ESA waiting time

Hi,
I was wondering what could be the maximum waiting time to hear about an ESA claim?

I'm on high rate DLA, care and mobility which was renewed in May for 2 years. I was also in the ESA support group for a year. Got the ESA50 form in August and a welfare rights person came to my home to fill in the form form for me.

Because I can't talk most of the time or talk on phone. She told them that I can't be contacted and put her phone number down instead.

Its now been over 4 months and haven't heard anything. I did get a letter off them 1 month ago but it doesn't say anything about the results of the claim.
It just said, " Your claim for ESA. A change in the ESA rate payable."

Then mentions from 23rd May your rate will be... This is because of a change of money coming in...

So they're referring to the renewed DLA in May. Even though there was no change in DLA amount or ESA amount as a result.

Shall i just ignore that letter and wait for the official one saying what group I'm now in, if any?

I'm still being paid the support group rate at the moment.

Many thanks x

It sounds as though the letter you received a month ago was referring to your ESA new form you filled in and it states it runs from the 23rd May til ??
Re read the 2 or 3 pages they sent you and show it to your welfare rights worker who will be able to tell what next to do to find out the length of your award by sending of for an SAR

It just says i will continue to get it for as long as i'm entitled, but it makes no mention of support group or wrag group etc so it looks to me like my claim just drew attention to myself and that churned out a change of circumstances form back from May when my DLA was renewed that maybe should have been sent out at the time but wasn't. As it mentions a recent change and it was back in May. The letter totally confused me as so many of them churned out mean nothing.

HellHathNoFury wrote: Hi,
I was wondering what could be the maximum waiting time to hear about an ESA claim?

I'm on high rate DLA, care and mobility which was renewed in May for 2 years. I was also in the ESA support group for a year. Got the ESA50 form in August and a welfare rights person came to my home to fill in the form form for me.

Because I can't talk most of the time or talk on phone. She told them that I can't be contacted and put her phone number down instead.

Its now been over 4 months and haven't heard anything. I did get a letter off them 1 month ago but it doesn't say anything about the results of the claim.
It just said, " Your claim for ESA. A change in the ESA rate payable."

Then mentions from 23rd May your rate will be... This is because of a change of money coming in...

So they're referring to the renewed DLA in May. Even though there was no change in DLA amount or ESA amount as a result.

Shall i just ignore that letter and wait for the official one saying what group I'm now in, if any?

I'm still being paid the support group rate at the moment.

Many thanks x

Hi HHNF,

As the letter refers to ESA, "It just said, " Your claim for ESA. A change in the ESA rate payable."

Not DLA, I suspect, but cannot be sure, that you have remained in The SG at the recent reassessment.

A letter regarding your DLA would be from The DLA Unit, and I gather that you have already received a decision notice letter regarding the successful renewal.

Several of our members have received similar vague letters, such as the one that you mention regarding an ESA reassessment, only to find out on making further inquiries that they have been kept in The SG.

I know that you say that you have trouble talking on the phone, but the only way to confirm the above would be to ring the 0845 number on the ESA letter that you mention.

They should have up to date information on their computer screens.

If you cannot phone them yourself, maybe you could ask the Welfare Rights Worker to contact them on your behalf.

Or, you could get a friend/relative to phone them, you would need to be present. and the friend/relative would have to answer a few security questions such as your N I Number, etc.

You could write a letter to the Benefits Office dealing with your ESA, requesting clarification :

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS

Another alternative would be to e-mail ATOS customer services :

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

They will probably not be able to confirm the ESA decision, but they should be able to tell you whether they have carried out a paper assessment and have sent their recommendations to The DWP.

Please return to give us an update.

bro58

Thanks so much for the replies and nice to know other vague letters have been sent out. I literally cannot talk on the phone and don't have anyone to do it for me so i'll contact the welfare rights woman and see if they contacted her at all. Part of me doesn't want her to look into it though on the off chance that i am just sailing along x