New ESA form issued, 9 months since medical!

Recently received a new form to fill in and yet I only had a medical about 9 months ago, the covering letter from ATOS is a bit strange as well as it mentions transferring to ESA when I am already on it.

initial questions

as usual you only get a month to fill it in, how do you get longer?, I can't really do it in that time

medical evidence:, last time I had significant evidence, 9 months on, I don't have any, basically was informed nothing more could be done.

btw, I suspect this new form was issued when I personally rang the DWP about some matter, maybe they thought I was too articulate.

kontext wrote: Recently received a new form to fill in and yet I only had a medical about 9 months ago, the covering letter from ATOS is a bit strange as well as it mentions transferring to ESA when I am already on it.

initial questions

as usual you only get a month to fill it in, how do you get longer?, I can't really do it in that time

medical evidence:, last time I had significant evidence, 9 months on, I don't have any, basically was informed nothing more could be done.

btw, I suspect this new form was issued when I personally rang the DWP about some matter, maybe they thought I was too articulate.

Hi k,

The date of any reassessment is generally dictated by the recomended length of an award when it is made. (the prognosis).

However, the prognosis is only a "Recommendation" and ESA recipients can be reassessed any time after 3 months of an ESA award :

How often will I be reviewed

Reassessments and the issuing of a new ESA50 generally take place around 8 weeks before the end of a prognosis period.

It would be difficult to say how "early" the issuing of this ESA50 may be, unless you know the prognosis of your current award.

There is no legal challenge to it anyway.

The letter that you speak of is the conversion notice, and should only really be sent to claimants being transferred over from IB, IS or SDA.

They do seem to be sending these out in cases of reassessment also, so I wouldn't read anything extraordinary in to that.

There is no legal provision to extend the 4 weeks allowed to fill in and return the ESA50.

You could make a request to The DWP/ATOS, however, unless you receive WRITTEN confirmation that an extension was being allowed I would ensure that it was filled in and returned by the deadline.

If you have no fresh medical evidence, you could still refer to older evidence, and again include it with the ESA50.

You would also have to make it clear that since the time of your last WCA, you have not improved, your limitations have not diminished, you have not had any new operative procedures, or are taking any new prescribed medication that has alleviated your conditions, nor have you learned to cope with, or adapt to your limitations.

Do not rely on ATOS knowing anything about your current award, in other words treat this as if it was your first assessment.

You should be aware that there have been changes to the ESA50 and the qualifying descriptors since the time of your last WCA.

See :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Whilst referring to the guides under the heading of "New ESA50 form"

On this page :

ESA Claims Guides

See also :

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?

ESA50 too big for the envelope

&

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS


bro58

Hi

Tx for that, I will also have to take cognisance of the changes since I last completed the form, eg, use of aids, sitting and standing, etc, its brutal..

I will definitely have to ask for an extension to fill in my ESA50, I don't/not upto speaking to ATOS, I can ask my MP to intervene to ask for extension, or will that get their back up.

Hi

I managed to get my form in by the specified date, but I am having to send extra info at a later date, roughly how long after sending the form can you send additional info(eg will a decision maker look at it within two weeks) and do you send it to ATOS or the DWP?

thanks