ESA covering letter

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Hi all, sorry if this has been asked before... I am completing a second ESA50 (due to the last award ending with "review in the medium term" presumably). I want to include on my "covering letter" to be sent off with the forms, something along the lines of the following ....

"At my previous face to face assessments (2018), the assessor’s reports along with my GP letter and enclosed evidence were taken into consideration and I was awarded both ESA and PIP at the highest levels inclusive of full severe disability components by the decision makers. This is consistent with all previous awards that have followed on from the original DLA award which was for an indefinite time period.

 My illnesses and disabilities are chronic and lifelong, with no cures and the symptoms of these ailments remain the same, unchanged and with no improvement."

Any advice or thoughts on this please?

poppy123456

HI,

PIP and ESA are different benefits and claiming the one doesn't automatically entitle you to the other.

The reason you're claiming the severe disability premium is because you live alone and no one claims carers allowance for looking after you. As you currently claim daily living PIP this will entitle you to the SDP, it's nothing to do with how disabled you are.

There's no harm in sending the letter but you're much better off filling in the form with as much information as possible about how how conditions affect you and your ability to do any type of work. Good luck.

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Thank you poppy for your reply. I am treating this claim as an entirely new claim as per advice but wanted to clarify that the previous assessors for both ESA and PIP provided their assessments in line with the required regulations that resulted in the DM making the full awards. Ergo, I was hoping that this would help to prevent an assessment that "disagreed" with the previous assessors ones.

poppy123456

No problem. There's no harm in trying.