!! Still look on the bright side we are keeping all this bo***cks in balance by not letting women become Bishops and giving convicts the vote so it isn't personal mate!!
Yeah there is......It's like this Funky......OD on fake tan and rock up in a wheelchair with your boyfriend, job done!
The answer to the question is yes, unless of course you are a skinny whippet toe-rag who has fathered about 120 sprogs and doesn't pay maintenance... AL.
It is because you don't know how to play the system. hope you get to find somebody to help with making sure you get what you do deserve. Wish I could offer help, but I am lucky enough to not have had to take time off or try to get anything out of our overly-bureaucratic systems, and therefore wouldn't know where to start. Best of luck, pete
Yep. I'd appeal. I'd also try to find out what the questions are and the points scoring system on the means test thing. Freedom of Information Act? Then I'd hassle my MP.
A family member of mine has to go for a medical assessment about once a year. The result is always “nil points” so we lodge an appeal. The benefit is still paid pending appeal, and there is a big backlog so it may take several months to get to the appeal hearing stage. We submit a fully-argued statement of case, which I draft, and every time so far the result of the tribunal hearing has been appeal allowed, benefit continues in payment. We have been around that course for a few laps now. If you want my advice, lodge an appeal and start work on your statement of case; make it accurate, comprehensive and persuasive. Writing to an MP is fairly pointless, because nothing an MP can do or say will make any difference to the tribunal process. All the details about the points system etc are in the public domain, if you care to look for them, so the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable.
Wow, what a bunch of racists I have a friend in a much worse state than you and he has been told he should be working. Ridiculous as he finds it hard to concentrate for more than about 20 mins due to pain & drugs. Its more to do with austerity/benefit cuts etc than ethnicity, you need to learn how to play the system, read pete's reply.
I sometimes wonder how these people get their jobs! I suspect one look at you in your current state would have most folk going " yup, give him the benefit he's due", and with the relevant medicos statements it beggars belief that you score 0. As others have said lodge an appeal, keep all medical statements and give them hell! Oh and get better soon!
with any luck the woman who made the decision will end up having to urinate through a pipe like i did, and, fingers crossed, may be on the receiving end of the system one day and will have time to reflect as she empties her colostomy bag.
pain and drugs?? mate, in the last 9 months ive been on morphine, amitriptyline, dihydrocodeine, and tramodol..(not to mention methacarbomol, diclofex, citalopram)..i had nerve compression and compression on my brain stem (not to mention 42 fractures in my c5 andc6 vertebrae caused by the bones grinding against each other and causing osteophytes, and disc and boney 'debris' along my spinal column...with respect, dont talk to me about pain and drugs and not being able to concentrate. Luckily though, it only lasted 24hrs a day for 9 months. i lost 1/12 stone in 8 weeks and went on to lose another 1 1/2..lean weight, not fat..it fkn hammered my body and im still on pain medication.. Chatting to my Dad earlier about it and he mentioned that one his mates has had his benefits withdrawn and is taking them to court...His mate has had motor neurones disease for 20 years and now lives in a bed, unable to talk or do anything for himself..he communicates via a computer and has to have round the clock care...withdrawing his money is an act of fascism.
Me mate has had dislocated lower spine, trapped nerves in Ls1 L4 L5 L6 causing prolapse and left leg n foot fucked.. Had 6 discs OUT, double level fusion, now a spinal chord stimulator.. Been going on for years. He had the same test recently and scored 19 and has a court date set for next week. So, with respect
you sound like an expert so i wont get into a bickering match as you obviously have more experience and knowledge than me and are aware that lumbar surgery is the most common spinal procedures...but so long as youre okay. you havent been there, you dont know my story. Tit. PS, i think LS1 is in Leeds, not in the spine.
It's not a competition. Both guys sound like they are hurt, and deserve the help. Its the folk who don't deserve it who piss most folk off. Makes me very happy I'm fit and healthy enough to work.
It's a joke .... The ATOS thing is a joke as well. My friend had a bike accident years back and is paralyised and in a wheel chair , has an adapted flat and carer who pops in. He had his ATOS interview and they td him he has to pay for his carer and get back to work!!!!! Apparently if you can move your arms a bit you can work at an adapted checkout! Yet someone else I know walks talks functions daily but messed their head up a bit taking drugs .. Which they chose to take recreationally . Has been given a house , has more stuff and money then I do and I work! Hmm so you can be sick , you can have an accident and get zero help! Yet you can go out get blow your brain to bits on recreational drugs which you chose to do and get it all on a plate? Hmm.
