Dreading the next ESA

Evelyn wrote: And my GP, while a nice person, does not understand and I do not know what to say to make him understand.

Is there a mental health advocacy service in your area? A mental health advocate can speak up for you and support you at GP appointments and help you to get your views across.

I have never heard of this personnel or service so will check up on it. Thank you.

Evelyn wrote: Thank you Pl, Bro and Del.

The feeling I have of having to fill in the ESA every one or two years is like I am being hounded. Even when they know that your conditions are not going to get better, they still insist on sending forms for you to complete after your last assessment.

They are well aware that your condition has worsened and as you get older, other physical problems manifest even though you tried to do things to prevent that, but they still expect you to miraculously recover and go to work.

While they tirelessly pursue you, your mental health deteriorates and you go onto more prescribed drugs. I feel that if I get prescribed any more drugs, I will be a walking pharmacy!

Like Bro said, I have got to get into my head that the next ESA is not until May, but this date is what I have deduced, because the last one was on 3rd July this year so I think if it is one year, then two months before that will be May next year.

Do you think they will forget about me or lose me in their system? For once, I will actually be grateful!

If I decide to stop when I next receive the ESA form Bro, what should I put in my letter to ATOS?

Hi E,

If you have a one year prognosis on the ESA award from 03/07/13, then you are correct in assuming that you should receive a new ESA50 a couple of months before the end of the prognosis period, i.e. circa May 2014.

Although you should receive an ESA50 around that time, it is not written in stone, and ATOS and The DWP do seem to have a backlog, and are behind schedule.

There is certainly nothing to be gained in making a decision before you receive a new ESA50, as previously stated.

Although desirable, I do not think that they will forget about you.

It is not a straight forward issue of simply closing your ESA claim, there are other things to be taken into account, such as the NI Credits that you are awarded that go towards your state pension, whilst you have a live claim/award of ESA.

Further, you should consider a future scenario (after Oct 2015) where you could be invited to claim PIP, and fail the assessment.

Even though you may be able to manage financially as things stand on your DLA payments alone, could you do so, if you lost this ?

This is why you need to consider a decision carefully, and take the time to gain some advice where they may be able to help with your next reassessment.

If your medical condition is not improving, and/or deteriorating, although there is no guarantee, there is no reason why you cannot simply update the information previously provided in the new ESA50.

This is why it helps to keep a copy of previous ESA50's, especially the PDF version, as you are then not starting from scratch with the new ESA50.

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

If you did decide to close your ESA claim, which I am not advising you to do, you would have to write a letter to The DWP, informing them formally that you wished to close the claim.

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS

As I have previously said, please do not rush into this, you may feel more positive circa May next year.

bro58

In my opinion the frequency of reassessments is one of the most nonsensical aspects of the reforms. You are not the only person to find this stressful. You need to make them aware that your condition is deteriorating when you are reassessed and not assume they have the appropriate medical knowledge/commonsense to figure this out. The time limits for reassessment
vary and you may wish to ask when you are likely to be reassessed. I believe you can make a subject access request to find this out if they will not tell you and info on this is in the general benefits guide. I do not think they will forget about you, however they are experiencing a back log at the moment so might take longer to get round to you. If you do decide to stop claiming I would make it clear that this is not because you are no longer entitled but because you find the process to stressful.

Thank you Bro for expanding on your answers and info.

I have kept a copy of the ESA I completed this summer.

Funny thing is my friend asked me to fill in another one now so that when the next one comes, I will be ready for it and could just print it out to send it off.

Drastic, isn't it, to have to resolve to take such a step.

I am thinking of doing it just to get it out of the way and with the way I am feeling, I might as well act like I am right in the middle of it because this was how I felt when completing this year's ESA.

If it is likely your condition will deteriorate between now and when you are reassessed you will want to bear this in mind if you write the form now. Make sure you update it nearer the time if necessary.