Informing of ESA ending claim

Freshstart2012

Hi

If you are claiming ESA and know the date that you are returning to work,can you inform DWP of this a couple of weeks in advance and continue to be paid until that date, or is it a case of the minute you inform them then your claim will end there and then ?

Thank you

paragon909

Freshstart2012 wrote: »

Hi

If you are claiming ESA and know the date that you are returning to work,can you inform DWP of this a couple of weeks in advance and continue to be paid until that date, or is it a case of the minute you inform them then your claim will end there and then ?

Thank you

Just wait to the sick line runs out and tell them to close it. They wont allow you to call and book and advance date to close it. They will either close it right away or tell you to call back when you want to close it. Makes no difference are you returning to work earlier than expected??? YOu just cant go back to work and still get ESA payments, so if you are returning early you need to close it right away or they might claim it back.

Freshstart2012

Hi
Yes I'm returning to work early a few days before my sick note expires.
The problem I have is that I have a medical booked and I'm worried that calling them to cancel a few days before my medical is a bit short notice ?

Freshstart2012

Hi
Took your advice and called DWP to end my claim for ESA, like you say it can't be cancelled until your sick not expires. Guy told me to call back next week and he would cancel it.
However he advised me to ring ATOS and to cancel my appointment with them as I will not require a face to face if I am ending my claim next week. ATOS refused to cancel and have instead re arranged for a later date even though I explained I would be back in work by then and my claim ended. I was told to call back once DWP end my claim.
Is this correct ?
Surely once DWP end my claim then the face to face should be automatically cancelled.

paragon909

Freshstart2012 wrote: »

Hi
Took your advice and called DWP to end my claim for ESA, like you say it can't be cancelled until your sick not expires. Guy told me to call back next week and he would cancel it.
However he advised me to ring ATOS and to cancel my appointment with them as I will not require a face to face if I am ending my claim next week. ATOS refused to cancel and have instead re arranged for a later date even though I explained I would be back in work by then and my claim ended. I was told to call back once DWP end my claim.
Is this correct ?
Surely once DWP end my claim then the face to face should be automatically cancelled.

Does your sick line end before your ATOS face to face medical??? It shouldn't really matter if it does just rearrange the appointment till it does end. All they would do is tell DWP you didn't attend and they would stop the claim until you went. But your closing it anyway so it doesn't really matter. You can rearrange an atos appointment 3 times before DWP get involved..

Just drag it out with them and waste their time. They deserve it anyway since they dont wanna help you....

Freshstart2012

Hi

Yes my sick note now expires a couple of weeks before the face to face assessment, originally it expired a couple of days afterwards, but ATOS insisted on making another appointment rather than cancelling my original.
As you say my claim will be ended before the face to face, if I just don't turn up will it affect anything in the future should I need to claim again.

TELLIT01

Freshstart2012 wrote: »

Hi
Took your advice and called DWP to end my claim for ESA, like you say it can't be cancelled until your sick not expires.

Simply not true. You may have a cert for 4 weeks but decide to return to work after 3. There is nothing to stop you doing that but if you didn't end your ESA claim you would effectively be commiting fraud.
In most instances people do return to work at the same time as the cert expires but the Benefit Centre staff can input any end date you request in advance of the cert expiring.

Freshstart2012

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Simply not true. You may have a cert for 4 weeks but decide to return to work after 3. There is nothing to stop you doing that but if you didn't end your ESA claim you would effectively be commiting fraud.
In most instances people do return to work at the same time as the cert expires but the Benefit Centre staff can input any end date you request in advance of the cert expiring.

That's what I originally thought to be honest, but the guy I spoke to would not let me end my claim as he said the Drs note had more than 8 days left on it. So I won't return to work until the note expires now.

TELLIT01

The person you spoke to clearly doesn't know what he's doing, but just enjoy the extra week off. Ridiculous!!

Freshstart2012

Hi Everyone

I have a follow up question regarding this post and I'm sure one of you guys will be able to answer it for me.

I decided to end my ESA claim using the form that DWP send you when your Fit note is due to expire, as this form gives you the option of returning a Fit note , ending your claim or informing DWP of a change in circumstances. I opted to do it by post so that I could receive confirmation in writing as I have been told so many conflicting things each time I ring them.
I used the pre paid envelope supplied and sent the letter on a Wednesday second class post. The following Tuesday I received a letter from ATOS stating that I no longer needed to attend a medical due to new information that they had received from DWP, this led me to believe that DWP must have received my letter and cancelled my claim.
However I have today received another letter from DWP asking me to send a further Fit note as my current one has expired, this letter was dated one day before the letter I received from ATOS.

Do you guys think that I will probably receive a further letter from DWP within the next few days to say that my claim has ended, and their request for a Fit note was sent out before they actioned my request to end my claim.

If I don't receive a letter on Monday I will give them a call but I was hoping to have it in writing.

Thanks in advance

dc61

The DWP are useless. They sent my son a letter dated 3 days later than it was received stating that he had to produce a Sick Note for the month before which they had already had. He then received another letter, 2 days later this time, again dated in advance and again asking for a sick note but stating that the current one had run out a month later! How on earth do they manage to get these dates so mixed up? Surely it is an easy task to just check a date, type it and send. Hopeless! Thank goodness his claim is now ending too.