ESA & disability etc

[Mrs_Jeeps]

Thanks for taking over my entire post. I've received no help whatsoever other than petty squabbling.

 

So can anyone help me? Cheers

[InPain24/7]

Hi Mrs Jeeps

Am Really sorry your post got hijacked i hope the advice i gave u did help but i'm still none the wiser on the dla credit thing hopefully there will definately be someone coming soon who can help you. x

[loan_ranger]

Yikes! Sorry Mrs J for getting side-tracked.

 

You can find out quite a bit from the Disability Alliance Factsheet list (F31-33). BTW you get the £30 premium (or £25 for the WRAG) backdated to day 192.

 

Kindest regards,

Paul.

[ErikaPNP]

Hi Mrs Jeeps. The answer to your first question is that you need to satisfy the three conditions as follows:

 

1. You need to usually work at least 16 hours a week

 

2. You have a disability that puts you at a disadvantage in

getting a job.

 

3. You have evidence that you are receiving, or have recently

received, a qualifying sickness or disability-related benefit.

 

Obviously nothing is as straightforward as that. The full inns and outs, including waiting periods for ESA as your qualifying benefit are contained in this factsheet here.

 

The answer to your second question is that whether you qualify for the work related activity group or the support group, the extra sum of the award will be backdated to the 13th week.

 

In regard to the other posting, which have hijacked poor Mrs Jeep's thread:

 

ESA is not for care needs - it is a personal allowance.

 

A condition of receiving ESA is that the claimant has limited capacity to work - the money awarded is a personal allowance and to spend as they wish. Further, not all claims to ESA are based on income. If a person has paid in sufficient National Insurance Contributions they will qualify for contributory based ESA and this is not affected by most other income/savings that the claimant has; they are still in most case entitled to their full whack of ESA where a person receiving income related ESA would not be. They cannot cut your benefit because you are spending it on your children. You can do whatever you like with it. The law does not prescribe for how the money is to be spent.

 

A condition of receiving JSA is that the claimant must be available for, and actively seeking work. The money they get does not have to be spent looking for a job. Again, it's a personal allowance to spend as they wish.

 

Most benefits (and certainly ESA) are paid in arrears. This means that when a benefit claimant dies, they are usually due some arrears. These arrears are payable to the estate of the deceased. The deceased's next of kin completes a notification of death form (free from the registrars) and sends it to their nearest DWP office. The benefit arrears are paid to the deceased's next of kin. Any benefit money that has already been paid out prior to death which is not an overpayment cannot be claimed back and again, the next of kin/exec is free to take that money because it was due to the deceased for the relevant period - it forms their estate.

 

So yes, a benefit claimant is free to leave their legacy to their children, whether or not that legacy consists of benefit payments.

[Mrs_Jeeps]

Thanks guys. You've been most helpful once you all stop scrapping.

[honeybee13]

Mrs Jeeps, I'm so sorry. I wanted to stop the scrapping, but I did forget whose thread it was in the hiatus. Please forgive me and I hope you have your answers.

 

HB x

[Mrs_Jeeps]

Well everyone!

 

I've been put into the work related activity group so I passed!

 

Was so pleased and one less thing to worry about. The worrying has made my condition horrendous of late.

 

So i guess another success story... X

[honeybee13]

Great news, well done. Worry is a dreadful thing and gets completely out of proportion. Now make a nice cup of tea or whatever you like and settle down for the evening.....in front of the football?

 

HB x

[InPain24/7]

Well Done Mrs Jeeps And Definately Like U Said Another Success Story Which Is The Way That It Should Be x

[ANDYANDFLO]

Well everyone!

 

I've been put into the work related activity group so I passed!

 

Was so pleased and one less thing to worry about. The worrying has made my condition horrendous of late.

 

So i guess another success story... X

 

Congrats and well done!!! One quick question and it might appear to be a daft one - when you completed the ESA50 (the medical questionaire which you returned to ATOS) how much info did you put on it (was it comprehensive?) - did you have help in filling the form out (CAB, Welfare Office etc?) and did you enclose medical evidence to prove your illness?

 

I have a good reason for asking this as it has been told to me this week (off the record) by a neighbour who is a DM at DWP, that he and his staff always treat the ATOS medical reports with distrust. He has in no uncertain terms said that if the ESA50 is not filled out comprehensively (ideally with the help of CAB etc) and that there is no evidence from the claimant (even a letter of support from the GP would suffice) attached to it, then his hands are tied and he must accept the ATOS report as the primary evidence!

A lot more was discussed as you can imagine, but he kept on stating that if the claimant does not help him/herself in the first place what more can he do.

AND that is the main reason why appeals are in the main sucessfull at the Tribunal stage. It is only then that the claimant gets off his/her backside and looks for help from some professional organisation and produces the evidence.

 

Bottom line he states that it is not the system of the DWP that is failing - they know and are acutely aware of the way ATOS complete the assessments, it is because the claimants fail to put forward a compelling enough argument to the DWP in order that the DM can give the right result first time round. "If the claimant did put as much effort as they do at the Tribunal stage to produce the contradictory evidence at the ESA50 stage, there would be 50% more cases being decided by the DM in favour of the claimant"

[loan_ranger]

@ ANDYANDFLO, well said, although my last review was for I.B., I found that providing them more detail and evidence made all the difference and consequently for the first time I wasn't even required to have the Atosh medical. I added 3 extra pages of my own answering each of the mental health descriptors one by one.

 

If only more people going on to ESA would read the forums before they do their ESA50s.

 

Kindest regards,

Paul.

[ANDYANDFLO]

Thanks Paul, I will second that statement!!

 

I blame no one really other than myself for the mess that I have caused to my ESA claim.

But, having said that, there must be 1000's of people out there that don't know about the forums and conequently have no input from other claimants.

Maybe then my friendly neighbour is right and that we who fail at the first hurdle, appear, to the DWP, that our claims are not that important to us.

 

Quite an expensive, time consuming and stressful lesson!!!

[RaeUK]

Thankyou Andyandflo, that is a very very worthwhile piece of advice. Mind you, I'll see what happens as I've just submitted my latest ESA50 with GP letter, medical results etc enclosed...

If you're a member of my Facebook page please feel free to add this...

Best wishes

Rae

[Mrs_Jeeps]

Thankyou Andyandflo, that is a very very worthwhile piece of advice. Mind you, I'll see what happens as I've just submitted my latest ESA50 with GP letter, medical results etc enclosed...

If you're a member of my Facebook page please feel free to add this...

Best wishes

Rae

 

I'm an ex- CAB worker as it goes Hun and I've had a lot of training in DLA/the old IB50 forms so I applied what I knew to the ESA form.

 

I filled it in very comprehensivley stating what would happen if I tried to do certain things or why I couldn't do certain things. Again using my worst day. It came easy to me as I was just getting over a 4 day stint in bed through my illness.

 

No further submissions attached for my claim although I took all medication I had ever been given at the appointment.

 

Good luck xxx