ESA 50

TimeLord1

Hi all, just curious if anyone has had an ESA 50 sent out to be completed within the last couple of years, without phoning and asking for one. It seems very quiet around ESA 50 unsure if they're bothering nowadays with the planned changes and just doing paper based assessments of previous claims. 

poppy12345

Reviews have been suspended for the majority of people since the pandemic. They did contact some people that hadn't been assessed for several years or more back in June/July. My last review was 2020.

Bigwheels1111

Last form and interview were 201 or 2019.
PiP was ending around the same time.
Was given 10 PiP award, ESA form or review gone away. 

I know they are not linked HA HA, strange coincidence is it not.

TimeLord1

Thanks Poppy, I haven't seen anyone on ESA mentioning it for years and thought the suspension had now finished. 

Muttleythefrog

Last assessed mid 2019... scheduled review put back to 2024 last I asked what their system said but I wonder if that'll be further put back

TimeLord1

I think the chances of paper based assessments of previous submitted ESA 50 is more likely to be used rather than sending a new one out to get the same results. Pointless costly process far easier to look at a longer term diagnosis and review it. But I doubt they'll tell anyone as they only do that by ( we looked at your claim) on a letter after completion of a new ESA 50. Ive seen people saying they've not been assessed for nearly a decade. I can't see anything significant happening for a few years now. 

Muttleythefrog

TimeLord1 said:

I think the chances of paper based assessments of previous submitted ESA 50 is more likely to be used rather than sending a new one out to get the same results. Pointless costly process far easier to look at a longer term diagnosis and review it. But I doubt they'll tell anyone as they only do that by ( we looked at your claim) on a letter after completion of a new ESA 50. Ive seen people saying they've not been assessed for nearly a decade. I can't see anything significant happening for a few years now. 

Yet ironically the government has just consulted on planned changes to the Work Capability Assessment criteria... which if pursued would overlap a general election so it is very difficult to say how the political backdrop is going to affect who, how, how efficiently and when assessments going forward will occur for reviews. All a bit unpredictable really and of course this government is committing to eliminating the WCA longer term... so I wonder if more resources will shift to PIP assessments going forward 

Jyana

I found that my assessments were being constantly pushed before covid. I had my original one transferring me from IS (to work group) back in 2012 or so (I really can't recall the date, but that feels like roughly the right time) and then was basically left to it (had very few work group session either, again no staff for it) until an inheritance put me on a nil payment for 18 months or so in 2017.

When my savings allowed me to reclaim, I had a new assessment because the person on the phone told me it was very likely I would no longer be eligable as it had been so long since my last one so I needed to be looked at again. I thanked her as I thought I should be moved to the support group by that point (and I was), but she doubled down and said it would be unlikely as it had got a lot tougher to claim since my last one.

Yeah, I'm still a bit salty about that phone call. But that's the last time I've ever had any kind of conversation about reassessment at all with them. So about five years now. But as I say, I think they were struggling to get cover for the very rural area I live before the pandemic backlogs so I'm not sure when I will hear from them again.

Newcad

To me it seems quite simple.

They don't have enough staff/resources to do WCA reassessment, so reassessments have to be deferred, for years.

If you take a simplistic view then the choice is to spend money and put more resources into doing assessments - or just scrap assessments altogether (even though you have no idea what to replace them with).

It's a Money Saving thing.

TimeLord1

True that Nuke,  remember Damien Green in 2016 Green said' "the change was being made because it was pointless to repeatedly test claimants who are not going to get better and outcome just proved the previous results so it's pointless and we will stop it " But it's taken 7+ years to not confirm that with anyone.