Incapacity to Esa switch over Question

Prinzessilein

Invalidation wrote: »

I dont have any expiry date, since I was diagnosed in 1993. Ive never been called for a medical or anything apart from one in 1994 where I was stated to be 'Disabled for life'

I'm in a similar situation. I have ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) and claim IB, DLA and IS.

I have never had a medical for any of these benefits, and my DLA is an indefinite award (Lower Rate for both components). I do, however, still send in sick/fit notes, which my GP signs for six months at a time.

I have no renewal date for the benefits.

At some time, I know I will have a letter calling me for a medical prior to transfering my IB over to ESA. Everything about this medical scares me. Why can't they trust my GP and my specialist?

pwales_2

my renewal date for ib was oct 2010 havent heard a peep anyone elses late ?

nad1611

lulugirl wrote: »

I thought everone had to attend a medical with the change over from incapacity??

Everyone will be reassessed but not necessariliy all have a Medical.
If they are able to establish that you qualify for the Support Group from the Medical Form which is filled in as Step 1, of your reassessment, they will place you into it. If there's enough evidence in that Form and after contacting your GP if they need further clarification, they may decide that a Medical is unecessary and put you straight into the Support Group.

nad1611

Prinzessilein wrote: »

I'm in a similar situation. I have ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) and claim IB, DLA and IS.

I have never had a medical for any of these benefits, and my DLA is an indefinite award (Lower Rate for both components). I do, however, still send in sick/fit notes, which my GP signs for six months at a time.

I have no renewal date for the benefits.

At some time, I know I will have a letter calling me for a medical prior to transfering my IB over to ESA. Everything about this medical scares me. Why can't they trust my GP and my specialist?

As said above not everyone will attend a Medical if it's unecessary. However everyone will be reassessed.

tommix

Mordred12 wrote: »

We found out on the reward letter that was sent, It said Next Review 2012.

Odd thing is a friend of mine got her reward letter and it never said anything, maybe the new letters don't have a review date on them.

Is your friend a bounty hunter?:D

KxMx

It's worth saying that ESA is a much harsher assessment, with very, very few conditions exempting you from a WCA. So, I would expect the proportion of IB claimants being exempted to be tiny.

Gill10 wrote: »

I'm very new to this site, and was just looking for any info on the IB/ESA switchover myself when I saw this question.

I wondered exactly the same thing myself, about if people would be re-assessed on their review dates or not, so I rang the benefits office that deal with my claim yesterday. The chap I spoke to told me that everyone who had been given a review date had had those dates erased from their files and replaced with a date in 2020 to allow time for all of the re-assessments to take place. He told me that people will be reviewed at random, and this could mean it will be next week, or in 2 years.

I assume what he told me was correct, because like I said I rang the DWP telephone number that came on the letter about my last review for the advice.

It's not really what I wanted to hear, as I don't relish waiting for the postman every day for the forseable future to see if he brings the 'dreaded letter', but I thought you may want to know what I had found out myself yesterday.

That is useful- thankyou. All the literature though on the web and elsewhere states the review is based on the claimants normal review date, who to believe eh?

Tehya

nad1611 wrote: »

Everyone will be reassessed but not necessariliy all have a Medical.
If they are able to establish that you qualify for the Support Group from the Medical Form which is filled in as Step 1, of your reassessment, they will place you into it. If there's enough evidence in that Form and after contacting your GP if they need further clarification, they may decide that a Medical is unecessary and put you straight into the Support Group.

That is correct, my husband is in the support group (has been since May 2009) and has never had a medical he also doesn't have a review date either. They took the information from his ESA 50? form and a report from his GP that was used in support for his DLA claim for which he also didn't need a medical for.

PS: He's just been awarded DLA at the same rates and again without a medical they didn't even contact his GP. The award has also been made indefinite.

alexandrajj

Does anyone know exactly what are the 'exempt from the ESA WCA' categories please?

clairewop

I am on IB after an accident in work, I was a nursery nurse, I also have Cerebral Palsy and a disc out in my spine which I now have to have injections in every 6 months to be able to function. If I pass the medical, (I should do ) do I stay on IB?? on the same money or what??

I don't have repeated medicals and have dla low rate care indefinate

KxMx

alexandrajj wrote: »

Does anyone know exactly what are the 'exempt from the ESA WCA' categories please?

This is all I could find on the web:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]'Exemptions'[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Certain claimants are treated as having limited capability for work, meaning that they do not have to satisfy the test. The list of such claimants is different from that that applies to the personal capability assessment for incapacity benefits, and does not include (for example) people who have severe mental illness or who are entitled to the high rate of the care component of disability living allowance. Neither are people entitled to the 'support component' automatically regarded as having limited capability for work - if it is not accepted on available evidence that they satisfy the test, they may be required to complete a questionnaire and attend a medical.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A claimant will be treated as having limited capability for work,[footnote 7] and therefore be in effect exempt from the assessment of limited capability for work, if the claimant:[/FONT]

• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is terminally ill (i.e., their death can reasonably be expected within six months);[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is receiving, or recovering from, intravenous, intraperitoneal or intrathecal chemotherapy;[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is excluded from work due to having been in contact with a notifiable disease;[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is a hospital in-patient;[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is pregnant and either:[/FONT]
  [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- she is entitled to maternity allowance[/FONT]
  [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- she is in the period between the date 6 weeks before her due date and 2 weeks after the actual birth, and she is not entitled to maternity allowance or SMP for that period; or[/FONT]
  [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- there is a serious risk to her or the unborn child if she does not refrain from work;[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is receiving one of the following treatments:[/FONT]
  [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- haemodialysis for chronic renal failure[/FONT]
  [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- plasmapheresis or radiotherapy[/FONT]
  [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- total parenteral nutrition for gross impairment of eneretic function[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
I imagine some will not be called after the ESA50 form is read but as to how many or few no-one really knows...