Medical certificate dates for ESA

Karlos13

Hi,

I made a claim for ESA on March 7th. I have had mental health problems, on and off, for the last 3 years. Prior to January, I had been working freelance and doing alright, but my depression returned in quite a severe fashion early in the new year.

I haven't been able to work since the start of february and the money I was using to stay afloat has run out.

When I applied for ESA over the phone, I was asked when I had last worked. End of January was my reply so the bloke asked me to get a medical certificate from 1st Feb. Fine.

Well, my doctor wrote on my medical certificate that he had been seeing me from 7th Jan and would continue to see me indefinitely. He dated the Medical Cert 15th March, which was when I saw him.

I have now received 2 letters, 1 saying that I am entitled to £0.00 and that I need to send more information.???

A day or two later I received the second saying my Medical Certificate which covers 1st Feb - 8th Feb is running out and I need to send a new one.

This is highly confusing. Has the Dr put the wrong date on the med cert? Does he need to put the dates as the entire time of my illness? (i.e 7th Jan-present).

I told the man on the phone that I'd been ill since 7th Jan and understood that he put 1st feb on my application because that was the last time I was paid for work.

Sorry for the length of the post. I'm really confused and have no idea what they want me to do. I'm broke and have no prospects of any income atm.

HOWMUCH

Go back to your and explain to him that you need a Med3 stating that you've not worked since 7th January you will have to explain to him why you've not worked since that date, he should be able to help you with this one.Tell him that the DWP want you to send one in to them.

epitome

Your first sicknote has to specify a period of sickness, the first one cannot be longer than 3 months. You need the first one to run from the day you backdated your claim to. If you backdated the claim to 1st Feb then you could ask the doctor for a 3 month cert from 1st Feb.

HOWEVER, they always give new claimants 7 days free sicknote cover which is why you have a letter saying your sicknote covers 7 days.

Either they got your first sicknote or they didn't. - phone and ask - use jobcentre phones for a free call
If they did get it then the letters may have crossed in the post
If they didn't get it you will need a sicknote from 8th Feb for 3 months

After the 3 months cert has expired, you can ask your doctor for a new one, the length is up to your doctor 1, 3, 6, or12 months or open ended.

However, you will have an assessment around 3 months of claiming and if you pass that assessment you won't need any more sicknotes anyway.