pete c
Welfare Rights Officer, Adult Social Care, Cornwall County Council, Truro
Member since 30th Oct 2008
|
RE: ESA and interviews with A4E while appeal is pending
Tue 10-Nov-09 11:50 AM |
You are quite correct, it seems that the client may be at fault for not sending the letters to the correct place but surely there is some duty on A4E to advise him to do so as they are,in my view, people on whose advice he is 'entitled to rely'. In this particular case it did not matter, the last interview was the day after my visit so the client opted to take a pragmatic view and attend.
It seems that there is nothing specific in the ESA regs to say that a claimant shouldn't have an A4E interview while an appeal is pending, all it says in reg.54 (1) and(2) (a)(i) is that they are required to attend if they are recieving an Employment and Support Allowance and are not in the Support Group. It is debateable whether the A4E interview should be suspended as it may be that the claimant will end up in the support group after the appeal but the fact remains that somone held in the assesment phase pending appeal is undoubtedly getting ESA !
|