Atos - stressed.

[HalfJack]

I'm very worried, both me and my partner are currently unable to work due to mental health problems and are on a joint claim for esa. We've been on it for a few months.
Before the stress of all of this we were both considering volunteering once a week and joining an anxiety group to help us get back to normal. Obviously finding work is top of the list when we get better.

BUT the stress of the Atos interview has made everything worse. I've read a lot about people like us being taken off of esa, that they don't take mental illness seriously. They even take it from people with very obviously debilitating disabilities.

We are both so overwhelmed already, if they take us off esa we won't be able to survive.
I can't work full time, so I can't go on jsa and they tried to force my boyfriend into unpaid work when he was on it which actually led to him having a break down so going in jsa is a big anxiety trigger for him.
Neither of us are in a state to work we need time to get better but they don't care, I feel like they want us to die.
In the time it would take us to appeal a rejection we'd starve. I feel like I'm waiting for a death sentence.

Any advice?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi HalfJack,

Got this off the CAB website:


Appealing against an Employment and Support Allowance decision

If you don't agree with an Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) decision about your capability for work, you have the right to appeal against it. You must appeal within one month, so you will need to act quickly if you want to do this.
If you need help with your appeal, you can get advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at your nearest CAB (http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice).
What happens to your ESA during your appeal?

If you are waiting for an appeal to be heard, you can either claim Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) or continue to get the basic rate of ESA, depending on your circumstances. You can only continue to get ESA if you are appealing against a decision, and not if you asked for a decision to be looked at again or while your decision is going through a mandatory reconsideration. If you want to get ESA while you're appealing, you should tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). You must also continue to provide medical certificates.
You may need advice about whether you’d be better off getting JSA or remaining on ESA while your appeal is being decided. If you claim JSA this should not affect your appeal. If you claim JSA you will have to show that you are available for, and actively seeking, work that you are capable of doing.


When I used to attend that self help group I told you about, this used to come up from time to time. One of the coordinators had been through it and told he was fit to work so he appealed and won. He said that the initial assessment wasn't very nice (sorry, if this upsets you) but he then said that the appeal was a very different thing. To appeal, you don't fill much in and he said the setting was totallly different - they listened to his issues.

The initial one is not intended for mental health issues, just physical health. I've heard tests such as pick up a pen and put it in your pocket and questions such as can you cook for yourself at home. These are all clearly geared towards physical health.

The advice this guy gave was not to be put off by the harder medical and to always appeal if you feel you should not be fit to work.

I suspect that the government knew full well that the ATOS test would force people back onto JSA. Governments are well known for 'number shuffling'. I also suspect that many mental health sufferers are too afraid to appeal as it was so hard for them to fill out all the paperwork and go to the medical, but that was forced upon them.

You here all sorts of ridiculous stories if you Google this area. I remember reading one where they wouldn't visit a lady who was hospitalised due to serious health problems and the husband said "well, pay for the transportion and attending medical staff". This lady was in a real bad way and even he had to fight these clowns! I remember a lady telling me her autistic son was judged fit to work yet he couldn't cross the street on his own because he would jujst walk in front of traffic...how the hell can he go to work?

[HalfJack]

Thanks that really helped. I read online they try to freak you out by cancelling an hour before the appointment, they did - twice. They'd told me they couldn't fit me in over the phone the first time and when I got there it was fine, they had more than enough time to spare. Terrible company.

Everything I'd read led me to believe we'd have nothing until the appeal was going through, and that could take up to 6 months. After reading your comment I to talked to someone about it, they told me I could claim jsa during that time and it wouldn't affect the appeal. They even said if there was anything I couldn't do due to my mental health that my advisor might make allowances for it because I'm waiting for an appeal, so I feel a bit safer now.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Just remember if you opt for JSA, you will be expected to be looking for jobs a lot and they ask for proof thesedays. Do they have a policy of what work would be acceptable to you given hour health and the appeal?

To be honest, I dont understand how they can put people on JSA, make them look for work but not compromise an appeal to go back on ESA. Its crazy. You cant accept a job anyway can you? I think this element is only a political one to shuffle people off the sick for a bit.


ATOS have been kicked out of their contract a year early. The government are not happy with them and the charities have really been pushing for this.


Yeah, the appeal is the common sense part, dont let the first assessment put you off.

[HalfJack]

I'm not sure but may find out soon...
I was on jsa before, you have to be looking for 40+ hours work now, something I medically can't do right now. and you have to PROVE you spend 5 hours a day every day looking for work too. Which sounds like a good idea but in practise was not because there is no regulation on what the advisors count as proof.

From what I read Atos quit after getting a bad rep and death threats but they were doing what the gov told them to do, and the next company probably will too. I thought the exposure might lead the gov to take a more ethical angle on benefits, but after the appeal statistics were published they took to discussing whether or not to make the appeal process more difficult rather than making the judgemental process more accurate... so perhaps not.

[shotokansho]

I remember freaking out over this, I went alone to the interview (which I was told later that I really should have taken someone with me). I didn't find it as harrowing as it was made out, I did qualify and was placed in a 'support group', which means I don't have to go to any more interviews.
I would advise that you take everything you can think of to back up your claim, for instance, doctors letters, any other support you are getting for your mental illness and any medication you are taking. I would also suggest that you get an advocate or support worker to go along with you.
Good luck, I'm sure it'll be fine xx

[HalfJack]

Thanks! :) x

[HalfJack]

Quick update, passed and everything is fine. I guess they make fair choices sometimes!

[Oosh]

That's great news :yesyes:

[MyNameIsTerry]

Nice one HalfJack!

Given all the stories I've read or from speaking to people in the support groups, I expected the worst.

Perhaps you are just very persuasive? :yesyes::yahoo:

[HalfJack]

Broke down during the interview. They'd messed us around before we got there and made us both panic a bit, so they kind of set it up themselves really.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sorry to hear that HalfJack, at least it's over now.

[HalfJack]

It worked out well despite all the strain it caused, many a silver lining... Made me see I have a lot to be thankful for and despite some blips I actually semi-controlled a few big panics for the first time (thanks to advice from you and others on here:emot-dance:) which has increased my formerly bottomless confidence quite nicely. I learned to recognise and avoid some long term negative behaviors too so I feel a bit better about my progress in general which is an unexpected high... I'm banking the entire thing as a win before I begin to doubt myself!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Well despite what happened, you dealt with some of the issues so yes, definately a win. Exposure is best in a controlled manner but some things, environmental factors as they are called in CBT, we can't avoid. If you can come out of that feeling that you did take positive steps forward, it's a win.

It would be easy to come out of that and see it as a reinforcement of things you can't do, and you haven't, which is progress. A big part of this is self belief afterall.