ESA, UC & LCRWA

Lexicon5

poppy12345 said:

Lexicon5 said:

I finally had my WCA yesterday, how long should I expect to wait for a decison? 

Thanks in advance for your help. 

Anything up to 12 weeks.

Thanks Poppy. 

My claim for ESA was back dated until 24th June 2021 when I lost my job to ill health and have submitted sick notes covering from that date. If I am awarded LCRWA when would it be back dated to?

poppy12345

For ESA the extra money is paid from the 14th week of your claim, if placed into the Support Group. If placed into the WRAG your money will stop after 1 year. If fit for work then it stops once the decision is made.

Lexicon5

I recieved my decison today only a week after my WCA assessment, I wasn't expecting it that quickly. 

They decided that I have limited capablility for work and work related activity, but there was no indication of how long that is for (I got 3 years on PIP) but it says they may ask for a WCA in the future.  So does that mean they might contact me for this at anytime out of blue?

poppy12345

WCA decisions do not have timescales because it's an ongoing award until a new decision says otherwise. You can ring and ask them for a timescale but this will just be a guide and nothing more.

Lexicon5

Thanks Poppy.  As they don't have timescales I think I will just wait until they contact me. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Good news, congratulations!

If you ask for a copy of your assessment report (I can't remember the code for the form though, sorry) the HCP will likely have put a recommended time at the end.  However it is just a guide and with them ever trying to catch up on backlogs (particularly all the extra new claimants with Long Covid for however long the virus is allowed to spread uncontrolled) it may actually prove to be meaningless anyway.

Lexicon5

Thanks Spoonie_Turtle.  I think I might ask for the assessment report to see what it has to say.

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Good news, congratulations!

If you ask for a copy of your assessment report (I can't remember the code for the form though, sorry) the HCP will likely have put a recommended time at the end. 

For ESA the assessment report is called ESA85. The only indication of a timescales in the report will be something along the lines of " in the medium term... or in the short term" it doesn't give a more clear timescale like the PIP assessment report does.

Spoonie_Turtle

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Good news, congratulations!

If you ask for a copy of your assessment report (I can't remember the code for the form though, sorry) the HCP will likely have put a recommended time at the end. 

For ESA the assessment report is called ESA85. The only indication of a timescales in the report will be something along the lines of " in the medium term... or in the short term" it doesn't give a more clear timescale like the PIP assessment report does.

Thanks for that, I dug mine out and for UC it is indeed the UC85.

Yes, that's true about the timescales.  I seem to recall reading some time ago that short / medium / long term essentially meant something like 3-12 / 18-24 / 36 months but I now can't find anything to support that, so could well be wrong there.

However the handbook does make reference to assessors recommending specific 'prognosis' periods in terms of months, so I wonder where they put that recommendation as it's not on the report.

But again, any recommendation may quite possibly be moot.

KxMx

After my ESA medicals I always ring up and ask what date the system has for my next assessment.
This is only a guide and they can re-assess at any time, though in my personal experience they have always stuck to that date.
Covid was the exception as my October 2020 got moved to October 2022, and with the backlogs it's unlikely they'll stick to that.