Esa award

Oh rite thanks denise i always thought that when your award was due to finish you had to have another assesment has it all changed now

No it hasn't changed it's still the same. Another assessment would depend on what evidence you send in at the time to support your claim. Paper based decisions are possible. Mine was paper based last year. You still have at least another year yet, relax

Thank you i dont understand this esa thing some people on here are saying the esa has changed that your in support group you dont have to be reassesed others are not being contacted and others are sent for sooner.

They did anounce last year that some people with certain life long conditions won't have to be reassessed, they just haven't anounced the criteria for this yet. Who will and won't need to be reassessed remains to be seen. Until then reassessments will continue as normal.

Thank you and its good to see you didnt leave the site x

You're welcome and thank you also xx

Hi dawn.

Couldn't help but read your post. But I'm a bit perplexed. How do you know how long your claim for support group in ESA is? I am in this group and no mention of the length of time was mentioned. It's always been my understanding support group in ESA doesn't have a time frame. Only people in pip(different benefit entirely) are told how long they'll have before re-claiming. I received the letter after I attended the interview telling me I'd passed their interview and medical (I use the term lightly) telling me I'd passed and no date was mentioned. I rang them and they told me this was normal and no reclaiming date would be given me. Now I'm baffled. By the way it was 1st time for me last year and I'm still in the dark. Are people given a date or no? Think it might be time give them another ring. All the best anyway, good luck with what you after, Ian.

Hi Ian,

You were informed the wrong advice here. The max award length for ESA is 3 years. There should be an end date to your award. At the end of that date, or somewhere near that date you'll be sent another ESA50 form to fill in and return. Then you start the same process over again. My first Support Group was 3 years, my 2nd is just 1 year...

Blimey.

Now I'm really glad you didn't pack the forum in. Luckily I kept letter and I was right. Nowhere is there an end date. Just that I'd been successful. Thought it odd at time so rang them like I said. But I've also read posts on forum saying same as dawn. It's only now plucked up courage to ask, because didn't want look daft. Cheers for that dawn and Denise. Take care.ian.

The dwp told me over the phone i was in support group from 2017 till 2018 i have a really bad crumbling spine and severe siatica xx

Hey denise i have severe crumbling spine and siatica had it for 2 yrs. My condition has remained the same for 5 yrs doctor told me i could never work again so how come im not in support group indefinately

Hello Dawn,

No one is put in the Support Group indefinitely, i'm sure there's a lot of people who wish they were. I have many different conditions and my health will never improve. Dr's can't do anything else for me except monthly medications to help ease my symptoms BUT i'm not in the Support Group indefinitely either. As i said earlier max amount of time at the moment that someone can be in the Support Group between assessments is 3 years.

Hi Ian, I've been thinking about this and the very first time i had an ESA assessment, like you i was put into the Support Group. I didn't know the end date either. Never bothered ringing them to find out. I knew the max amount of time was 3 years so thought they'd contact me when my time was up..3 years later..bang through my letter box was that dreaded ESA50 form. Took it to CAB along with my evidence, they helped me fill it in. Heard nothing then approx 2 months later i had a very odd letter saying my ESA payments, how much they were and when it was until. I rang asking what this meant and was told i'd been kept in the Support Group for another 1 year. No doubt they'll contact me when this is up and i'll have to go through the same stressfull process all over again...yay.. -coughs- NOT/

Thanks also for the kind words, as always happy to help anyone i can