ATOS ESA50 form and letter

epitome

avogadro wrote: »

I'd like to ask a question on behalf of a friend. A few months ago she was converted from Incapacity Benefit to ESA, and it was decided that she is in the Support Group, as opposed to the Work Group.


Today she received a letter from ATOS/Medical Services. The letter states that "if you receive Incapacity Benefit... your current award of benefit will be converted to ESA only if certain conditions are satisfied", and with the letter came a Limited Capability for Work questionnaire (ESA50 01/13)

* Firstly, if she has already been converted to ESA and is in the support group, is it still necessary for her to fill out this form that ATOS have sent? What would be the purpose of the questionnaire in that case?

* If she does need to fill it in, what happens next?
Do Atos look at the information and pass it on to the DWP? It seems a bit strange, given that the DWP already have all this information already?


She has had bad experiences of ATOS in the past (they stopped her benefits and it had to go to a tribunal months later) and this letter has sent her into a flurry of anxiety and stress, so I said I would ask on here.

It is for her ESA reassessment, the letter accompanying it is an error that DWP has that cannot be fixed....it should be an ESA letter.

She has to complete the form and return (recorded delivery) within the deadline otherwise her claim will be closed.

epitome

TOBRUK wrote: »

Hi avogadro, Usually on the decision letter (when she was placed in support group a few months ago) there is a time frame written in the decision letter: the amount of months or up to 3 years your friend will be on support group before she is assessed again, it will be phrased "you have been placed in the Support group for 6 months".

None of the decision letters will say what the period will be, you have to phone up to find that out.

benefitbaby wrote: »

failure to complete and return an ESA50 within by the deadline means the DWP have to determine that your friend no longer has a limited capability for work and ESA will not be payable.

If this happens then your friend would potentially have limited cash until a further ESA50 was sent and completed.

The claim will be closed, completing another ESA50 afterwards does not guarantee the claim will be re-opened, the claimant could be left without ESA for upto 6 months in the case of an Income Related claim. Or in the event of a contributions claim no ESA C for the rest of their life.

avogadro wrote: »

Thankyou for your replies. She filled out a form and sent it to Medical Services in October last year, when her claim was about to be transferred over from IB to ESA, but she can't remember if it was an ESA50 form.

It was, and now she is being re-assessed - she needs to fill it in again.

I think it might be worth her asking the DWP or possibly ATOS. Would they send her another form to fill out if they have received one a few months ago?

Yes they would, and they have.

avogadro wrote: »

She got a reminder from ATOS yesterday about filling in the form. The DWP seemed to think it was probably a re-assessment. They said sometimes people are re-assessed after three months, sometimes a year, sometimes three years.

Why didn't she fill it out already and return it? Doesn't she realise she is risking her claim being closed? Send it back now recorded delivery.

Apparently if it goes to appeal, the appeal can take months, and by the time it's done they're sending out the next lot of forms to re-assess the claimant!

It's nothing to do with the appeal, it is purely down to how long she is given before re-assessment anything from 3 months to 3 years, (but I have seen 1 month after an appeal win)

TOBRUK

epitome wrote: »

None of the decision letters will say what the period will be, you have to phone up to find that out.

epitome, what I said regarding what the period will be i.e.

"you have been placed in the Support group for 6 months".

This is what was on my decision letter and that is the only reason I wrote it. It may not be stated on every decision letter but it was stated in the decision letter I received.

Today I received an ESA50 questionnaire (again!) to fill in and this is 6 months since I received their decision letter placing me in the support group.

It is almost a year since I was originally placed on ESA WRAG (transferred from IB) and after appealing this decision which was overturned and I was placed in support group just 6 months ago and on the decision letter it stated:

you have been placed in the Support group for 6 months.

I am only stating what is written on the decision letter that I have received personally.

epitome

Fair enough, I've never seen it mentioned before, must be that some do some don't.

TOBRUK

Hi epitome, I have seen many posts on here asking how long is their ESA award for, and how long before they have to fill in a re-assessment again. I can only say what I have received personally and I'm sure that there are many who don't have the length of their award written on their letters.

epitome

Hi, I meant I've never seen it mentioned on an ESA decision letter.

TOBRUK

Hi, yes I understand what you meant and yes it is stated on my ESA decision letter.:)

System

epitome wrote: »

Why didn't she fill it out already and return it? Doesn't she realise she is risking her claim being closed? Send it back now recorded delivery.

She is not well, mentally, and doesn't cope with this kind of thing very well.

Yes, it's gone back now, first class recorded/trackable. I also recommended her that she takes photocopies of the form.