Question about ESA claim

Peter333

Hi.

Asking for my neighbour as she is very worried about her ESA claim. I think she is worrying for nothing.

She went on Incapacity Benefit, in 2007, and had a medical at the time (which she passed of course, or she wouldn't have been on it...) Reapplied in 2010, and got to stay on it with no medical. Then she got told in 2013, she needs to apply for ESA. She did so, and got moved onto it with no medical again.

Mid Feb this year, she got an ESA form to fill in that said, 'return by 11 March or we will stop the payments,' (the usual thing they say...) She said it took her a while to fill out as her finger/hand joints hurt (she has R.A.) so it didn't get posted til 29th Feb. Still 11 days before it was due though.)

Then she got a letter on 4th March, saying they have not received her form yet. Bit odd as she had til 11th March to return it.

Anyway, she rang them and they said the letters must have 'crossed,' as they got it the day before yesterday. (So the 2nd March.) The woman then went on to say 'it's been referred for an assessment.' My neighbour assumed that meant it was being referred for a medical assessment. But surely, if they only 'got it the day before yesterday,' they couldn't have come to a decision that it needed a medical assessment already?

Well now, 6 weeks later, she has heard nothing from them. It's her son's wedding in Northern Scotland in June, and she want to go stay there for 3 or 4 days, so she can be at the wedding, but she worried about planning anything in case she gets called up for assessment. (It's a 800 mile round trip, so is a bit much in one day. She isn't good at travelling, so she needs to stop in a hotel halfway, there and back, so it's a long, long trip.)

Anyway, I digress. Basically, she is wondering if she should have heard from them by now, if the form reached them by 2nd March. And also, she is getting stressed about not being able to book her hotels for this trip up to Northern Scotland. She says she can't book it in case she is asked for an assessment that week. She reckons that they won't take 'I'm going away for 4 days' as an excuse to not attend. (Even if they let her change the date, she fears they will hold it against her.)

So the upshot is, should she have heard from them by now? And, did they mean she is going to have an assessment? Or just that it's been referred to someone to assess her form? As I said, it seems odd that they would have made that decision in a day!

Thanks in advance.

Torry_Quine

It can take many months to hear if an assessment is needed. She should book the trip away and if the dates clash then she can rearrange once without penalty.

paragon909

Peter333 wrote: »

Hi.

Asking for my neighbour as she is very worried about her ESA claim. I think she is worrying for nothing.

She went on Incapacity Benefit, in 2007, and had a medical at the time (which she passed of course, or she wouldn't have been on it...) Reapplied in 2010, and got to stay on it with no medical. Then she got told in 2013, she needs to apply for ESA. She did so, and got moved onto it with no medical again.

Mid Feb this year, she got an ESA form to fill in that said, 'return by 11 March or we will stop the payments,' (the usual thing they say...) She said it took her a while to fill out as her finger/hand joints hurt (she has R.A.) so it didn't get posted til 29th Feb. Still 11 days before it was due though.)

Then she got a letter on 4th March, saying they have not received her form yet. Bit odd as she had til 11th March to return it.

Anyway, she rang them and they said the letters must have 'crossed,' as they got it the day before yesterday. (So the 2nd March.) The woman then went on to say 'it's been referred for an assessment.' My neighbour assumed that meant it was being referred for a medical assessment. But surely, if they only 'got it the day before yesterday,' they couldn't have come to a decision that it needed a medical assessment already?

Well now, 6 weeks later, she has heard nothing from them. It's her son's wedding in Northern Scotland in June, and she want to go stay there for 3 or 4 days, so she can be at the wedding, but she worried about planning anything in case she gets called up for assessment. (It's a 800 mile round trip, so is a bit much in one day. She isn't good at travelling, so she needs to stop in a hotel halfway, there and back, so it's a long, long trip.)

Anyway, I digress. Basically, she is wondering if she should have heard from them by now, if the form reached them by 2nd March. And also, she is getting stressed about not being able to book her hotels for this trip up to Northern Scotland. She says she can't book it in case she is asked for an assessment that week. She reckons that they won't take 'I'm going away for 4 days' as an excuse to not attend. (Even if they let her change the date, she fears they will hold it against her.)

So the upshot is, should she have heard from them by now? And, did they mean she is going to have an assessment? Or just that it's been referred to someone to assess her form? As I said, it seems odd that they would have made that decision in a day!

Thanks in advance.

It can take up 6 months or more to get an assessment depending on how busy the local assessment centre is. If the report was sent for assessment I would assume this would be sent to be looked at so they can consider a paper based decision, But most times it will require a face to face.

Peter333

Torry_Quine wrote: »

It can take many months to hear if an assessment is needed. She should book the trip away and if the dates clash then she can rearrange once without penalty.

paragon909 wrote: »

It can take up 6 months or more to get an assessment depending on how busy the local assessment centre is. If the report was sent for assessment I would assume this would be sent to be looked at so they can consider a paper based decision, But most times it will require a face to face.

Thanks.

So Paragon and Torry, does that mean then, that there's no way that they could have already decided she needed a medical assessment 2 days later? If it takes many months, surely they could not have made that decision in 1-2 days after the receipt of the form?

And is she definitely safe to book her trip?

What % of people have to have an assessment? Does anyone know?

She is still getting her ESA money by the way.

Torry_Quine

Peter333 wrote: »

Thanks.

So Paragon and Torry, does that mean then, that there's no way that they could have already decided she needed a medical assessment 2 days later? If it takes many months, surely they could not have made that decision in 1-2 days after the receipt of the form?

And is she definitely safe to book her trip?

What % of people have to have an assessment? Does anyone know?

She is still getting her ESA money by the way.

She will continue to get her money until such time as she is deemed to no longer meet the requirement.

Its highly unlikely that they would decide that soon if an assessment were needed and I don't know how many people need one.

No one here can definitely say that its totally safe to book the trip but I think it safe

Peter333

Torry_Quine wrote: »

She will continue to get her money until such time as she is deemed to no longer meet the requirement.

Its highly unlikely that they would decide that soon if an assessment were needed and I don't know how many people need one.

No one here can definitely say that its totally safe to book the trip but I think it safe

Thanks Torry.

I think you're right; I don't they could have decided within 2 days.

And I guess they should be OK if she says she is going to her son's wedding, 400 miles away.

pmlindyloo

You can postpone a WCA appointment once.

See here:

https://www.chdauk.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions

They have to give 7 days written notice (unless the claimant said they would accept shorter notice) so she should be OK.

Peter333

pmlindyloo wrote: »

You can postpone a WCA appointment once.

See here:

https://www.chdauk.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions

They have to give 7 days written notice (unless the claimant said they would accept shorter notice) so she should be OK.

Thank you.

Thing is, she needs to book her trip soon, for the first week in June, and is worried they will give her a date say, 25th May, for that week IYSWIM...

But they would be OK for her to change it if she had to?

TELLIT01

It's certainly highly unlikely that an assessment would have been made within 2 days of receipt - just never say never! At some point she will either receive a letter to say that an assessment has been made, based on evidence supplied, and she is to remain on ESA or she will receive a letter with a proposed date for a face-to-face assessment.
Either way, she will continue to receive payment at her current rate until she is reassessed.

Peter333

Thanks for your help.

Upshot is, is she OK to book that trip in June (for her son's wedding?) I mean, they won't hold it against her, if they give her an assessment date and it's during those 4 days and she has to alter it, will they?

bspm

No one can tell you it is safe to book a trip or not even though you have been given the link explaining rearranging an assessment.

It is up to your neighbour to decide not for someone on a forum to give her permission to travel

Originally Posted by pmlindyloo View Post
You can postpone a WCA appointment once.

See here:

https://www.chdauk.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions

They have to give 7 days written notice (unless the claimant said they would accept shorter notice) so she should be OK.