ESA

Yes If he’s in one of the groups he would get £73.10 but assessment phase would be the lower amount for under 25’s.

Hi 

Yes he does receive PIP denise and he gets 82.50 per week.

This all started in late august , I rang them about him claiming esa,they asked for a fit note,which I   senI in for 8 weeks and they paid him £73.10  and then every fortnight.

Then they asked for another fit note, which I sent in for another 8 weeks. and not heard anything since.

krys

 

yes i thought he may be recieving PIP. One question you didn't answer and the answer to this is really important. Is he in college?

hi Denise,

No he's not, he did start a college course but failed, it was to much for him and his head.

 

Ah i see then because he's not in college he'll be placed on assessment rate, which for him is £57.90 per week. If he's on the higher amount then he shouldn't be. I would advice a call to DWP otherwise an overpayment will occur and this will have to be paid back. if and when he's placed in a group then he'll be on the higher amount.

When he first applied for ESA was he in college then? The reason i'm asking about college is if he was in college because of his PIP claim then he'd automatically have a limited capability for work and placed in the WRAG untill he assessed. This of course would have given him a weekly amount of £73.10. So, if he was incollege when ESA was first claimed and as he's not now then you or he needs to ring DWP and tell them he's no longer a student because this will affect his claim.

Either way a call does need to be made to DWP. Good luck.

Hi Denise, He left college in May of this year and and he didn't make a claim untill the end of August of this year.

 

I have no idea whether this has any bearing on anything but he has been claiming pip for 3 years now and I presume that they will have been paying his stamp all the time, would this have any bearing on the amount of money he now receives ?

 

ah it's actually just clicked with me the reason he's recieving that amount of money. It's because he recieves Enhanced daily living PIP and ESA Income related and Enhanced Disability premium, paid on top of his ESA because of the PIP award.

Amounts as follows. ESA assessment rate under 25 ....£57.90 Income related per week

                                  Enhanced Disability premium single person rate £15.90 per week. Total weekly ESA £73.80.

I'm so sorry i got that wrong. Those premiums are extremely complicated. So much going on in my life right now that it completely slipped my mind about Enhanced PIP and that premium. We got there in the end. No need to call anyone as he's claiming what he should be claiming. Good luck with his assessment, if he needs one.

Thanks Denise,  yes it now it makes sense, will let you know the final result and yes you are a busy lady and you give so much of your time to others.....krys 

You're welcome Krys, so sorry again that i made that mistake.

Hi,

Oh well his face 2 face appointment came through yesterday and he is beside himself, wanting to put his hand through the door, awful to see him like that. its fear I suppose.

What will happen next ? 

If they say he is fit to work but our GP says he isn't, what happens with the fit note our doctor provided, I think he is on week 13 now.

He has asperges syndrome and he was diagnosed at 6 years old. I am just concerned for him.. 

thanks for listening.

.

I am not being negative here but who is going to employ him, so they will throw

him on to jsa, with little hope for his future.

Hi,

I must admit that was rather quick to have had the appointment already.

If he's found fit for work, then his ESA will stop even though his GP thinks he's not fit for work it makes no difference, i'm afraid. With ESA you're assessed to be able to do any type of work and it's what you can do not what you can't do. Was evidence sent in to support the claim? I'm hoping that you're going to tell me yes.

If the worst does happen and he's found fir for work then your next step is the Mandatory reconsideration (MR) you will have 1 month from the date of that decision to ask for this. You'll need to put the request in writing pointing out what you disagree with. Being placed in the WRAG he'll need to score at least15 points, for the Support Group it's about at least one of those descriptors applying to him, or regulations 29/35. You can use google to search for all of the descriptors, i can't post links here.

The best thing to do is concentrate on the assessment first, wait for the decision and there's no time scales for these either. It can be anything up to 8 weeks and sometimes longer for ESA. If the decision doesn't go in his favour then come back and i'll advice what to do. BUT do NOT ask him to apply for JSA or Universal Credit until you have my further advice. Good luck and hopefully everything will be just fine.

 

I forgot to ask 1 question. Are you his named appointee with DWP? If you are, during the assessment you can speak on his behalf. If you're not then you'll only be able to prompt him. Make sure when answering those questions that you or he gives as much detail as possible and avoid answering with just a yes or no.

To be honest I don't know whether i sent in proof along with the ESA50 form, I thought that because he was on PIP it would be more or less automatic, but obviously not. what is the point of getting a fit note from your doctor  if it means nothing.

If they find him fit for work will they put him into the wrag group or will he have to go and sign on.

I know that this sounds dramatic but I don't know how I am going to get him there, he will just go into a meltdown.

1 more thing will they continue to pay him his esa until a decision his made.

No, it's not automatic. PIP is totally different to ESA. Incase you didn't send in any evidence i would hand it in to the assessment provider during the assessment.

if they find him fit for work they won't put him into the WRAG, he'll have to claim JSA while waiting for the Mandatory reconsiderstion decision. If your area is a Universal Credit (UC) are then he won't be able to claim JSA, it will have to be (UC) then if he claims this he won't ever be able to go back onto ESA. It will be ESA equivalant of UC with fit note eventually. It's extremely complicated!

A GP that thinks a person is unfit for work has no bearing when a person is found fit for work. yes his ESA money will continue until a decision is made.

You didn't answer my question. Are you your son's appointee? In other words does his PIP money get paid into your bank and do you make calls to DWP on his behalf because he's unable to look after is own money or make calls himself?

Hello Denise,

 I am not his appointee, but if I need to talk to them, I make the call and then I pass the phone to him and  he has to give permission for me to speak on his behalf,  thats what we have done in the past.

His esa and pip are paid direct to him into an account we opened for him when he started to receive PIP

 

HI, Then unfortunately you won't be able to speak on his behalf during the assessment. You'll or the person going with him (if anyone does) will be able to prompt him if he needs it, but he'll have to do all the talking.

I'm assuming he had an assessment for PIP? if so then it's similar to that but the questions will be based on his ability to do any type of work.

When me and his dad (my son) got to the assessment centre, they couldn't find his name, anyway we sat in the waiting room waiting for his name to be called and the receptionist came over to us and told us we could go now and that we didn't need the assessment after all. we were puzzled, a few days later a letter came through the door and he was awarded PIP.

The relief we felt well it was wonderful to say the least.

What is an appointee ?

 

An appointee is a person that manages another persons benefits because they don’t have the mental capacity to be able to do it their self. An appointee will make calls, fill forms in, sign on behalf of the claimant, manage their money, have money paid into their own bank account and then give to the claimant. You have to have a reason to become an appointee and the claimant also has to agree as well. The appointee will have to sign forms and agree that everything benefit related becomes their responsibility. Appointment times are made, any changes must be reported by the appointee. If any benefit overpayments accur at anytime then it’s the appointees responsibility to repay it all back. 

Hi, 

On reading this letter again, It says that if he wants to know more about why he has to go for a assessment or discuss his benefit claim then please ring the dwp office that deals with his claim. and not to phone them unless its about his appointment.

Is it worth ringing them,  what do you think  ?

 

If you didn't send any evidence to support his claim then that will be the reason he needs the assessment. Most people have to attend these assessments, it's rare to have a paper based decision. I had my ESA review last year and had a paper based decision but i was already in the support group and i sent in really good evidence from Occupational Therapists and Consultants to support my claim.

It's your choice if you ring. If he doesn't attend the assessment then his file will be returned to DWP and he'll be found fit for for for failing to attend. I know it's very stressful and fear of the unknown also plays a part. Remember also that on the internet we only ever hear the bad stories, the good stories are out there. It's just if a person has a decision that they're happy with, they don't have any questions to ask so we don't hear their story. All my assessment reports for ESA and PIP have been 100% honest and truthful and the HCPs i had we all nice.

The DWP aren't the one that decide who needs the assessments, it's the assessment providers because when you send the form and every back to DWP they send it to the assessment providers. From here they will look at all the evidence sent and decide if a face 2 face is needed.

Good luck and please come back and let us know the outcome.

Thanks denise.

 

Hi,

I went to the doctors yesterday to ask for a letter to take to the WCA and they said that is not how they do things and that if the DWP request one, they will provide one.

So I have nothing to arm myself with and yet it asks me to bring supporting evidence if i have any. I

do have a letter from the aspergers team confirming his appointment of last week and the person that he saw.

 

Hi,

 No your GP is incorrect. DWP or the assessment providers very rarely contact anyone for any evidence as i told you before. A lot of GPs won't write letters for this kind of thing. That futrue appointment date you have isn't classed as evidence, i'm afraid. What you need is letters from Consultants, Social services, needs assessment reports, a written diary, this kind of thing. The appointment letter isn't going to tell them anything. Remember he'll be assessed on his ability to do any type of work.

Hi...

I don't know whether to cancel the appointment with the dwp/assesses to give myself more time, I didn't expect any problems with the doctor's, I explained the situation but they wasn't interested at all and said that they DWP have to request it from them. I was fuming to say the least. 

The assessment has nothing to do with DWP at this stage. It's the assesment providers you'll need to ring. If you've already canceled the appointment once then you won't be able to cancel this one. If you haven't already canceled once and need to cancel this one then think VERY carefully before agreeing to the next one.

You can ask his GP for a copy of his medical records or any other letters they have from past appointments. Usually when a person has a hospital appointment the Consultant will the write to the GP, so anything like this would be great. There maybe a charge for things like this though.

If you are under 25, the assessment rate is £57.90 pw. if placed in the SG £109.65 & the enanced disabiltity premium of £15.90 a week if you’re in the support group & £29.05 if placed in the WRA group ,if the ESA claim was made before from 3 April 2017, if after that date, there is no additional component payable 

https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/what-youll-get

Thanks, but i already gave all the info. The person's grandson has bow been placed into the support group.