New PIP/ESA claim, please help.

longleggedhair

Hi all,

First a little background. I've suffered from poor health since childhood and was in receipt of DLA until I was about 20. I then got into work and chose not to reclaim DLA on renewal. I'm now in my early 30s and my health has continued to decline to the point now where I am not able to work despite adjustments at work and going P/T I just can't manage it any longer.

I've been off sick for the last few months and will finish work later in the year. I have (because I was aware my health would reduce) saved hard while I've been working as I was terrified of being totally dependent on benefits, them being taken away and being left stranded etc so I've got about £150K saved, which I have invested and will use to provide me with a base income.

I will be claiming PIP and contribution based ESA and just wondered if anyone had any advice & tips etc as its been many years since I've had to do this. Thanks in advance.

poppy12345

longleggedhair wrote: »

Hi all,

First a little background. I've suffered from poor health since childhood and was in receipt of DLA until I was about 20. I then got into work and chose not to reclaim DLA on renewal. I'm now in my early 30s and my health has continued to decline to the point now where I am not able to work despite adjustments at work and going P/T I just can't manage it any longer.

I've been off sick for the last few months and will finish work later in the year. I have (because I was aware my health would reduce) saved hard while I've been working as I was terrified of being totally dependent on benefits, them being taken away and being left stranded etc so I've got about £150K saved, which I have invested and will use to provide me with a base income.

I will be claiming PIP and contribution based ESA and just wondered if anyone had any advice & tips etc as its been many years since I've had to do this. Thanks in advance.

If you're claiming SSP you won't be able to claim CB ESA until this has come to an end, i believe. Someone else more more knowledge than me will confirm this.
As for PIP you'll need evidence based on which descriptors apply to you to support your claim. Have a look at this guide for PIP descriptors...http://www.focusondisability.org.uk/personal-independence-payment-PIP-assessment-points.html. Ring the PIP helpline to start your claim off. A few simple questions will be asked then they'll send you the huge PIP2 form to fill in and return. You'll have 1 month to fill this in and return it, if you need longer then they can increase this by 14 days max if you ring and ask. CAB are very good at helping to fill these in and i strongly urge you to ask for their help. PIP is totally different to what DLA was. You'll most likely be asked to attend a face 2 face assessment, waiting times for these vary widely depending on what part of the country you're in and the backlog. Some are wait a couple of months whilst others are waiting longer. Plenty of info on the internet about PIP assessments, do have a search. Send all your evidence with the form (copies only of course) If the decision goes in your favour you'll be back dated to the date you rang to start your claim off. Hope this helps.