Passed ESA medical exam, what can I expect now?

epitome

SlySymbol wrote: »

Is there anyway to get the backdated pay more quickly such as phoning up or
visiting the job centre? Or is that useless?

That would be useless, there is nothing that will speed it up, how perceptive you are (joke)

What you can do is phone ESA and ask for a copy of your medical report to be sent to you. They should not refuse this, either argue with them and ask to speak to a manager or hang up and call back to speak to a different person.

When the Decsion Maker is making the decision they will call you so you should also make sure ESA has your correct phone number on the claim records.

When the Decison has been made a letter will be sent to you.
The decision will also be passed on to the maintenance teams who will change your ESA and issue your arrears

It could take up to 8 weeks for the Decision to be made (from the date of your assessment)

It could take up to 2 weeks for the decision to be actioned after it has been sent to maintenance.

You cannot speed up the first waiting period, but once the decision has been made you can speed up the second waiting period by asking maintenance for a call back and asking if they could do it quickly.

SlySymbol

I received a text message to say that I had passed the medical examination but it's been about 2 weeks and I haven't heard anything further besides what amount of money I will PROBABLY get.

So the decision to award me ESA is final but the decision to put me into the WAG is just highly probable.

poppy12345

SlySymbol wrote: »

I received a text message to say that I had passed the medical examination but it's been about 2 weeks and I haven't heard anything further besides what amount of money I will PROBABLY get.

So the decision to award me ESA is final but the decision to put me into the WAG is just highly probable.

I've never heard of the DWP texting anyone with a decision before. I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong.

epitome

I've never heard about a text WCA message.

Be prepared for it to not be what you think it is..

"Had the medical couple weeks ago"

When did you get the text and what does it say?

minimad1970

poppy12345 wrote: »

I've never heard of the DWP texting anyone with a decision before. I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong.

epitome wrote: »

I've never heard about a text WCA message.

Be prepared for it to not be what you think it is..

"Had the medical couple weeks ago"

When did you get the text and what does it say?

I received my decision by text. It said " Following your recent Work Capability Assessment you have been placed in a group. This means that you no longer need to provide any fit notes and will continue to be paid on your normal payday. A letter has been sent to confirm this".
I received this about 2 weeks after my assessment.

epitome

minimad1970 wrote: »

I received my decision by text. It said " Following your recent Work Capability Assessment you have been placed in a group. This means that you no longer need to provide any fit notes and will continue to be paid on your normal payday. A letter has been sent to confirm this".
I received this about 2 weeks after my assessment.

If that was the case, then the OP could phone ESA

There are only 2 possibilities:

Either the sicknote has been set to indefinate and they are still waiting for the decision to choose what group
or
The decision has already been made and the system will show what group the OP is in...and hence being in a group automatically stops the requirement for sicknotes.

I would be surprised that they send such a text, after a WCA has been attended (i.e. the WCA was a "face to face") before a decision has been made. It wouldn't be done like this on borderline cases.

SlySymbol

djrx wrote: »

This is personal experience, others may be better placed to answer technicalities.

I don't think there is a way to tell from the amount, which group you are in, both are something like £73 a week, then the rest is made up from which disability premiums you get. With the basic disability premium i think it would add up to £105 a week, they stopped giving the basic premium to people in the work related group, in April of this year AFAIK, so that could point to you being in the support group, however that may depends if you claimed before April.

The 3 month backdate is to before you started your claim, again only AFAIK someone may know better, So if they owe you pay it can be much more than 3 months - however long it took them to sort it out.. the three months is for say you make a claim in July, but want to be paid from May because of some extenuating circumstance meant you couldn't or didn't claim until July..

edit:

just an addition to that, now that it has been processed, your very next payment should reflect the new payment rate. Also Any backdated payment usually comes through very quickly - mine was sent out the day it was processed.

I had a payment come through a week ago but it was still for the standard amount and I claimed well before April.

poppy12345

SlySymbol wrote: »

I had a payment come through a week ago but it was still for the standard amount and I claimed well before April.

Then you haven't been out into one of the groups yet. Ring them again if a decision's been made they'll tell you.

SlySymbol

poppy12345 wrote: »

Then you haven't been out into one of the groups yet. Ring them again if a decision's been made they'll tell you.

I rang them again and explained how I'd previously been told that it could take up to 4 weeks
for this to get sorted out only to be told that it can actually take 2 months or perhaps even
longer.

I'm not sure what to believe considering I've been told conflicting points by two different
representatives.

It's been nearly a month now since I was told I had passed my medical, so it's looking more
and more likely that the latter was the one telling the truth.

poppy12345

SlySymbol wrote: »

I rang them again and explained how I'd previously been told that it could take up to 4 weeks
for this to get sorted out only to be told that it can actually take 2 months or perhaps even
longer.

I'm not sure what to believe considering I've been told conflicting points by two different
representatives.

It's been nearly a month now since I was told I had passed my medical, so it's looking more
and more likely that the latter was the one telling the truth.

When you rang did you ask if a decision has been made?