ESA 3

Thanks Gordon!

Gordon wrote: Joyce

As a general rule it is not a good idea to leave any correspondence from the DWP unanswered as it gives them an opportunity for further action.

If you are certain that you do not qualify for ESA(IR), for example your husband works more than 24 hours a week and is not in an exempt occupation, then I would write to the DWP explaining that you do not believe that you meet the requirements for ESA(IR) at this time and therefore will not be returning the form.

Gordon

Hi G,

Joyce is in receipt of an Occupational Pension, though.

bro58

joyce wrote: I wrote on this forum last week.
I had a phone call last week confirming that I had been moved from IB to ESA support group, contribution based, without a medical,. many thanks to this site for your guidance.
on Saturday I was sent the ESA3 form to complete. I took on board your comments last week but have been fretting all weekend about it. I am not eligible for the income based award so can I just ignore this form or will I have repercussions by doing so.

Joyce I am in exactly the same position as yourself, straight on to support group without a medical. I got my ESA3 this morning just. I tried to ring to-day but they were too busy to take the call. If I had known what this actually was I would have declined it. Last week I was told this could be of benefit to me. Like getting help to pay for things. I am going to try ring early in the morning and explain that I don't wish to carry on with this. I reckon this was poorly described to me. Good luck to you!

Thank you Gordon, unfortunately or fortunately I am in receipt of some of the benefits you mention. As I see it I can't see filling in this form to be of much help to me. I have previously mentioned I thought this to be another form that had nothing to do with this.

Freedom of Information Request

4. Any guidance, policy or legislation dealing with interim
payments pending the completion of an ESA3 form?

The information requested is not available. There are no references in ESA
procedural guidance about the making of interim payments pending receipt of
an ESA3 form. In practice, since the claimant who is being asked to complete
a form ESA3 will already have established their entitlement to contributory
ESA, any delay in returning the form will not result in a suspension of existing
payments. Accordingly, the issue ofmaking interim payments doesn’t arise –
any delay in returning the completed ESA3 will simply mean that the decisionmaker will be unable to determine whether the claimant is entitled to the
income-related strand of ESA: any entitlement to the contributory strand will
continue regardless.
If a claimant’s entitlement to contributory ESA is terminating in the near future
by virtue of the application of the 365 daytime limit, and form ESA3 is issued
to the claimant beforehand to determine ifthey might, at that stage, become
entitled to income-related ESA, then, in the event that day 365 is reached
before the form EA3 has been returned, no interim payment of income-related
ESA will be made. This is because the Secretary of State cannot, at that
stage, and before he has received and considered the evidence, be satisfied
that any entitlement to income-related ESA will properly arise.