If you are already a Benefits and Work member, you can download the following resources from the Members section.
Benefits and Work guides
ESA & UC CLAIMS
ESA and UC Claims for Physical, Mental Health and Learning Difficulties: a guide to the limited capability for work assessment.
This is a fully comprehensive guide to the assessment procedure on physical, mental health and learning difficulties grounds for employment & support allowance and universal credit.
Permitted work and working while on universal credit due to sickness or disability
A guide to doing permitted work whilst claiming ESA, universal credit or incapacity benefit.
Ways to prevent and overturn ESA and UC sanctions.
30 page guide to ESA and UC sanctions
Moving from ESA to UC
A brief guide to the process of moving from employment and support allowance to universal credit.
Natural Migration From ESA To UC
A short guide to natural migration from ESA to UC.
UC/ESA and PIP overlap
A chart showing the degree of overlap between UC/ESA and PIP descriptors. This is something that will become increasingly important if combined assessments are introduced, as is currently being planned. Many thanks to Gordon, our moderator, for creating this.
ESA & UC APPEALS
ESA and UC mandatory reconsiderations and appeals
43 page guide to mandatory reconsiderations and appeals for ESA and UC.
ESA and UC Mandatory Reconsideration And Appeal Submissions
26 page guide to writing mandatory reconsideration requests, completing ESA appeal forms and writing submissions for an ESA tribunal.
Letter asking for your medical to be recorded
A 2 page letter you can copy and paste to send to DWP/Atos requesting that your medical is recorded. This letter is also included in the WCA guides above. This Word version may be easier to copy and paste.
DWP ESA & UC RESOURCES
Performance Measurement Guide and Performance Measurement Letter
The PMG and letter give information about who may receive an unnanounced visit from the Performance Measurement team and what right you have to refuse to see them unless they make an appointment.
WCA Handbook
254 page guide to carrying out work capability assessments for use by healthcare professionals. This document tells you how health professionals are supposed to assess you and how the DWP/Maximus interpret the law - often wrongly in our view. Remember, this guidance isn't the law, only what the DWP/Maximus think the law should be. We refer to extracts from this Handbook throughout our guides to claiming, alerting you to areas where we think you will be incorrectly assessed and telling you what to do about it.
