I have Fibromyalgia, Depression, Anxiety, Overactive Bladder Syndrome and Vitamin D Deficiency. When I had my last Atos assessment, for Employment and Support Allowance, I was awarded 15 points, given a prognosis of 6 months (ha!) and put into the Work Programme as part of my work related activity for the Work Related Activity Group. After realising how much I was struggling with participating, I decided to appeal to go into the Support Group. I will most likely be editing this post to add more, as it is taking a long time. For now, here's my account of the tribunal:
Tribunal
I'd recently been prepped for my
hearing but was extremely nervous. Dad had to drive round for a
little while to find the closest parking space he could. We ended up
parking behind the building and luckily there was a short cut through
a tunnel so I didn't have to walk too far. As we approached the
tunnel, I drew Dad's attention to the sneaky CCTV camera pointing
towards the tunnel. Very strategically placed; ready to “catch out”
us 'scroungers'. I noticed the graffiti next to the camera. “Fuck
this” written in capitals, with an arrow pointing to the camera.
Welcome to Big Brother.
I'm so glad we made good time for my
hearing. I had to stop at least 6 times, although the walk wasn't
exactly far. If only the Atos nurse had seen that...
The 15ish minutes I waited for my
hearing were the longest of my life. I felt so nervous I was visibly
shaking, I couldn't look anyone in the eye, all I could think about
was getting out of there. The atmosphere itself wasn't exactly bad.
Everyone was quite friendly (unlike those at the Atos assessment centre), I think it
was more the anticipation of the hearing itself.
The hearing couldn't have taken more
than half an hour? It didn't feel very long anyway. There weren't a
lot of questions asked and it was mainly focused upon the descriptors
myself and my representative were going for (Mobility, Social Engagement and Exceptional Circumstance regulation 35). The judge was quite nice,
the doctor was nice too but seemed more doubtful of my case. They
both reiterated that the Support Group descriptors were very strict
and I think this is part of the reason why I wasn't exactly feeling
positive about the whole thing. It's all about fitting in to
not-very-well-explained boxes.
The judge explained that, even if I was
worse now, the questions would be based around how I was at the time
of my assessment. They asked about my medication dosage and also why
I was not prescribed anti-depressants or anti-anxiety tablets for my
mental illnesses. I explained that I been prescribed anti-anxiety
tablets before; namely Citalopram. I had been on a high dose, and
these had actually made my condition worse. I had also been on
antidepressants before and these did not work. Although medication
wasn't completely out of the question, I would prefer to go down the
therapy route. The doctor understood that medication wasn't for
everybody and she accepted my answer.
Due to the fact that in my Atos report,
the nurse had put that I walked 150 metres from my dad's car to the
assessment centre, the doctor had to ask questions about my mobility
again. She said that in my original form I had ticked the box
claiming I could walk 100 metres. I explained that by the time it got
to my face-to-face assessment I realise that I had underestimated how
far 100 metres was. I said that I had told the nurse this and that it
was in fact only 50 metres I could manage before having to stop
because of pain, breathlessness, exhaustion and faintness. What I
found a bit strange was that the doctor said experiencing pain was
different to affecting functioning. Unfortunately she didn't give me
the opportunity to explain that level of pain, when quite high, does
in fact affect functioning and is one of the main points for my ESA
claim. I also explained yet again that I had to stop at least twice
from my dad's car to the assessment centre, but this had not been
noted in my report.
We then moved on to the topic of social
engagement. The judge said that she had noticed in my report that I
occasionally meet friends up town for coffee. I explained that this
only happens to or three times a year. I said that my dad always has
to drive me there and I have to stop quite a lot of times up town in
order to catch my breath and rest so the pain can ease a little. I
also explained that we would go to quieter shops and cafés so I was
not quite as nervous. Although people are around, I'm able to
function slightly better in a quieter environment if I'm with someone
and I can focus on them. At this point my representative asked to
cross-examine me. She asked me what happens if I'm in a situation
where I am by myself in a public place. I said that this never really
happens but very rare points where it might I am unable to function
properly and I become extremely anxious and panicky.
We moved onto the topic of cooking, and
I felt as if the doctor was being quite tricky here. It felt as if
she wanted to catch me out? She asked whether I made my own meals. I
said that most of the time I needed help and that it was very rarely
that I was able to actually cook things from scratch because of pain,
breathlessness, dizziness, lack of concentration etc. I said that on
my better days I could shove a ready meal in the oven or microwave;
and reminded her that this was written in my report. She said that
the “cooking from fresh” topic was irrelevant and then asked if I
could make myself a cup of tea etc. Of course I had to say “yes”
to this, and this made me feel as if she was basically implying that
I had no problems with preparing food or drink. She also asked how I
coped when dad was at work, if mum was disabled? She (almost
jokingly) asked who looks after who. I said that myself and my mum
looked after ourselves as much as we could, and that there really
wasn't a lot we could do in the daytime while dad was at work. I
didn't appreciate the kind of attitude I got from the doctor on this
subject. It really felt like some sort of interrogation and reminded
me of the Atos assessment.
The doctor then asked me what it was
about work-related activity that I felt I struggled with. She asked
what the biggest point was that I wanted to make about this. I said
to her that the work-related place I had to attend was in a small but
busy office. I could not function properly because I felt very
self-conscious and nervous in this environment. I started crying as I
explained that I couldn't concentrate properly during these
appointments and most of the time these appointments were a blur to
me. The representative asked to cross-examine me again. She prompted
me by asking what had happened at my initial induction into the work
programme. (This was a great chance for me to make a strong case for
myself).
After taking a minute to pull myself
together a little bit I told both the judge and the doctor that I had
not been told that my induction would involve any group meetings.
When I arrived, however, a group of us were gathered together and
taken into a room. I felt very panicky when we were all sat down. The
person conducting the meeting started asking us about the kind of
jobs we wanted to apply for. I said that this made me feel more
anxious as I was in no fit state to work and this made me panic more
and burst into tears. I told the doctor that I was taken out the room
quite quickly as I was not behaving appropriately I was then shown to
my personal adviser and the rest of the induction was a blur. I could
only remember being handed a few bits of paperwork to sign.
The representative then asked me what
happened when I got home. I told her that I had to go straight to bed
afterwards because I was so exhausted and in pain and I spent the
rest of the day in bed. I added that this happened every time I had a
work-related activity meeting and that even travelling to the place
caused me pain and exhaustion. This was part of the reason why I
thought I was not fit for work related activity. Thinking back, I
could have added that the place only had two advisers who were
trained to deal with ESA claimants. A lot of the time ESA claimants
were given JSA paperwork and both groups were treated pretty much the
same. Unfortunately, there was not enough time and don't think it
would have helped much.
Pretty
soon after that, the judge brought the hearing to a close. She said
that as I had brought so much evidence, they would have to go over
this first and would send their decision in the post that day. She
said that both her and the doctor would decide whether I fit into the
Support Group descriptors from moving around and social engagement.
If I did not fit either descriptors, they would consider exceptional
circumstance regulation 35 (2) (b) “The claimant suffers from some
specific disease or bodily or mental disablement and; by
reasons of such disease or disablement, there would be a substantial
risk to the mental or physical health of any person if the claimant
were found not to have limited capability for work-related activity.”
Each
day from the Monday was very nerve racking. I would become incredibly
anxious every time I heard the post drop through the letterbox. On 27th of February I finally got my decision through. I was shaking as I
opened the envelope; hoping that I would still be entitled to ESA. I
read the first sentence, "the appeal is refused" and my
heart sank a little. As I read on, I found out that I was still
entitled to ESA, I would remain in the Work-Related Activity Group
and also that my points had been amended from 15 to 30. I checked
which descriptors I had now been given points in and found that it
had been decided that I could only walk 100 metres at a time, I could
only sit or stand for up to an hour at a time, social engagement was
precluded for the majority of the time and I could only go to
familiar or unfamiliar places if accompanied by someone else. This
appeared to take into consideration my mental illnesses, which felt a
bit of a triumph, because my anxiety and depression had previously
been dismissed in the Atos report as I apparently wasn't rocking in
my seat and could maintain eye contact with the nurse. Although it is
a disappointment that I could not quite make it into the support
group, I hope that my adviser will be understanding of my needs. I
want to see if my adviser will allow us to just have phone
appointments instead of me having to struggle to get to the office on
a regular basis. My argument here is that I need to improve my
confidence over the phone so this will be quite a useful work-related
activity.
Overall,
I'm glad I appealed. It took a lot of fighting and a lot of evidence
gathering but it has been worth it. I'm extremely grateful to my
friends, family, doctors, specialists and my representative for being
so supportive and helpful throughout this. I don't know how I would
have managed without you all.
your story is an all too familiar testimonial to the failings of this awful system . for anyone who has had to endure this ( it is a humiliating minefield for the already challeneged by way of capability) as the legal aid part aspect of help with legal representation has now been taken away for lay folk, the only thing I can say is "we are not a third world country, we are a democracy, and your experiences should be noted". it is part of a civilised society to address this to the people who really are genuine, until the extreme right notions are put forward by those who just see this as a numbers game .
ReplyDeletefor those who have worked all there working life and paid national contributions
what did they do that for? use every avenue of help you can get.
Yes.
This seems very similar to my own story I am currently awaiting a postal decision after tribunal yesterday. The experience certainly has not improved my health!
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