ESA medical letter but no ESA50 form

An update - I had an awful lot of help and got the form filled out and emailed in by the 19th. We went for my assessment appointment and after waiting for an hour and 20mins past my appointment time were sent home. They sent 5 people home. One lady had been sent home from her previous appointment too.
They were very apologetic and said that the reason was that since people had filled in their ESA50s they'd been diagnosed with different things so everything had to be thoroughly looked into. Another man there was some kind of representative/companion and had been sent home with another client on Tuesday too.
I am devastated. This has overshadowed my life for the past 4 weeks to such an extent that my doctor has prescribed diazepam to calm me down, Now I have to wait several more weeks for the next appointment,
Surely it would be more cost efficient for them and less stressful for us to have everyone fill out a new ESA50 and then give them appointments so that everything was to hand? People had travelled between 40 and 60 mile round trips and they paid all our travel expenses. What a waste.

I have finally been for my assessment. They did not have my ESA50 in the file. I had a copy withe me and also copies of the emails saying to email it to them and saying they had received it. It was read quickly by the assessor and she asked me only a few questions and it was over. I had to excuse myself to be sick in the toilets when I realised all the stress I'd had to fll the form in quickly was for nothing. How can this happen?
i also gave in a handwritten note to explain how much the unexpected cancellation of my last appointment affected me to the point that I took an overdose the next day as I just had had enough. Luckily I'm ok. I just feel totally numb now with everything especially since my doctor has prescribed tranquilisers to get me through this.
She said I'd hear in 2-3 weeks. I am dreading the result but trying hard to focus on taking one day at a time.

Well the brown envelope finally arrived this morning. They've put me into the support group which is much more than I expected. I will be thrilled when it sinks in it's just been hanging over me for so long that I'm numb right through.

Could I ask a couple of questions?
There's no mention in the letter of when this will be reviewed. Is there any way I could find that out?

My doctor advised me about 4 years ago to apply for DLA (as was) and that she would support me but I had found the ESA process awful enough and did not want to put myself through any more. I am seriously considering applying for PIP but I know I will have to go through another medical. Is that one as awful as the ESA one? Sorry I know that's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Is is possible to get a decision without a F2F with PIP? I'm just not sure how much fight I've got left in me at the moment and if I could cope with the process.

MammaT wrote: Well the brown envelope finally arrived this morning. They've put me into the support group which is much more than I expected. I will be thrilled when it sinks in it's just been hanging over me for so long that I'm numb right through.

Could I ask a couple of questions?
There's no mention in the letter of when this will be reviewed. Is there any way I could find that out?

My doctor advised me about 4 years ago to apply for DLA (as was) and that she would support me but I had found the ESA process awful enough and did not want to put myself through any more. I am seriously considering applying for PIP but I know I will have to go through another medical. Is that one as awful as the ESA one? Sorry I know that's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Is is possible to get a decision without a F2F with PIP? I'm just not sure how much fight I've got left in me at the moment and if I could cope with the process.

Hi MT,

I am really pleased to hear that you have been placed into The SG !!!

Thanks for letting us know !!

"There's no mention in the letter of when this will be reviewed. Is there any way I could find that out?"

This Post should answer that query.


Similar to ESA, if you can provide enough evidence there may be no need for a PIP face to face.

Again, a PIP consultation, if one is deemed necessary, is more of a Q & A session rather than a "medical".

You could first take our : PIP Self Test which should give you an idea of any potential PIP entitlement.

You can then read through our : PIP Claims Guide. (2nd Link on page) where if you go to page 70, you can read what to expect at a PIP Consultation.

As an aside, if you were placed into The SG under the ESA "Mobilising" Activity, that may be a good indication that at least a Standard "Mobility" PIP Award may be in order under the "Moving Around" Activity.

See my reference to this in my post : Here.

If you do decide to claim PIP, I would make sure that you are fully conversant with the process before doing so.

We have recently been hearing from members who have received an appointment for a PIP Consultation within a couple of weeks of returning their PIP 2 Forms.

bro58

Thank you Bro, I will have a look through those links when I'm feeling a little better. My worry is that, although my doctor supports the idea of me applying for PIP, she does not know intimately how my mental health affects my everyday life and so may not be able to support on paper to the level required by ATOS.
I don't currently have any other input from anyone else.

And, please forgive me, as I forgot to thank you and the MOD team in my previous post. I have found it helpful beyond measure to know that there are others out there who understand how I feel and what we are up against.