That’s me just got my letter from ATOS with the form to fill in, nightmare, seems you can’t win, judging by all the other horror stories.
Stuart, Word of advice join www.benefitsandwork.co.uk cost under £20 for the year and their advise/information is invaluable wish I’d known about them before I filled my form in. xx
Hi Stuart,
good advice from Bambi19,also get letters of support from your GP, MS nurse and Neuro and send them with your form, don’t expect Atos to contact them to verify your claim,they should but they don’t.
Keep copies of everything you send them it’s not unusual for them to “loose” documents.
Don’t accept their decision if you feel it’s wrong get them to look at it again, lodge an appeal and ask for a copy of the report, I got a copy of mine and thought they had got me mixed up with someone else I’m spms and the report said I would be fit to return to work within a year, they don’t seem to know what incurable or progressive mean.
Anyway I stuck at it and was eventually put in the support group don’t give in.
Good luck,
Chris.
I agree with Bambi. You can’t do better than joining Benefits and Work and following their step by step guide. It’s what got me DLA.
I haven’t had my form yet and really dread the postman coming. Each day the form doesn’t arrive I have a huge sigh of relief… but the day will come when I have to face it. Terrible living with such dread!
Good luck with it,
Pat x
Thank you, I’m just going to check out benefits and work now.
Dont Give Up
I do know where you are coming from, ATOS the worse!
I have had differtent experiences in dealing with them:
For myself personally thing went fairly straight forward, did use the Benefits site for help with the wording for the forms but also had supporting letter from MS nurses. Got put straight into support group.
On the other hand my daughter (ME/Chronic Fatigue) has had a nightmare trying to get any support, appealed after not being awarded enough points, so appealed, waited 12 months to be heard, once again no extra points, still no follow up letters/details received so on that matter feel we’ve been left floundering, not knowing what to do next for her. I guess its up to us to carry on supporting her (which of course we will do anyway, but it doesnt do much for her self esteem)
Good luck with your dealings with this shower, I hope you get the support you need.
Just out of interest does any one know how many points you need to be placed in the support group?? Thanks x
I seem to remember it’s 15… (but as I have terrible memory that could easily be wrong )
Pat x
It is 15 points…but that is not the overall amount it is for one descriptor
This may help and there is a self test
Hello
15 points will get you into the ESA element of the benefit.
Of the 15 points, you need at least 9 points from one descriptor to get the support element. Without the 9 from one element you will end up in the WRAG group.
regards
S4AR
I only got 15 when I had my medical 9 in the walking and 6 in the sitting one and was placed in the WRAG…and appealed.
A year later it went to tribunal and got 15 for walking and got placed in the support group
I have just done the self test giving myself the same points as my medical and it said the WRAG
It’s all so confusing 
i did the self test too and got WRAG but Imy doc and my neuro say I’m unfit for work!! And I for sure know I’m not I can’t even function fully in the home!!
Sorry but I think this is incorrect. You need to get the maximum (15 points) on certain single descriptors to get into the support group. There are a couple of differences for support group Eg you can score 15 points for being incontinent once a month for purposes of WRAG but the support group requires once a week.
I don’t know what happened in my case (but I’m not complaining!) I had help with the form from a disability charity based in Suffolk, called OPTUA. The forms were posted off (late as I was in the middle of a home move) and I got a call a couple months later from the lady who had helped, to say she had recieved them back as they had been sent to the wrong address and was checking to make sure I hadn’t had my benefits stopped, which I hadn’t… They got sent off, this time to the right address and was waiting to be summoned for the ‘dreaded’ medical, I waited and waited, until I eventually got a phone call to say that I would be moving to ESA in the support group in November! I have now had this confirmed in writing and the payments are being made! The whole process started in January, so I’m not sure if I have just been a lucky one, or I will still be summoned! I hope this will happen to many of you, as even the stress of waiting does nothing for your well being!
Good Luck, and keep on fighting!
Louise