New Style ESA refused due to Income, Income has dropped should I reapply ?.

dan6161

Hi, I need some help with New Style ESA.

I am self-employed and work from home (Small Business), I have Osteoarthritis in my knee and have recently been award PIP and have a Blue badge.

I submitted a claim for new Style ESA based on my earnings for the Previous month, as being self-employed I calculate my earnings from the previous month, so when I applied for ESA at the end of February I used the month of January Earnings.

The January earnings were around £250 a week, so I put down £250, then my claim was rejected as I earn too much, I understand it is around £167 a month you can earn. Now the January earnings were high as it was just after Christmas and I had a lot of orders, but my earnings in February averaged around £100 a week.

Is it worth reapplying now with the new figures ?, as I am cautious as I don’t want them to simply think we told him it was too high and now he has dropped what he earns to qualify, as that’s not true, my earnings do vary month my month as I don’t know how much people will order or if they will order at all, so some months are better than others.

So I am just looking for a bit of advice if it is worth applying again or if it is best not too as it might look suspect. I do have a Sick Note from the Doctor which lasts for 3 months and is Marked “Fit for Work – Amended Duties”.

Many Thanks

poppy123456

Yes you can reapply. The earnings limit for permitted work is £167/week, this will increase from April this year. 

Albus_Scope

Heya @dan6161 and welcome to the community. 

I can see Poppy has already answered your query, but I wanted to pop in and say howdy.

dan6161

Thanks to everyone for replying. I did reapply and got a phone call last Thursday from a work coach. Very friendly and no pressure. Today I noticed that I have a payment going into my bank on Friday. No letter yet, but hopefully that will follow soon. Do you think it is worth downloading the esa50 medical form and sending it in now rather than waiting weeks before they send me it ?. Thanks Again.  

poppy123456

dan6161 said:

Do you think it is worth downloading the esa50 medical form and sending it in now rather than waiting weeks before they send me it ?. Thanks Again.  

You can't do it that way because if you do then they will ignore the form. You need to wait for ESA to refer you for the WCA. Once they do you will receive the form in the post. 

You can start to fill it in online while you wait but please make sure you do not send it until you receive the one in the post. Once you receive it you can return the one you downloaded. 

dan6161

poppy123456 said:

dan6161 said:

Do you think it is worth downloading the esa50 medical form and sending it in now rather than waiting weeks before they send me it ?. Thanks Again.  

You can't do it that way because if you do then they will ignore the form. You need to wait for ESA to refer you for the WCA. Once they do you will receive the form in the post. 

You can start to fill it in online while you wait but please make sure you do not send it until you receive the one in the post. Once you receive it you can return the one you downloaded. 

Thanks For that, oddly enough I have just received the ESA50 form in the post today !, and I haven't even got the ESA Award letter yet !, they are much faster than I thought.

dan6161

Thanks For that, oddly enough I have just received the ESA50 form in the post today !, and I haven't even got the ESA Award letter yet !, they are much faster than I thought.

dan6161

poppy123456 said:

dan6161 said:

Do you think it is worth downloading the esa50 medical form and sending it in now rather than waiting weeks before they send me it ?. Thanks Again.  

You can't do it that way because if you do then they will ignore the form. You need to wait for ESA to refer you for the WCA. Once they do you will receive the form in the post. 

You can start to fill it in online while you wait but please make sure you do not send it until you receive the one in the post. Once you receive it you can return the one you downloaded. 

Thanks for that. oddly enough the ESA50 has just arrived in the post !, and I haven't even got the ESA award letter yet, they were a lot faster than I though.

poppy123456

They are often much quicker with ESA than they are with UC.