ESA support group - how often assessed

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

poppy12345 said:

tazwhoever said:

 from 3 months to 3 years,

I wouldn't say 3 years is the maximum. People have gone a lot longer than that between assessments. Support Group is ongoing for as long as you remain in that group. There's also some people who will never need to be reviewed ever again and will remain in the Support Group for as long as they're entitled to it. Unless their condition changes of course.

I was not aware of this until my aunt mentioned she'd never been reassessed since being put in the support group 7 years ago! She assumed it was the same for everybody, so it was quite nice to be able to tell her that no, that was a decision they made based on her circumstances. [Incidentally, she had a nightmare face-to-face assessment but then got that decision the first time, no needing to fight for it. Bizarre.]

This would not be because she no longer needs anymore reassessments. This is most likely because she's just not be contacted.

No further reassesments have only been in place since 2017. This applies to people with severe life long disabilites and will apply to some but not everyone because it has very specific criteria. Details here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-and-universal-credit-changes-to-the-work-capability-assessment

Ah right. She will never be able to work again, she will never get better (in fact she's got much worse since first claiming) but they're not lifelong conditions in the true, congenital sense. Just ...'for the rest of her life' long.

[I won't ask her if they specifically told her she wouldn't be reassessed because that would spike her severe anxiety unnecessarily.]

As she hasn't be reassessed for several years then it's very very unlikely she will be in the severe conditions group.

tazwhoever

Yes, poppy12345. I only mentioned 3 months to 3 years as a guildline for SG with ESA. I know my first claim went for 3 and half years. Second is still going. Last year they mentioned, some SG with some diseases will be exempt for reassessments. 

poppy12345

tazwhoever said:

 Last year they mentioned, some SG with some diseases will be exempt for reassessments. 

That was in 2017, as stated in the link i provided above.

Morglin

It varies hugely.

i was slotted over to ESA, into the Support Group, from IB, in 2012, no face to face, just sent in my medical evidence.

Other than the yearly letter telling me about the April increase, I’ve never heard anything else from them. 

I’m due for my pension next year, so I’d be surprised if they bothered now, especially with the current chaos, but who knows?

BooJewels

The length of the reassessment must be directly related to the medical condition/circumstances.  For example, my husband is in the Support Group as he's undergoing chemotherapy. He has a reassessment date on his award letter (paid from end January), of December this year, even though the medics put that his treatment was on-going and long term (currently 19 weeks into a proposed two year regime - he's just been trained up to administer some of his own at home). 

So December seemed reasonable to us, as many people have 6 months chemo and this might [hopefully] be enough to see them return to work at that point.  As his is going to be long term, we'll just fill in the paperwork accordingly when requested.