Renewal help

Hi everyone I renewed my ir-esa and got a letter a few weeks ago, stating that I have been awarded the support group rate without the ftf. That's all good but they would not say over the phone how long it will be before i am reassessed, they basically won't tell me. They said that they don't know. They did this to me last year too and I find it very hard to get get the forms filled out. My medical conditions deteriorated this year and I have a life long condition to cope with now so my ESA50 form had to be completely re-written. I don't like the fact that a letter can drop in the door any day without knowing when the next reassessment will be and at the same time I am afraid that if i keep having my carer call them they will just reassess me earlier than they planned to because i had been pestering them for an estimate. It sucks that we are put in this walking on egg shells position of not knowing and the fear that that if we do demand confirmation of the award time period on the system that the will just have another esa50 form sent out to spit us. Please help

Thanks for the quick reply Gordan, all I really want from them is an estimate reassessment timescale. But I am afraid that I may have rocked the boat by having my carer ring up in my behalf to ask for a time scale even though the renewal award was only a few weeks ago.

Is it possible that by having called them that I may have drawn unwanted attention to myself and targeted myself for a ftf which i could do without? My last award lasted almost a year, 9 months I think but circumstances have changed and my condition has deteriorated so if anything I hope they leave me alone for the next 2 to 3 years.

The people that i had my carer call on the phone were from the number on top of the award letter DWP I think? Do those people on the phone have any influence over how long or short your award can last for? In other words can they change the award time as they see fit on the computer file? I don't know why they could not just give my carer that info over the phone, they were able to tell her that it was income related ESA but that was it. This ESA85A assessment report will asking for that cause me more problems than asking for the re-assessment date over the phone? Sorry merry go round questions here but my biggest worry is that i maybe should have not had them called and avoiding drawing attention to myself. I don't like having to have those ESA50 forms filled out regularly as I feel so exposed.

Thank you for the top notch advice Gordan. After being on ESA for 2 1/2 years it will be nice to finally be able to know roughly where i stand in regards to re-assessments dates. Would it be best to ask for the esa85a form by writing out to the DWP. Phone the call center and say that i was awarded my esa renewal a few weeks ago and would like to know when the he re-assessment date is on my file? I think they may have gotten confused when my carer asked how long my award was for and not when the re-assessment date is.

total recall wrote: Thank you for the top notch advice Gordan. After being on ESA for 2 1/2 years it will be nice to finally be able to know roughly where i stand in regards to re-assessments dates. Would it be best to ask for the esa85a form by writing out to the DWP. Phone the call center and say that i was awarded my esa renewal a few weeks ago and would like to know when the he re-assessment date is on my file? I think they may have gotten confused when my carer asked how long my award was for and not when the re-assessment date is.

Hi tr,

You may find my post from yesterday helpful :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=top...=10&id=101933#124636

bro58