New style ESA still demanding fit notes

berry61
berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor
in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Hi everyone,

Can someone please advise me about this issue.

I receive UC with my wife who cares for me. I was awarded LCWRA in May 2024. My long term ssp came to an end on the 27th September 2024.

I applied for NS ESA before this date and have been awarded contribution based ESA which they say is for 13 weeks before the assesment period is done, then I should be placed in the support group for ESA.

I have received my first payment today from ESA and I have today received a letter from them saying my fit note is due to end on the 9th October and if i dont send in another fit note my payment will stop. This date the 9th is the date on the last fit note I handed into my employer. I have now ended my employment on the 27th October because I can't do the heavy manual work anymore , hence the award for lcwra and esa.

What do I do ? Do I get another fit note until this assessment period of 13 weeks they told me it would take or just ignore it. The problem I also have is I am going away on the 8th oct and only return on the 15th oct so I can't request a fit note until the 9th and I won't be here to pick it up from doctors and send to them.

This Esa is so confusing and contracdicts the advice I have read on this forum before !

Thank You for any advice

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Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    Nope, a fit note isn't needed. The letter was most likely sent out automatically because I believe that when you first claimed ESA you also provided a fit note, am I correct? If so then once that one was due to end it will generate the reminder letter.

    Give them a ring tomorrow morning and remind them that it's not needed and why.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Hi poppy yes you are right,

    When I first rang them they said send in that current fit note and I wouldn't need to send another one in after that. Thanks for the reassurance, I'll ring at 8am and if I dont get anywhere my local jobcentre plus is only 15mins away so if worst comes to worst I'll just go in person.

    Thanks for the reply take care

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    You're welcome. I'm sure everything will be just fine. Those automatically generated letters cause more harm than good sometimes.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Hi @poppy123456

    I have rang esa this morning was waiting nearly an hour to get through.

    They are still insisting I send in fit notes until this 13 week assessment is completed. I explained I get lcwra and obviously have had a wca by UC already. They just said UC is nothing to do with Esa and I need to keep sending in fit notes....Unbelievable !!

    So not sure what to do now I can keep getting them but as you and others have said I shouldn't need too.

    Thanks

  • Kimmy87
    Kimmy87 Community member Posts: 858 Pioneering

    You could look at making a formal complaint:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

    Unfortunately as it's ESA another phone call is the only route.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Thanks @kimmy87

    I have been to my local jobcentre plus this morning.

    The lady was very helpful and updated my file as far as she was allowed. I should now receive a letter from esa to state I have been placed in the support group and no longer need fit notes. In the meantime if I haven't received anything by the 9th Oct just send in one more fit note. She apologised about it , its basically the speed of getting info from UC and someone dealing with it.

    Thanks

  • Jimm_Scope
    Jimm_Scope Posts: 5,117 Online Community Team

    Glad that seems to all be cleared up @berry61, it's good to hear a nice outcome from someone visiting their local jobcentre!

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Thanks @jimm_scope

    Fingers crossed it gets sorted

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    Glad it's been sorted. Sometimes the call centre staff are quite annoying when they tell you something that's completely wrong. You shouldn't have needed to go to your local job centre.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Thanks @poppy123456

    I know its been a nightmare getting it sorted hopefully now fingers crossed it will be

    Thank you

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Hi @poppy123456

    Regards this thread which was a few weeks ago... I am still being told by Dwp that I have to complete the 13 week assessment period and continue sending fit notes until I receive confirmation about being placed in the support group for NSESA. This they say is standard procedure for a new claim. So this will take me upto the 27th December. I can still get the fit notes from my gp but it's annoying how UC don't communicate with DWP and just say I receive LCWRA and have completed a WCA.

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    That's frustrating! Financially, it makes no different whether the 13 weeks apply but having to provide fit notes when you don't need to is annoying.

    UC is part of DWP, same as ESA but different departments. They don't usually communicate, especially with UC.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    I understand @poppy123456 and thanks for replying.

    Can I just ask with regards to a pension lump sum withdrawal as I did earlier this year and you helped and advised me that if i was paying off debt with this lumpsum then UC allow this and its just classed as savings upto £6k, not deprivation of capital. Well if i took another lump sum withdrawal at anytime what are the rules now I am in receipt of newstyle contribution Esa and not ssp as last time.

    The tax was deducted from my £6k lump sum at source by hmrc about £1200 and I am due this back at the end of this tax year. Would this refund be classed as other income by UC ? and would that affect Esa in any way.

    Thanks again poppy

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    You're welcome. The tax rebate would be treated as earnings by UC in the assessment period you receive it so the work allowance will apply for this. Once you receive it you need to report the changes to UC. It may flag up that you received it but it doesn't always.

    The NsESA isn't means tested so it will not affect it.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Thank you poppy,

    Take care

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Hi @poppy123456

    Regards the on going Esa saga with having to keep sending fit notes during my 13 week assessment period. I've sent another in today which takes me to 6th Jan 2025 by which time I should have a decision on which group I will be placed in as my 13 weeks is up on the 27th December.

    Something was niggling me today after sending this latest fit note so I rang DWP again and I spoke to someone who now say they haven't received my esa50 form back thats why nothing has happened to processing the claim. I explained I haven't received one in the first place and I believed I shouldn't have to go through all that again having done it with UC. So they are now saying that someone will ncontact me from Esa and sort this out. Can't believe the shambles of this department 😫

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    You didn't ring DWP, you rang the call centre. Those from there have very little knowledge other than to read from a screen. They wouldn't know that when claiming both ESA and UC together you only have 1 assessment, which is through UC. A form wasn't sent to you because as you correctly said, you don't need one.

    Yes I agree, it's frustrating and evening needing to provide fit notes is annoying. You don't need a decision to place you into the Support Group because a decision has already been made that found you to have LCWRA. You just need ESA to increase your weekly amount to £138.20, which should automatically be done from the 14th week of your claim.

    can I please just check that the deduction from UC for your ESA is £392.16/month? and not £598.86/month? If it's the lower amount then that's correct. It will increase to the higher amount when your ESA increases.

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Hi @poppy123456 yes that amount is correct £181.00 paid every 2 weeks.

    I don't have any other telephone number to contact the DWP on as the number I rang was the one on the letter I received when I was informed I would be granted esa.

    I agree with you that each time I have rang I get a different answer to my same question. Shall I just leave it as it is a wait for them to contact me. The person I spoke with said if I hadn't heard anything in 2 weeks time to call back again !

    Thank You

  • berry61
    berry61 Community member Posts: 150 Contributor

    Poppy I get £90.50 per week paid every 2 weeks =£181.00

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,164 Championing

    Yes, that amount for your ESA is correct. I was just wondering if the amount they deduct from your UC for the ESA is correct. Can you please check your statements on your journal?

    The reason I'm asking is because they don't always get that correct.

    I would just leave your ESA and if your payments don't increase from week 14 then contact them.

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