IS to ESA with exceptional circumstances illness?

nickp8

I am on Income Support and DLA. I have chronic renal failure and have been on dialysis 16 years. I cant have a transplant.

I got a letter last December saying I am being transferred to ESA and an ESA50 form which I filled in and returned.

I did some reading at the time online and was under the impression that as haemodialysis is one of the exceptional l circumstances (see bottom of this post) one is considered as having limited capability to work and should go directly into the support group? Is this the correct?

I received a phone call the other day asking me to a medical assessment. What does this mean? Have they ignored the fact my medical condition / treatment is listed under the exceptional circumstances?

I am finding it difficult to understand how the new ESA works.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Treated as having limited capability for work



No-one is exempt from the medical assessment for ESA. All claimants have to undergo at least one element of it. But there are a few circumstances where a person can be treated as having limited capability for work. They are where the person is :

• terminally ill
• receiving chemotherapy (unless it is via oral medication)
• under notice as a carrier of, or had contact with, an infectious disease
• pregnant and there would be a serious risk to health of the claimant or her baby if she did not refrain from work
• pregnant, entitled to Maternity Allowance and within the Maternity Allowance period
• pregnant or have recently given birth, not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, from 6 weeks before the birth to 2 weeks after baby is born
• a hospital inpatient
• receiving treatment by way of haemodialysis, plasmapheresis, radiotherapy or total parenteral nutrition, in any week when the person receives treatment or has a day of recovery from treatment. In the first week of any such treatment, claimant is only treated as having limited capability for work if they have:
  • 2 days of treatment; or
  • 2 days of recovery; or
  • 1 day of treatment and one day of recovery
  • The days do not have to be consecutive

rogerblack

No, it's not correct.
When you're on Haemodialysis, you are treated as having 'limited capacity for work' - this means you automatically go into the work-related group.
In order for you to qualify for the support group, you need to meet one (or more) of the criteria outlined at page 13 of http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-06-11.pdf

For those in the work-related group, you may be expected to do 'work focussed interviews' - these are maybe 15 minutes long, and any training or similar that may benefit you is discussed.
You do not have to:
Do work.
Apply for work.
Undergo medical treatment.

However, the welfare reform bill contains provisions that may compel claimants for whom it's 'reasonable' to do work placements.

Muttleythefrog

Yeah as above.... limited capability for work = WRAG
.... limited capability for (work and) work related activity = Support group.

nickp8

The below is from the 'A guide to Employment and Support Allowance – The Work Capability Assessment ESA214 June 2011' and the relevant paragraph that applies to me.

Reading this they should have identified my condition as being one of the special circumstances.

Special circumstances

There are circumstances in which a claimant will be treated as having limited capability for work. Where possible, Jobcentre Plus will try to identify such claimants without the need for a medical assessment. Claimants would be treated as having limited capability for work in the following instances:

• receiving regular weekly treatment by way of haemodialysis for chronic renal failure; treatment by way of plasmapheresis or by way of radiotherapy; or regular weekly treatment by way of total parenteral nutrition for gross impairment of enteric function, is to be treated as having limited capability for work during any week in which that claimant is engaged in that treatment or has a day of recovery from that treatment

rogerblack

nickp8 wrote: »

The below is from the 'A guide to Employment and Support Allowance – The Work Capability Assessment ESA214 June 2011' and the relevant paragraph that applies to me.

Reading this they should have identified my condition as being one of the special circumstances.

You may be treated as having limited capacity for work, and can choose to not attend the medical (as I understand it, in principle.

However, limited capacity for work entitles you to the work-related group, _NOT_ the support group.
In order to be in the support group, you need "limited capacity for work related activity".
The criteria which entitle you to this are much narrower, as outlined on the link I posted above, with special circumstances of their own, from 'has certain classes of transmissible disease' on.
In practice, not attending the medical - if you are called to one - risks your benefit being suspended, and you needing to appeal.

See the above link as to the support group criteria, and see if you can find one that applies to you. Or a reason, supported by evidence that it would endanger your health to attend the occasional interviews.

nickp8

I know there are many negative posts about JCP but they have sorted this out for me. They dont know how it was missed and I shouldnt have been called for a medical, but all sorted now.

I would say to anyone to whom the Special Circumstances do apply if they miss it and contact you to attend a medical assessment dont contact ATOS, they are useless. Contact the main JCP office in Glasgow and speak to someone there. They will contact ATOS and sort it out for you.

nickp8

Got a letter the other day advising me I have been placed in the Support Group which is a huge weight off my mind.

anguk

nickp8 wrote: »

Got a letter the other day advising me I have been placed in the Support Group which is a huge weight off my mind.

I'm so pleased it's worked out for you and I bet it is a huge weight off your mind. I'm dreading my OH's transfer from IB to ESA after reading all the posts on this forum, I'm expecting it to be a nightmare!

16 years on dialysis is a long time, my OH is sick of it after 4 years, (he's suspended on the transplant list at the moment because of health problems). Dialysis seems to completely take over your life, he's so tired afterwards (he's in bed now because he dialysed this morning) and on his days off from dialysis he always seems to have hospital and doctors appointments!