Esa

RhiRhiMajic

OK, my situation is as follows.

My dad recently passed away. I had a reaction to his death which resulted in me having severe panic attacks, palpatations etc. Sounds silly but I was pretty unwell. I've been off sick since November. However, I don't work- I was on a full time teacher training course which doesn't allow for even part time work, so I finished my job just before I started the course in September. Because of the length of time I have had off (the doctor has just signed me off for another 6 months) I have had to defer my place on the course until September, meaning I must give back my student grant/loan, which was my only source of income.

The only thing I can do is try to claim ESA. I'm still waiting to hear back whether I can receive it or not.

I have had a bit of travelling booked for this coming summer for about 2 years. It's the chance of a lifetime, where I will travel across the States. I think I will be feeling better by the summer to be able to go, but I'm really unsure what to do about my ESA claim, if it is successful.

I leave on 9th July. My sick paper end 16th July. As I'm going away for a month I intend to stop claiming ESA then, as I can't really say I'm ill if I'm in the USA! However, that leaves a week between me leaving for the USA and my next sick paper coming to an end. Will I be done for benefit fraud, as my sick paper covers those 7 days I will still receive ESA for them, even though I will be on holiday. I'm really panicking about this as I've never claimed benefits before, so I'm not sure of the rules.

rogerblack

You can claim ESA while abroad for short periods - four weeks without a problem. (you do need to let them know)
However, unless you are claiming DLA, you cannot claim ESA while on a full-time course.
You need to abandon the course.
Suspending your studies is not enough.

RhiRhiMajic

Thanks for the reply. Due to the nature of the course I've had to withdraw from it completely, and I have had to apply for mitigating circumstances to allow me to start the course from scratch in September, so I think that should be ok?

Thanks for the advice about letting them know. They're not very...friendly...over the phone so I wasn't sure if they'd be funny about the situation.

Muttleythefrog

So you've put in an initial application for ESA and supplied a sicknote covering to 16/07/2012. First thing to note is that you'll be put in the assessment phase (provided you meet the basic criteria) and that is supposed to last 13 weeks (although in reality it can vary)... at around the end of which you'd be assessed (the Work Capability Assessment) for the main phase of the benefit and found not to qualify (commonly referred to as 'found fit for work') or placed into one of two main phase groups (WRAG or Support Gp). Now I'm assuming you've supplied a 6 month sick note... and intend to go away/cancel claim after around 6 months. It is almost certain (though not guaranteed) that by that time you will have been assessed for main phase entitlement. Fraud is certainly not on the agenda... the sicknote is genuine and I assume you're genuinely claiming... and if placed into the main phase will have been found to be entitled by due process. At any time you'll be able to cancel your claim.

There is another area therefore to look at and that is entitlement while abroad.. and I have to admit I know nowt about that..lol.. but someone hopefully will be along to point to the rules regarding claiming ESA and leaving the country.

RhiRhiMajic

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

So you've put in an initial application for ESA and supplied a sicknote covering to 16/07/2012. First thing to note is that you'll be put in the assessment phase (provided you meet the basic criteria) and that is supposed to last 13 weeks (although in reality it can vary)... at around the end of which you'd be assessed (the Work Capability Assessment) for the main phase of the benefit and found not to qualify (commonly referred to as 'found fit for work') or placed into one of two main phase groups (WRAG or Support Gp). Now I'm assuming you've supplied a 6 month sick note... and intend to go away/cancel claim after around 6 months. It is almost certain (though not guaranteed) that by that time you will have been assessed for main phase entitlement. Fraud is certainly not on the agenda... the sicknote is genuine and I assume you're genuinely claiming... and if placed into the main phase will have been found to be entitled by due process. At any time you'll be able to cancel your claim.

There is another area therefore to look at and that is entitlement while abroad.. and I have to admit I know nowt about that..lol.. but someone hopefully will be along to point to the rules regarding claiming ESA and leaving the country.

Thanks for the explanation, that's fab. Yes the sicknotes and the claim are genuine, I was just worried that they would find out I was away for the last week of my sicknote and say something like "if you can go on holiday then you can go to work!"

Quick question- the 13 week assessment phase, is that 13 weeks from the date of my first sick note (16th Nov) or 13 weeks from the date that my claim is accepted (next week sometime I believe)?

Oldernotwiser

What are you doing about health insurance whilst travelling around the US, particularly if you start having panic attacks again? You'll find it very difficult to get cover for pre existing conditions, particularly when they're related to mental illness.

RhiRhiMajic

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

What are you doing about health insurance whilst travelling around the US, particularly if you start having panic attacks again? You'll find it very difficult to get cover for pre existing conditions, particularly when they're related to mental illness.

I took out a regular travel health insurance before this mess started. You're right in that it doesn't cover me for existing medical conditions. However I have a general illness/life insurance policy that does cover existing conditions, including abroad. Not sure a policy like this could still be had, thank God for my parents taking all this stuff out years ago!

Muttleythefrog

RhiRhiMajic wrote: »

Thanks for the explanation, that's fab. Yes the sicknotes and the claim are genuine, I was just worried that they would find out I was away for the last week of my sicknote and say something like "if you can go on holiday then you can go to work!"

Quick question- the 13 week assessment phase, is that 13 weeks from the date of my first sick note (16th Nov) or 13 weeks from the date that my claim is accepted (next week sometime I believe)?

Should be 13 weeks from date your claim started... so if you're heading towards the end of that period then perhaps quite soon you'll receive (in all probability) an ESA50 form to complete which is usually the start of evidence gathering for the Work Capability Assessment. So any concerns re sicknote overlapping with holiday is going to be irrelevant anyway as sicknote is unlikely to be applicable at that date for ESA (unless you end up appealing a decision in the WCA that you're fit for work).

RhiRhiMajic

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

Should be 13 weeks from date your claim started... so if you're heading towards the end of that period then perhaps quite soon you'll receive (in all probability) an ESA50 form to complete which is usually the start of evidence gathering for the Work Capability Assessment. So any concerns re sicknote overlapping with holiday is going to be irrelevant anyway as sicknote is unlikely to be applicable at that date for ESA (unless you end up appealing a decision in the WCA that you're fit for work).

Great, that makes much more sense now! Thank you

rotoguys

RhiRhiMajic wrote: »

OK, my situation is as follows.

My dad recently passed away. I had a reaction to his death which resulted in me having severe panic attacks, palpatations etc. Sounds silly but I was pretty unwell. I've been off sick since November. However, I don't work- I was on a full time teacher training course which doesn't allow for even part time work, so I finished my job just before I started the course in September. Because of the length of time I have had off (the doctor has just signed me off for another 6 months) I have had to defer my place on the course until September, meaning I must give back my student grant/loan, which was my only source of income.

The only thing I can do is try to claim ESA. I'm still waiting to hear back whether I can receive it or not.

I have had a bit of travelling booked for this coming summer for about 2 years. It's the chance of a lifetime, where I will travel across the States. I think I will be feeling better by the summer to be able to go, but I'm really unsure what to do about my ESA claim, if it is successful.

I leave on 9th July. My sick paper end 16th July. As I'm going away for a month I intend to stop claiming ESA then, as I can't really say I'm ill if I'm in the USA! However, that leaves a week between me leaving for the USA and my next sick paper coming to an end. Will I be done for benefit fraud, as my sick paper covers those 7 days I will still receive ESA for them, even though I will be on holiday. I'm really panicking about this as I've never claimed benefits before, so I'm not sure of the rules.

Totally off the wall, but how are you managing to find quality comprehensive insurance if you have all of this currently on the go?

Serious question as my wife and I went to Cyprus for a week, she was cleared to go by the GP, but fell ill after the 2nd day. We had travel insurance but they said it was an existing condition (which it wasn't and proved it to be after we got home).

The 1 week holiday turned out to be just over 4 weeks with all of the other costs - hotel food etc air tickets to get us home + a £10,000 hospital bill!!! They wouldn't let us leave the island until it was paid in full.

It ended up with our daughter bringing that amount in cash out of the UK for us. We were stuck in Cyprus and couldn't access our savings accounts.

It was all in the local papers after we got home and we had one hell of a job trying to get the money back from Fortis even with medical confirmation from our GP and my wife's consultant. Seems they much preferred the opinion of the 'doctor' in the hospital over there.

RhiRhiMajic

rotoguys wrote: »

Totally off the wall, but how are you managing to find quality comprehensive insurance if you have all of this currently on the go?

Serious question as my wife and I went to Cyprus for a week, she was cleared to go by the GP, but fell ill after the 2nd day. We had travel insurance but they said it was an existing condition (which it wasn't and proved it to be after we got home).

The 1 week holiday turned out to be just over 4 weeks with all of the other costs - hotel food etc air tickets to get us home + a £10,000 hospital bill!!! They wouldn't let us leave the island until it was paid in full.

It ended up with our daughter bringing that amount in cash out of the UK for us. We were stuck in Cyprus and couldn't access our savings accounts.

Ouch, that doesn't sound like much fun at all, sorry to hear that

Please see post #7 where I answered this question. My parents took comprehensive at home and travel illness/life insurance for everyone in the household years ago, which does cover me for pre-existing conditions as long as they are declared before I leave (plan to declare this closer to the time.) Like I said I'm not sure you'd still be able to get a plan like that anymore, off the top of my head I think the plan is with Aviva now but it was taken out well before the company got taken over by Aviva. I also took out regular travel insurance before I became ill which will cover me if my clumsy nature takes over and I break any bones or lose my luggage...