Hi All, I am so upset and stressed! I have like many people applied for e.s.a and prayed that it would work out. I have R.a and suffer chronic anxiety and depression to the point where i can not go out alone. I have today recieved a letter telling me i am to attend a pathways to work interview despite supporting letters from my cpn and gp stressing that i do not leave the house alone due to my panic attacks etc. and that social situations make me worse. How ever am i supposed to attend these interviews? i just feel so low and alone and not sure how much more of this stress i am able to take.

Kerrie ,
Is the interview at a jobcentre or somewhere else?, as this will make a difference to how you approach this issue .
It is quite possible that whoever is doing the Pathways Interview(s) are unaware of your issues .
EDIT .. and i presume you have had your medical , and been placed in the Work Related Activity Group..
If so it would be handy for you to get a copy of your medical report from the DWP to see if it contains all relevant details .

It might be that you have to attend the first one , with someone being with you , and then possibly get it deferred for a time period .

Rich :)

Kerrie ,
as you haven't been on i would do as Jenny suggests .
yes it is possible to ask them to visit at home , and sometimes they can conduct the interview over the phone , however you need to telephone the number on the letter asking you to attend ,to see what the options are , and to tell them of the issues you face and the fact that you have the support of the CPN etc (Might be an idea to call contact the CPN aswell prior to the Pathways call).) It will depend on whether this is a Jobcentre first Pathways Interview or a 3rd Party supplier of Pathways.

You do need to contact them though to prior to the interview. A phone call could remedy the situation.

Rich :)

Kerrie ,

well done on getting to to the interview .
It can be confusing , especially when you are being told misleading information from the people that administer the system.
Assume you are going to have a medical unless you receive a decision letter.

Unless you have supplied information that is backed up by a GP's/CPN's letter/report that you fit one of the "descriptors " to be "fast -tracked" into the support group Support Group Descriptors, then it is likely that you will still have to have a medical.
Latest data(July 2010) from DWP shows 6% of people enter the support group.
The same statistics show that only 3% of ESA claims are made clerically (ie. without a medical) and a percentage of these will be from people automatically placed in the support group due to terminal illness etc.

The ESA guide near the back of the Winter NRAS newsletter gives you a general view of how ESA works , although the process on the first page (page 21) is not quite how it works , but is a reasonable guide.
If / when you receive the medical appointment , you can request it to be done at home , however experience tells me that this is a rarity . You will need to call the ATOS number on the appointment letter. (ATOS are the company that runs the assessments for the DWP.)As the newsletter states , you can have someone present with you at the medical.

All the information is then collated by the DWP Decision Maker (ESA 50 , Medical report from ATOS,letters you have sent to the DWP from your CPN/GP/Consultant) It should be born in mind that it is not common for the DWP to write to your GP or other Health teams and it could be up to you to get this extra supportive evidence yourself, and to send to your local Benefits Delivery Centre as soon as you can (make sure you have written your Date of Birth and NI number on any loose sheets).
This will ensure that the DWP Decision Maker has all the relevant facts to hand when making a decision.

For further info about what happens after see page 21 of the NRAS Winter Newsletter (rates of ESA components etc)

From what you have stated here and in other posts , it might be worth considering a claim for DLA as well. This payment would not be affected by other income /capital and is not normally affected by working.
Extract from the NRAS Benefits Guide

The lower rate

If you are able to walk reasonably well, but need guidance or supervision to do so, the
lower rate of the mobility component may apply to you. It doesn’t matter if you can manage
to walk without guidance or supervision in places you know well, as long as you generally
need guidance or supervision when you are in unfamiliar places. Your need for guidance or
supervision may be due to a tendency for your knee or ankle joints to give way..


It could be that you qualify for a higher rate or the "Care component" as well.

You can claim by telephone , or online , read the link here Direct.Gov DLA

Either way of claiming "date stamps" your claim and allows you 6 weeks to complete. With the telephone claim you are sent a printed version , and the online one you type into an online form and can save the answers and go back to it next time you log on . For DLA claims it is much more common for the DWP to contact your GP/Consultant etc
It is worth doing as receipt of DLA could passport to further help .


Hope this hasn't muddied the waters too much for you Kerrie
And remember to keep sending in Medical certificates until you are told otherwise, in writing , by the DWP.

All the Best and let us know how you got on.

Rich

Well certainly looks good Kerrie and no problem here with helping :)

Remember if you ask for a review there is a possibiitly that it might be reviewed downwards and hopefully the personal adviser told you that yesterday as well.

I say this to everyone that getting evidence from your GP and your other Health workers is key !
If you think of it this way , the Decision Maker sits in an office and can only make a decision based on what evidence he has in front of him. If you give him qualified evidence from your Health professionals then that makes his decision a lot easier to come to .
I have appealed people where the ESA 50 form has had all the boxes ticked as "none apply" and with no Medical evidence sent in , and a badly done ATOS Medical , but at Tribunal when we finally got the medical evidence from the GP , we won .
What other decision could the Decision Maker come to apart from "Fit for work".

In essence if the decision is in your favour , you have , in effect made the perfect claim with regards to both yourself and the DWP.I think they would appreciate all the info too as it makes their job so much easier.

It obviously helps if you have a good GP/ Consultant , and obviously helps if you have a good Personal Adviser.

Definitely post here when you get a decision, and i will pop open a bottle of coca cola ;)

:) Now concentrate on other things :)

Rich :)