Hi people

Forgive me if i have posted this in the wrong place i am new to this site.

i have a esa question that i need help with i have put all the info below i hope it makes sense.

basically i went for an atos medical and failed i got 0 points the nurse lied on most of the report sent to the decision maker anyway i asked for a reconsideration but the decision maker who all so happens to be a doctor sided with her original decision not to adward me it saying the nurse never lied etc etc i appealed to the independant tribunal and won i got 15 points i was placed into the WRAG the judge stated i was not to be reassessed within 18 months.

So after waiting 5 weeks they phoned me and said they were putting £440.96 into my account for backdated arrears which was fine etc i was told my normal fortnightly payments would start but this would take 1 week for them to open my esa claim again but after waiting i phoned them up again only to be told that i had no esa claim running and that i would need to make a new claim for esa again meaning i would have to go all this hassle again so after phoning the new claims i explained to the advisor that i was told to call this number and make an new claim however she told me that this is not the case she told me to phone the BDC and ask them to reopen my existing esa claim and ask them to pay what iam due so i did this only to be told that i may need to fill in another medical form so they can see if my illnesses are the same or not after he said this he said someone will phone my on monday i asked when will my payments start again he said monday.

i am worried in case i need to go through all this hassle again i dont have the fight left in me anymore will i get my fortnightly payments i dont know how this has happened as its only been 6 weeks in total since i won the tribunal and even at that the judge said i was not to be reassessed for 18 months so i dont understand.

please if anyone can help then i would be grateful for any advice

i hope i have made sense

thanks

The Judge can't decide when you should be reassessed, all the Tribunal can do is 'recommend' a length of time before you are reassessed and the DWP can take that recommendation or not. Many people find they are reassessed straight after a tribunal.

Is your claim contribution based or income related? What date did you start your claim from?

i agree with the previous post the tribunal can only give a time frame of when they think you should be reassessed again not when you will be my sister won her tribunal and was reassessed 3 months later again for her ESA

if you getting contribution-based ESA and its been over a year from the date of your original claim to the date you won your tribunal then it will be the 365 day rule which means you will have to claim again. however if its income based ESA your getting id call them up again and get clarification on this but from what you have said it would think it would be contribution-based ESA that you was getting and not income based ESA

Introduction

On 1 May 2012 the Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduced two changes to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). They are:

• to limit the period for which people in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) can receive contribution-based ESA to 365 days; and
  
• to prevent any new claims for ESA on the grounds of youth (ESA (Y)).
  

The ESA 104 week linking rule has also been abolished by separate regulations. The legislation to support these changes applies retrospectively so that claimants in the work related activity group who have already received 365 days of contribution based ESA saw their entitlement end on 30 April 2012.

What are the changes?

The Welfare Reform Act limits the amount of time people who are not in the Support Group can claim contribution-based ESA to a period not exceeding 365 days without re-qualifying. Time spent in the Assessment phase will count towards the 365 day time limit unless it is immediately followed by entitlement to the support component. People not in the Support Group who have already received contribution-based ESA for 365 days or more will have their entitlement stopped as soon as the change takes effect. This means that the last day benefit will be paid for is 30 April 2012.

The Act has also removed the special contribution conditions that allow people aged between 16 and 20 (or under 25 if in education or training at least three months immediately before turning 20) to receive contribution-based ESA without paying National Insurance contributions, this was called ESA 'Youth'. This means that all new claims to contribution-based ESA will need to meet the standard contribution conditions.

People not in the Support Group who are currently claiming contribution-based ESA and qualified under 'Youth' provisions will have their contribution-based ESA time limited to 365 days. People in the Support Group will continue to receive contribution-based ESA providing they continue to meet the qualifying criteria.

Young people will still be able to claim income-related ESA if they are entitled to do so.

All new claimants who are placed in the Work Related Activity Group will be informed that their contribution-based ESA is time limited to 365 days.

People in the Support Group and those solely claiming income-related ESA are unaffected.

hope this helps

Contribution ESA stops after 365 days, but then you can be assessed to see if you're eligible for Income based ESA. If you don't have a partner in work or any other income you could be eligible but would need to fill in an ESA3 form, which I think mainly asks a lot of questions about household income.

They're supposed to send people notice 6 to 8 weeks in advance that their ESA is due to run out due to the 365 day ruling and advise them about the possibility of claiming the Income based version. But they don't always do this. Wasn't sure reading your post if this would maybe apply to you, so have mentioned just in case.