Esa50 form and support group

rubyrose34

Good morning 
Can anyone help iv been in the support group since 2013 and have many long term progressive illness .i have been sent an esa50 form to fill in but i thought if you were in the support group there were no more reassessment .
thanks

poppy123456

Hi,

They can reassess you at anytime for ESA. They have put new rules in place for some people in the Support Group, that after their next reassessment they may place placed into the severe conditions group and no further reassessments will be needed. This will not apply to everyone and if it does you'll be told when a decision is made. https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2017/october/guidance-work-capability-assessment-reassessment-published

veryconfused

im in esa support group and have just received the esa 50 form after 1year

axwy62

Also in support group and recently received an ESA50 for reassessment, after 4 years.
Maybe they're having a look at anyone in the support group for some reason?

poppy123456

They can reassess you at anytime for ESA, doesn't matter which group you're in.

rubyrose34

Thank you all for your replies i wasnt sure ...so i better get start on  my form.

veryconfused

Good luck 

axwy62

A couple of things I've learnt about filling in these forms:-

Remember not to tick any boxes unless they describe what you can do exactly - many of them don't match the ESA descriptors and ticking them might imply that you can do more than you actually can - one that springs to mind is moving around - the 'lowest' distance given in the tick boxes is 50 metres. Most people would probably assume they have to pick one of the boxes so even if they can't mobilise at all would tick that one, which will then be taken as evidence that they can mobilise 50 metres. It's perfectly OK to leave the tick boxes blank and explain in the box underneath instead, or type/write your explanation on separate sheets if there's not enough room (put your NI number and name on each sheet and identify what you're writing about).

Remember to explain what stops you doing something or what happens if you try - they're looking for clues that someone who isn't ill or disabled wouldn't know, e.g. I dread the arrival of winter because I have to ask someone to put proper socks and shoes on for me instead of sticking to flip flops which I can put on by myself, or I use plastic cups because they're lighter and won't break when I drop them.

If there is a risk that you could hurt yourself or someone else if you try to do something, make sure you mention it. E.g. I forget to turn the grill off but I have no sense of smell so I don't notice until either the smoke alarm sounds or someone else notices and tells me. 

Do one section each day so you're not spending hours at a time focussing on what you can't do. In the meantime, keep a diary how you're affected day to day, it's suprising what comes up that you might have forgotten about.

Get anyone who understands how you're affected to write a statement for you - it doesn't matter if they're professional or not, I always send statements from my husband and son, which is often just a list of the things they help me with or do for me. DWP/Maximus might or might not take much notice, but a tribunal will if it gets that far.

If I think of anything else, I'll post again.

danny1234

i sent my ESA 50 go back 16 weeks ago and had my medical 12 weeks ago how long before get result.has anybody else had to wait this long thanks danny

poppy123456

There's no timescales for decisions, backlogs is just part of the reason a decision can be delayed. I'd advise you to ring DWP to ask for a copy of the assessment report to be sent to you. If they tell you the report hasn't been returned then this could be the delay in making the decision because they can't do this until the report has been returned. If it's been chosen for audit then this can significantly delay the decision.