incapacity benefit to esa

mandiskem

hi i have had a letter to say they will be sending me a claim form pack for esa as incapacity benefit has stopped my entitlement to incapacity benefit ran out in may in the past 14 years i have been on incapacity benefit for the 9 years from 99 to 2007 i have had every year assessments and the last time i went they said dont have to come back for 5 years which was due up in may . i am in a wheelchair and i read the esa descriptors and points it all looks exactly the same as the last 14 years incap benefit aseessments i have to rely on my partner to do day to day basics for me as i cant wash my own hair dress myself properly cant cook a meal cant hold a cup without having problems i cant even pick up a magazine without my shoulders out of joint i have hypermobility syndrome all my joints constantly dislocates all the time and now to add to my ilness i have had a cataract removed from left eye got 1 in right eye and got nerve damage to my left arm got stuck in an mri scanner in march 2 years ago cos all my joints came out of place and couldnt tolerate it ever slightest noise im terrible even when door knocks im on edge im 37 is it still atos origin that does the assessments. im still a bit wary of the forms

nannytone_2

gataract surgery is a simple 10 minute operation, that gives a 100% immediate improvement, so while its worth mentioning, it qont have any impact at all on the assesment.

the ESA assessment is nothing like an icapacity assessment, but if you have such serious problems with medical evidence to back them up i cant see that you should have too many problems.

good luck

mandiskem

its the same points and descriptor points as the incap benefit i recognise it from incap benefit when i had the last medical assessment

nannytone_2

think you should have a look at the posts from people that have already faced the esa medical after being on incapacity benefit and found 'fit

i dont know why youre wary if you 'know' that you meet the criteriafor work' after passing incapacity benefit medicals with no problem.

Torry_Quine

Are you saying that you stopped getting IB in May rather than this being a switch from IB to ESA? What happened in May? If this is a new claim then I think it will need to be income based as by breaking the claim you can't get contribution based.

mandiskem

just things ppl have told me about it n read on here and i passed 2 dla medicals too a woman i know whos been on incap for years never had a medical for incap benefit shes scared to death of hers. the info what i read is from one of the posts on here. will find out when it happens http://pseudo-living.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/esa-descriptors-and-points.html

mandiskem

no torry im still getting my ib i rung them up b4 may to ask if they was sending out the renewal form cos my 5 year award was due to end in may their answer was no you will get called when its ur turn to be re assessed. i spoke to them today on the fone cos id need a place to get into for wheelchair access i told the woman that i have had 9 assessments 1 every year since 99 until last 1 was 5 years she said oh well depending on what i put in my forms it depends on wether i need an assessment and it depends on whats in my file they said they havent got it there yet until dwp send it them

Torry_Quine

mandiskem wrote: »

no torry im still getting my ib i rung them up b4 may to ask if they was sending out the renewal form cos my 5 year award was due to end in may their answer was no you will get called when its ur turn to be re assessed. i spoke to them today on the fone cos id need a place to get into for wheelchair access i told the woman that i have had 9 assessments 1 every year since 99 until last 1 was 5 years she said oh well depending on what i put in my forms it depends on wether i need an assessment

Then your IB hasn't run out and continues until you are assessed for ESA.

nannytone_2

no one is suggesting that you wont pass the medical.

but esa criteria is VERY different to incapacity benefit

Muttleythefrog

So it looks like you ar approaching transfer to ESA. You should receive an ESA50 form to complete soon.. that's from ATOS who will then decide if a face to face medical is necessary. Seems you've already looked at the descriptors... make sure you focus on them... and understand how they are interpreted (I'll give link to the handbook below) which may differ from similar descriptors of IB.

When you do complete and return ESA50 try to send supporting medical evidence. Most people are successfully tranferred from IB to ESA... but don't take anything for granted... keep focussed if you can. After the medical or after ATOS have dealt with your referral then ask the DWP for a copy of the ESA85 ATOS medical report or ESA85A report (if no medical conducted) and from that it should be easy to deduce what decision the DWP is likely to ultimately take.

rogerblack

mandiskem wrote: »

i am in a wheelchair and i read the esa descriptors and points it all looks exactly the same as the last 14 years incap benefit aseessments i have to rely on my partner to do day to day basics for me as i cant wash my own hair dress myself properly cant cook a meal cant hold a cup without having problems i cant even pick up a magazine without my shoulders out of joint i have hypermobility syndrome all my joints constantly dislocates all the time and now to add to my ilness i have had a cataract removed from left eye got 1 in right eye and got nerve damage to my left arm got stuck in an mri scanner in march 2 years ago cos all my joints came out of place and couldnt tolerate it

In principle, you would seem likely to get into the support group of ESA, without any medical, if you can supply enough evidence.
As others have said, there are _considerable_ differences between ESA and IB descriptors.
The ESA ones that you will need to match are here:
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/esa/lcwra

If you have significant arm problems, and cannot mobilise 50m in the chair, that would alone qualify you, for example.
Ideally you'd be able to provide details of your disabilities from professionals who've been involved in your care.
Perhaps a copy of relevant parts of your medical record.

This would likely avoid the need for a medical.