ESA requesting years of bank statements

friendshaped

Hi, I've seen similar posts on this but they didn't answer my query so I'm making this post. ESA have asked for 7 years of statements from me and I've saved them all from my online banking - but it's 124 pdfs in total. Surely they can't expect me to find a way to print these all off and post them? I can't find anything about sending statements digitally and all I've got is envelopes to post back.

I've already extended the time for sending these back twice as basically I've been having a really hard time with chronic migraines as well as my disabilities, and they told me that's the last extention I can get, so there's no time for me to try and ask the bank to print and post them as that can take 1-3 weeks. Honestly I'm really stressed at the fact this is happening at all (due to child savings accounts I didn't know existed and things set up by my parents, one deceased) and being on a time limit to find a way to print 124 documents is so stressful. I'm housebound and usually my mother handles all these things but they've been very pushy about me handling these affairs myself even though I have literally no idea how to and don't really manage my own finances. My printer at home isn't good and I feel like they'll just want me to redo it all if there's printing errors.

Any advice would be great. At least when dealing with PIP there's some level of understanding of my limitations but with ESA it feels like I'm being treated like a criminal or something with this whole process. I'm just trying to follow the instructions as best I can with the energy I have but this is a roadblock. I might have to ask my mother to print them off at a library but surely there has to be a way around this that doesn't involve crazy printing costs. I've seen other people say about the massive waste of paper these requests incur so maybe there really is no other way around it but to ask someone to print these all off for me, even though I'd rather not have private information like this printed off in a public place.

friendshaped

I don't know how to navigate these forums, sorry, I had an addition query - would I be okay to print these double sided or does anyone know if that somehow makes them void or something?

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

Unfortunately you are expected to print them all and post them through the mail. ESA is stuck in the dark ages. That's one of the reasons for Universal Credit replacing it with digital options.

The statements may be scanned onto a computer so I wouldn't recommend double sided printing in case the back shows through when scanned and makes it impossible to read.

(PS - It's nearly a year since I sent mine and never heard anything back at all…)

friendshaped

Thanks for replying - I read your thread about it which did help with some queries! Its so unfair that so many of us are stuck in this position, and that you haven't heard anything back. I've also been getting increasingly stressful letters telling me I need to move to UC but I'm in the middle of this ESA investigation, or whatever they call it, so I'm going to have to ring and try to get answers on how to migrate to UC when I've got this whole thing with my ESA pending - if it takes a year or more like yours for answers I'll have waited too long and lost everything. Their departments clearly don't communicate with each other at all.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1053407#Comment_1053407

You're welcome. The ESA savings review doesn't change anything with the UC migration. You can still go ahead with that migration now. That will almost certainly be completed before you hear anything back from ESA.