You don't need to make a fresh claim for ESA. You will be paid at the Assessment Phase rate while you are waiting for the Tribunal. If you have backdated medical certificates fit notes to cover the mandatory reconsideration period, then ESA can now be paid for that period as well. This doesn't apply if you claimed another benefit such as Jobseeker's Allowance or Income Support during the reconsideration period so received an equivalent amount of benefit.

If you would like to tell us more please visit our contact page. Donate Your Situation Back Your Situation In this section you will find information about benefits and grants relevant to your situation. Back Get Support In this section, you will find the Benefits Calculator; Grants Search; details about Turn2us' direct grant-giving funds; and links to other sources of information and help. Back Support Us In this section you will find information on how you can get involved with supporting Turn2us and the work we do.

Back Working With Us In this section you will find information aimed at charity fund providers and those working with people in financial need.

Back About Us Turn2us helps people in financial need gain access to welfare benefits, charitable grants and other financial help — online, by phone and face to face through our partner organisations. Challenging an Employment and Support Allowance Decision - Appeal against the decision This guide takes you through your options if you think an Employment and Support Allowance decision is wrong.

What are my options? Ask for an explanation 3. Have the decision looked at again 4. Appeal against the decision. Appeal against the decision An appeal is a way of telling the benefit office that you think a decision is wrong. How do I appeal? If you can't get hold of the official appeal form, make sure you include the following details in your letter: Your name and contact address Your National Insurance number A copy of the mandatory reconsideration notice Why you think the decision is wrong Your signature.

If you don't include all these details, your appeal form may have to be returned to you. Time limit You have one calendar month from the date on the mandatory reconsideration notice. Late appeal If you missed the deadline for reasons out of your control, such as illness or bereavement, you may be given more time to appeal.

There is a section on the appeal form where you can give your reasons for it being late. If they decide that the original decision is wrong, they will change the decision and send you a new decision letter: If the new decision makes you better off your appeal will stop. It is unfortunately true that instances of gross unfairness like this seem to be commonplace.

It is one of the many reasons that we have written this guide to help you get what you are entitled to. This is the same as being put in the work-related activity group, rather than the support group in ESA. Some people in this situation feel like they should just be happy they got something.

Others are concerned that if they ask for the decision to be looked at again, they might lose their award. This is technically true, but if the DWP have recognised you are entitled to at least 15 points, you are unlikely to lose your award completely.

If you are concerned, try to see an adviser. This is because you can only get New Style ESA for one year if you are in the work-related activity group. If you might still be entitled to be in the support group, use our tool to request a mandatory reconsideration. If your illness or impairment has got worse since the date of your decision, it cannot be taken into account in an appeal.

Instead, if you now meet higher scoring descriptors you should make a new claim or ask for your current claim to be reassessed. You should ask for a mandatory reconsideration of the decision to close your claim and explain what happened.

Maybe you did send the form back but it went missing, or maybe you failed to send the form back but you had a good reason. If the reason for your difficulties returning the form is connected to your condition for example, if you were in hospital, if you are unable to deal with your post without help, or if you were too anxious or distressed to complete the form you have a very good case for them to reinstate your claim.

You should ask for mandatory reconsideration of the decision to close your claim and explain why you failed to go to the assessment. Similarly, if you had asked for a home assessment and were waiting to hear back from the DWP about whether that was possible, you could argue that that was a good reason not to go to the assessment at an assessment centre.

For many people, it is not easy to find advice and help with your benefits. You should expect that you will have to do most of the work yourself or with help from your friends or carers. But if you can get advice to help you work out what rate you should be getting and if you should ask for a mandatory reconsideration, it will be really helpful. Obviously if you do find someone who offers to help you further, take it.

Following COVID, some services are offering face-to-face appointments when that is allowed , but others are offering appointments via telephone, email, or videochat. If the organisation you contact says they are too busy , ask them to keep your name on a waiting list, or to tell you how long before they might be taking on new clients.

Ask if they know any other organisations you should contact for help if they cannot give you an appointment themselves. Remember that you are likely to have to wait a long time for the appeal hearing 6 months, depending on where you are in the country so you do have a bit of time to find an organisation which might be able to help you prepare for the appeal tribunal.

Use Advice Local to find the best options near you. Beware - it misses out ones in your area but in another county or borough. Many now offer advice over the telephone. Check if your local council has a welfare rights service. There are sometimes services that you can access through your GP, social worker, or community centre. There's no harm in asking - so call your GP, and your social worker, or community centre if you have one, and ask if there is a service for you.

Some charities provide advice services for particular groups - for example, MS society provides a legal advice over the phone from the Disability Law Service. The Royal British Legion support people who have served in the armed forces and their families and even represent at appeal. Check if there is a charity that provides benefits advice to people with your illness or impairment. If they provide information on their website about appealing or claiming ESA or the limited capability for work element of Universal Credit it may also be very useful as it will usually show how people with similar symptoms to yours have proved their entitlement.

These are not usually expert benefits advisers but they will often be familiar with the problem and might well be able to help you. You could point them towards this guide.

Step 1 - You get a letter from the DWP telling you their decision on your claim. You need to ask for a mandatory reconsideration if:. You have one month from the date at the top of the letter to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, although you can also ask later. Our mandatory reconsideration letter tool will show you how and where to provide an explanation of the delay.

A mandatory reconsideration is where the DWP look at the decision again. The decision letter from the DWP will tell you if you must do this before you appeal. Step 2 - Ask for the DWP to look again at their decision.

This is called a mandatory reconsideration. Use our Work Capability Assessment Mandatory Reconsideration Tool to check what award you should have got and write a really good letter to the DWP that sets out your case. The DWP will look at your questionnaire again, the assessment report, and any other evidence you may have sent in like a letter from your doctor or consultant to see if they will change the decision. Step 3 — The DWP will send you two copies of their reconsideration decision. You need these if you wish to appeal.

If their decision has been changed and you are happy with it, you can stop here. You have 1 month to ask for an appeal. If one month has already passed, see If one month has already passed.

Step 4 — Ask for an appeal. You can ask for one online or using the SSCS1 form. If you have used our mandatory reconsideration tool, you can copy and paste wording from the letter generated to help you make your case. If you did not need to have a mandatory reconsideration, or did not use our tool, see our advice as to what wording to use to ask for an appeal on How to ask for an appeal below.

In addition, make a note of anything important relating to your impairment or illness which has not been included. Sometimes after you have appealed, the DWP phone you up and offer you a new award because they recognise that you will win your appeal. Accept their offer if you believe it is what you are entitled to. If it is lower than the award you were hoping for, you can either accept the award and then appeal that decision without asking for a mandatory reconsideration or politely say no and continue to appeal.

See What to prepare before the Hearing for details. Step 7 - You will be told the date of the hearing. Keep a copy. They will make a new decision. See page What will happen at the hearing?

See If one month has already passed. If you do not need to ask for a reconsideration, it will say so on the letter that the DWP sent you about the decision. If you want to ask for a mandatory reconsideration and an appeal at the same time you can, but it is likely to get confusing.

It is best to do one or the other. We would advise you to go straight to appeal. Remember any advice they give you is likely to be incorrect and may be self-serving. We suggest you get independent advice if you can, or follow the information in this guide. When you ask for the DWP to look at their decision again, people are often told that they need to provide further medical evidence or there is no point. This is technically true, but it is not common. Be aware that the DWP are trying to put you off.

We suggest that you look at the descriptors that you meet and the points that you think you should have got - if you get far more than 15 points, it is unlikely that you will lose your award completely. Technically you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration over the phone, but it is definitely better to do it in writing. Only ask for a mandatory reconsideration over the phone if you are about to miss the one-month time-limit. If you do this, follow up your request in writing.

There is a form you can use but we suggest that you write a letter using our free Work Capability Assessment Mandatory Reconsideration Tool. If you have any more evidence that you think will help for example, a letter from your doctor, social worker, support worker, or carer, or any other recent reports you have had send that too. If you need a few weeks to get more evidence, you need to decide if it is worth waiting.

Instead, as you will probably need to appeal, get the evidence ready to send with the appeal form. If you have not heard back after 6 weeks, you should ring them and find out what is happening.

If they have changed their minds, congratulations! Your award will be backdated to the date you claimed. If they didn't change their decision, or they did but still didn't give you the award you think you are entitled to, you should appeal.

You need to ask for one within one month of the date at the top of the mandatory reconsideration notice. Have you been phoned by the DWP? Often the new award was not as high as the claimant was hoping to get at appeal. The DWP had to change their guidance. Now, if the DWP changes your award after you ask for an appeal they are supposed to make it clear that you can accept the new award and still appeal it without having to have a reconsideration again.

It will help a great deal if you can explain that the delay was unavoidable or a result of your illness or disability. For example, if you were unable to deal with it until now because you need help to deal with your post, you have depression, you get confused, or you were very unwell. Longer delays will need better explanations. Similarly, if you miss the one-month time-limit to appeal, you can ask for an appeal anyway.

You will need to explain your reasons for missing the time-limit. It will be helpful if you can explain that the delay was a result of your impairment, illness or disability see above for examples. Other good reasons might be that you did not receive the mandatory reconsideration notice safely, or were away from home when it was delivered. A judge will then decide whether to allow the appeal despite its lateness.

The DWP then has one month to object to your reasons for missing the time-limit. If they do not object, your appeal continues. If they do object, a Judge makes the decision of whether or not to accept your late appeal. Your appeal will only definitely not be accepted if 13 months have passed since you were sent the decision. You can find both the online system and the latest form to use on GOV.

Both are easy-to-use and understand. If you use the online version a record of what you have said gets sent to your email address. If you use the form try to keep a copy, or take a photo of each page with your phone. If you used our Mandatory Reconsideration Request Tool to produce a letter, go to your email or your account where it is saved.

Look at your decision letter. And then you can copy and paste the wording from your mandatory reconsideration request letter that explains the difficulties you have with that activity for example, I cannot cope with minor unplanned changes as I get very stressed and feel that I cannot cope. It the bus stop is closed for example, I will get upset and need to go home.

For less confident computer users, you do that by highlighting the text you wish to copy and pressing ctrl and C at the same time. Then go to where you want the text to appear and press ctrl and V at the same time. If you did not need to ask for a mandatory reconsideration first, you will also need to add the following wording to your appeal form:. You can still use our Work Capability Assessment Mandatory Reconsideration Tool to help you with the wording that sets out which activities and descriptors you should have got more points for if you like.

You will be asked whether you want to attend a hearing or whether you want the case to be decided on the papers alone. Almost everybody wants to choose the paper hearing because it seems less scary. However, you are much more likely to win if you have a chance to speak to them. If social distancing measures are still in place as a result of the coronavirus, you may be offered a telephone or video hearing rather than to go to a face-to-face hearing.

We expect claimants to have a higher chance of success with these than those based purely on the paperwork. If they offer you the award you were hoping for, accept it.

Often this results in a better award. The DWP must do this within 28 days, although they can ask for an extension. You will receive a copy of their response in your appeal bundle. It is often around pages. Keep it safe. You will need it to prepare for your hearing.

Sometimes the DWP recognise that you will win your appeal and phone you up to offer you a higher award. If this happens to you, accept their offer if you believe it is what you are entitled to.

This is different to suggested changes to your award offered by a tribunal judge who has looked at all the paperwork as described on What to prepare before the hearing next. The guidance below assumes you are preparing for a face-to-face hearing. You should still prepare for the hearing in a similar way. Sending new helpful evidence and a statement sooner rather than later may increase the chance of the tribunal judge suggesting the right award if you are offered a preliminary view.

There are a lot of things for you to do over the next few months. So it is important to start preparing as soon as you can. Some things can take a long time. If you have not already tried to get advice, do so now See How to find an adviser.

Some advisers may be able to help do some of this preparation for you. If you are lucky enough to find someone who can help with the preparation, make sure you are clear which things they are going to do for you, and which you need to do yourself. Do not wait until you know the date of the tribunal, as most advice centres have a long waiting list. How long it takes for the hearing to be scheduled varies from three to 12 months, depending on where you are in the country.

It is useful to know how long you have to prepare for your appeal. You can phone the tribunal centre dealing with your appeal and ask them how long you are likely to be waiting for a date for the hearing.

HM Courts and Tribunal Service are rolling out a new system that makes it easier for you to track your appeal. This new system will send you texts or emails at crucial points in the process, when evidence has been received, and when your hearing date is. If it is available in your area, you should have received details of how to register when you completed your appeal form online or with your appeal papers.

You could also ask when you call your tribunal centre. If you are not getting any professional help to prepare for the hearing, you might want to ask somebody else to help you. You may not need any help, but it might stop it from feeling too stressful. It might be particularly useful if you are not very good with paperwork or deadlines. If you do think it might be useful, think about who you could ask - do you have a family member, friend, neighbour, or someone who helps you who is good with paperwork and organising things?

Look at the big pack of papers that you were sent by the DWP explaining why they made the decision they did. Many people get very confused by the inclusion of relevant test cases at the beginning. The most important part is the report from the medical assessment.

Read through it and look for anything you don't agree with. Make a note of all the things that are wrong. If you can, say why they are wrong. You can include this in your statement to the tribunal. This seems to happen horribly frequently. We have heard of completely incorrect diagnoses being recorded, easily verifiable physical conditions being ignored or incorrectly recorded, and records of whole conversations that never occurred.

It happens to a lot of people. Appeal panels know how bad assessment reports often are and so it is easy to get them set aside in favour of other evidence. If you are angry about it and have the energy for two things, put it in a complaint to the organisation who did the assessment. If you only have the energy for one thing though, focus on your appeal as that is the only thing that will change your award. Support groups can sometimes be very helpful. There are likely to be other people there who have had the same problems, who can give you emotional or practical help.

There are also online communities that can offer you support in the same way. There are also lots of Facebook groups for people with particular conditions. For most people, the thing that is of most help is written evidence from their doctor or other professionals. If you have a social worker, community psychiatric nurse, occupational therapist, support worker, or any other professional, evidence from them will be very useful too.

The most useful evidence will explain how your illness or disability affects you, and the help you need paying particular attention to the descriptors that you meet. Look at How to write useful evidence for a Work Capability Assessment appeal. This is a guide for your doctor, social worker, or anybody else writing evidence for you. Mark the particular activities and descriptors you believe you meet on this page, and write the date of the DWP decision in the box. When you ask them for evidence to support your appeal, give them these pages and ask for them to comment on those specifically.

It will help them to write evidence that will be really helpful to you. The best evidence will come from people who know you well and who understand your situation. If your GP does not know you well, you should still ask him or her for evidence, but try to get evidence from other professionals too. This could be your social worker or community psychiatric nurse, a paid support worker, a personal assistant, your occupational therapist, somebody who works at a day centre you go to, support staff at your school or college, or somebody else.

You could also get evidence from a carer, friend or relative who helps you a lot. You are appealing the decision the DWP made on a particular date on the top of the letter. You need to prove how your illness or impairment was at that time, not how it is now. Write the date of the decision you are appealing in the box on How to write useful evidence for a Work Capability Assessment appeal , before you ask anybody for evidence.

Then show them the guidance. GP's and other medical professionals are allowed to charge for evidence and many do. However, if they know you cannot afford it they are often willing to do it for free. Reassure them that it will only take the time of an appointment. Use How to write useful evidence for a Work Capability Assessment appeal and mark which descriptors you meet. Ask them to read it, so that they are sure of what you need from them.

If they insist on charging you, consider whether you can find the money or whether they would provide useful evidence. If they will, it might be worth the money. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for the last two years of your medical records and for your patient summary record which lists your conditions, medications and the last three appointments.

They will give you this for free and it may contain some useful evidence. Evidence from your support worker, personal assistant, carer or anybody that helps you. If there is somebody who helps you a lot this might be somebody you pay, or who helps you at college or work, or it might be your partner, a family member, or a friend , they may be able to write some very useful evidence too. Ask them to write a letter to the tribunal panel explaining what help they give you and how often. Show them the section for doctors and other professionals on How to write useful evidence for a Work Capability Assessment appeal - it will help them to remember everything.

It can be very useful for this person to come to the hearing with you - so that the panel can ask them questions. They may be asked to wait outside until their evidence is needed - so you may need to be prepared to go in alone at first.

There may be useful evidence you already have or can easily get. Maybe you have letters from doctors or support services already that support your case. Perhaps you have had an occupational health assessment at work or for adaptations at home?

If you have recently been assessed and awarded PIP it is well worth requesting that report and sending it in. Similarly, if you have successfully appealed a work capability assessment decision previously, send in that previous tribunal decision, or ask the tribunal office to find a copy of it and pass it to the new tribunal. You should think about keeping a diary of the difficulties and help you need each day.

It will help the tribunal panel to get a proper understanding of your situation. It is particularly helpful if your illness or disability isn't the same every day. It contains all the information you require to lodge a strong challenge to the decision. The ME Association telephone helpline — ME Connect — is available every day of the year, during the hours of 10amnoon, 2pm-4pm and 7pm-9pm.

Please phone: if you have any questions or would simply like to talk to someone who is there to listen. Please note: Once you have made payment and checked out from the website shop, you will receive a confirmation email containing direct download links to your leaflets. Click the links and you can read your leaflets on-screen and save to your computer, phone, or other device.