ESA new claim received extremely quick payment?

Daisychains

I applied for Esa last week on the 3rd and just checked my bank and they've put in £49.60. I haven't even sent my sick note yet! Is this normal?

TELLIT01

Quick processing should be the norm. When I worked on ESA we would generally clear straight forward claims within a couple of days of receiving them. You are fortunate to have received payment without the sick note because there are 7 'waiting' days now. I can only assume they have put the sick note dates you gave them onto the system and that has generated the payment. That isn't supposed to happen any more but various things are done to avoid customers calling in to chase their claims.