My daughter was turned down for ESA despite her doctor signing her off work for 6 months due to a nervous breakdown.

Benefits & Work website is invaluable http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/.  Atos are notorious.  They called her for an interview, then cancelled at the last minute, then tried to make out that she had cancelled.   They also told another lie, can't remember what now.  This is all standard operating procedure.  Their interviews are always held upstairs with no disabled access - if you get to the meeting therefore you are not disabled.  Also no parking nearby and whatever you do never ever take public transport, get someone to run you.  Everything is done to make it as difficult as possible for you.  Through the advice I found on that website we knew to make an appeal and that they would immediately have to reinstate the basic ESA rate pending the appeal, whereas before she was looking at no money whatsoever coming in.  Make loads of notes, look into possibly taping your interview with Atos or have someone go with you.

To cut a long story short we found a great guy through Citizens Advice Bureau who attended the hearing on her behalf, he was like having a solicitor there.  I went with her as well and the CAB guy also had a trainee with him.  She won her appeal and her money was backdated.  The poor girl before us went in alone and came out in tears. 

Do your research, speak to as many people as possible.  I found out through the internet that we could get help through Devon Mental Health Advocacy and this was how we found our way to the CAB, before then when she had contacted the CAB she didn't seem to get anywhere, so it is knowing the right route to take.

I hope this helps, if I can be of any further help please let me know.  The system is biased against people at the moment and if you have a genuine case then you will have to go to tribunal to get a proper hearing.  My daughter had never been out of work before and she is in her mid 40's.

wow!!!

Squiggle..   as someone that's had a nervous breakdown, I sooo know how all that would just grind a person even further down!

I'd just wouldn't have been able to cope with any of that, at all.    

I was lucky, I was married so was financially supported, but to have to go through that kind of stress, when suffering from a stress induced breakdown...  

its fried my brain just thinking about it.

Took me a fair few years to get back from my breakdown.   I hope your daughter is on the mend also  (its a horrible state to be in, bleaker than bleak).  

thank you squiggle

thats about all we need

really apprieciate that

ps

spelling still crap

Thank you Ditty, she is on the mend now, and we are a lot more savvy.  It didn't help matters that she was under such stress (she was working as a barmaid at the time) that she actually slapped a customer who gave her some lip.  You need a sense of humour because we can laugh about it now but it was not funny at the time, she was contemplating suicide on one of the pills that the doc prescribed, her sons called me in a panic and I rushed over and confiscated the bloomin things.

Pirate you are very welcome, and as I say, any further help I would be more than willing.  You need as much info as possible and loads of notes, you will need to be able to back up your version of the events against the lying scum of ATOS.

Pirate do you live anywhere near Aston?  If so there's an organisation Aston Legal Centre that I've used who will give you practical help but they don't attend with you.  I have their number which is 0121 523 0965. <---- that's a public number on the tinterweb.  If you want to ring and get a time for their drop in clinics or book an appointment.  I had my DLA taken off me a few years ago and they helped me get it reinstated at a higher rate. 

I've found them helpful in the past and when I get my call from Atos which I'm expecting soon, I shall go to them again.

Squiggle I'm glad your daughter is sorted - they're real barstewards.  I've heard they're sending people with cancer and other life threatening illnesses back to work   as well as people who are mentally not well enough to work.  These are people who aren't qualified to make a judgement - they are just box tickers.

A substantial amount of cases are being overturned on appeal. 

They turn everyone down Pengy.  We have done a lot of research and talked to loads of people and haven't heard of anyone who has been passed by Atos, their job is to turn you down and of course they get money when they do.  You definitely do not want to walk into the tribunal without someone with you, I can't stress that enough.  When they saw the guy with my daughter the atmosphere changed, he has been through loads of tribunals and knows just what to do and say.

Atos are only in it to make a profit,for every person they sign "fit" for work they get a fee.Up here in Scotland they have lost the contract to asess folk for the new Universal credit.Seems if you can sit for two minutes and hold a pen you are fit for work,utter souless bastards.A few cases up here were highlighted in the press ,A veteran from Afghanistan was told to wiggle  his toes,his reply " I don't have a leg" So they obviously don't even read the notes etc.

thank you for replies

very helpful

I've just bought a telephone adaptor that can be linked to my olympus digital recorder so than I can record telephone conversations from companies like this   paranoid much????

I was really badly dreading the call and, when it came was asked some questions and then told to wait for a form and a possible medical. Atos in Plymouth is in an awkward place to reach, stairs leading up (no wheelchair access), so I told her that I was out of breath going into my kitchen, never mind getting to Atos. Anyway, I got the form and I laid everything on tripple thick, not lying, just using the same answers to different questions. Luckily, I have kept my benefit, so far anyway.

I think I heard scroungers mentioned at least 20 times last week.... not everyone is a bloody scrounger you tory gits.. that feels better 

i have epileptic seizures (daily) i don't always know when they will occur, but i have been declared fit for work (although i am appealing so any help would be much appreciated), i have a full time carer and when assessed for dla was told that i was "a substantial danger to myself and others"  i also have depression and anxiety 

My sympathies machel, I had a brother who had epilepsy and I know the sheer misery it is to live with.  He mostly had petit mal and you got to know one was on the way when he started wringing his hands.  To this day I cannot bear to see anyone wringing their hands.  Tragically he drowned in the bath when he had a seizure.  I thought long and hard about mentioning that because I didn't want to frighten you but as you have a full time carer I am sure you are well aware of the dangers.  He was just 24.  But it still goes on today and I am incensed about that.

My post to Pirate contains a lot of advice that my daughter and I have picked up along the way.  It is vital to arm yourself with as much help as possible.  The Benefits & Work website was so helpful, I paid the small fee to join so that we could see the in-depth reports and they were worth the money, but it is free to access the rest of the site including the forums, full of helpful advice. 

What Cologne said about the access applies to every Atos interview in the country.  Difficult access, uncomfortable chairs, no parking, everything done to make your life difficult.  And Pengy no way is it paranoid to record telephone calls when dealing Atos.  They will lie, there is no other way to put it.  We were very naive in my daughter's first interview, we learned fast.

Oh and Pirate my daughter also wrote to her MP who was very helpful and this also made Atos realise that we were marshalling the big guns.

Having said all of the above, if you get your support and prepare your case well the actual people who conducted the interview were understanding and prepared to listen.  Atos' job is to make you go away or sign onto JSA.  Once you get past them you stand a pretty good chance at tribunal, as you will see from the forums on Benefits & Work.

My daughter is busy helping as many people as possible, which is, in its turn, helping her to recover.

Good luck everyone, and I am sure lots of help will be available on this forum, including me, if you need any more advice.