question regarding current evidence please

hi

I have a couple of queries please

I want to gather my evidence in good time for when my ESA50 comes, but what with all the backlogs and stuff, and knowing that the evidence has to be current, what happens if I get my evidence from my doctor but my esa50 doesnt arrive for a few months after, then the evidence will no longer be current.

Also, a lady on the primary care liaison team said i could leave her name and number for the dwp to call, would this be sufficient?

thanks

Chrissy wrote: hi

I have a couple of queries please

I want to gather my evidence in good time for when my ESA50 comes, but what with all the backlogs and stuff, and knowing that the evidence has to be current, what happens if I get my evidence from my doctor but my esa50 doesnt arrive for a few months after, then the evidence will no longer be current.

Also, a lady on the primary care liaison team said i could leave her name and number for the dwp to call, would this be sufficient?

thanks

Hi C,

Merry Xmas !!!!

You are correct in that your evidence should be as current as possible.

This can be difficult to achieve, especially with the current situation regarding : ESA Reasessment Deferrals.

I advise that The ESA50 should be kept as a "work in progress", in that you can update it regularly, so that you have the maximum time available to bring it up to date when you receive the paper ESA50 through the post.

This can be made easier by : Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire.

Of course, versions of the ESA50 do change quite regularly, (e.g. There are some changes due in early 2015 regarding advice given to claimants about what supporting evidence they can provide to aid their claim, see : Our News Article ) so you should ensure that the PDF ESA50 that you have stored on your PC or Hard Drive/Memory USB corresponds to the version that you receive through the post.

In most cases, as long as there has been no change to legislation or qualifying criteria you can simply copy and paste the information from one PDF ESA50 to a more current version, if appropriate.

You can obtain copies of your G.P. records from your G.P. practice, then once you have the bulk of them, you can just request the most recent from the end date of the ones that you already have, if necessary.

Requesting your medical records.

You should also be aware that as from April 2015, some G.P. practices are offering the facility to access your G.P. records on-line.

You should check whether your practice is to offer this service.

You could ask your treating HCP's to provide letters of support, on the premise that they will simply make the date current if they still agree with the content. This can save time.

If you were in the predicament that an ESA50 was received, and you couldn't obtain fresh supporting evidence before the deadline return date, you could provide the most current evidence that you have, and comment that your conditions had not altered or improved since the date of the letter/s, if applicable.

You could always further any new evidence to ATOS/Maximus after returning the ESA50 by the deadline, as there will always be a delay between them receiving the ESA50 and dealing with it, once it has been logged on their systems.

You could provide the contact number of one of your treating HCP's for them to contact, but they rarely do so, and they are under no obligation to do this. This is why we advise members to obtain their own evidence and send copies direct with their ESA50.

My best advice would be to keep your ESA50 as up to date as possible taking into account my comments above.

bro58