Ending ESA claim

sushi78

Can I close an ESA claim in the middle of assessment (due to stress I didn't send ESA50 and have just been given telephone appt). Will I be able to do a rapid reclaim if I change my mind - and will this involve sending a new ESA50? Will ending ESA affect my PIP? tia

Spoonie_Turtle

Whether you would be able to reclaim in the future will depend on your NI contributions record.

Sorry to hear it's stressing you out so much.  Do you have anyone who can support you or just be there with you for/after the appointment?  Unless the appointment will be severely detrimental to your health it's probably best to go through with it if you can.  They can still do the assessment without the form when someone's claiming due to mental illness so that's presumably why you still have an appointment without having sent the form in.  You might have a favourable outcome, and if not you can then decide whether to challenge the decision or let it go.

Your PIP won't be affected either way, whatever happens with the ESA.

sushi78

My ESA is income-related, not sure how that affects things? My MH makes phone calls very difficult but I do have someone to support. If I fail the assessment will it be harder to claim again - I read you have to prove your condition has deteriorated or you have a new condition

poppy12345

If you end your ESA claim then you will not be able to reclaim because Income Related ESA has ended for new claims. You will only be able to claim Universal Credit. 

Spoonie_Turtle

sushi78 said:

My ESA is income-related, not sure how that affects things? My MH makes phone calls very difficult but I do have someone to support. If I fail the assessment will it be harder to claim again - I read you have to prove your condition has deteriorated or you have a new condition

That's kind of true for UC if you truly don't meet the criteria for not being found fit for work (I'm not sure about ESA), but not necessarily if you 'fail' the assessment - if you think the decision is wrong you can challenge it (and should, if you're able to). 

But as this is a reassessment rather than a new claim, unless you've got significantly better since your previous assessment you should stand a good chance of getting the right decision at some point, whether that's from the assessment or a bit later from challenging it.

sushi78

Thank you both very much for your help

sushi78

Just to explain further, a couple of years ago the ESA contacted me for a review which I then had to carry out on the day a traumatic event occurred (despite me explaining this). I was assured that I would continue to receive ESA without further assessments for the foreseeable future, but they sent an ESA50 form soon after which I didn't send back due to overwhelming stress. They then inexplicably continued to call every few months (I couldn't do these phone calls) instead of just stopping the claim. To be clear, before this event I had completed every form and assessment.

I have decided I want to stop the ESA claim as my physical condition has flared up due to the stress - I'm not able to do assessments as often as they seem to want, it's not helpful to keep dredging up my health history every few months for people who seem unempathetic and uninterested. Is it better to:

• Write/phone to stop the claim
• Ignore the WCA or
• Go through with the WCA (would prefer not) without fighting a 'no' decision 

Will I have to pay back any money in any of these scenarios?
Thanks for reading 

Muttleythefrog

Sorry to hear you're in this situation. I have long argued the system fails many who are inherently disabled by it. It's hard for us to advise here because there's an element of potential self harm (financial sense) that we become implicated in. If you already are getting IR-ESA then at review you stand a good chance of same award. It is possible that in future you may not get any more reviews because there could be benefit changes ahead.... it's entirely up in the air but the government may continue the idea of phasing out the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and using PIP to determine work related disablement as was the plan of previous government.

In theory PIP would not be affected by closing your ESA claim. As advised there are no new claims for IR ESA as it is now replaced with Universal Credit which carries the same WCA if one claims disablement in relation to work.  Ignoring a review may not be particularly helpful in any respect as they may well have a marker of vulnerability and assume mental illness prevents completion and continue with review.

I would do what you can to continue through with their review (if that's what you face).... but at the end of the day we cannot give medical advice and if there are medical consequences as well as financial it becomes tricky to advise at all. If you continue to meet the criteria for ESA then hopefully you are able to continue. 

huckster

Not sure why the work capability assessments are occurring as often.   The minimum time in between assessments would be 3 months, but that would be reliant on someone from ESA actively noting when it was due for reassessment and requesting for ESA50 to be issued. But given all of the other ESA reassessments that 1 or 2 years overdue, I am not sure why for one ESA claim the reassessments are more regular.  

I think it is possible that what is being mentioned are the Job Centre appointments for someone in the Work Related Activities Group. Job Centres are supposed to maintain contact with these ESA claimants about once every 3 months, just to have a chat about current circumstances and whether they are in a position to prepare for employment. And if they are looking at how to get back into work, what help is available from the Job Centre to provide support.

I would suggest that support is requested from local mental health services directly or via GP, so they can assist with anything related to the ESA claim and anything else that is causing issues.  This is important, as it helps to maintain records, which can be very useful, to support any reassessments under ESA or PIP.  

sushi78

Thanks for the replies. I am in the support group and have had to do a reassessment (which went fine) then a review then another reassessment within the past 2-3 years. It's the most recent reassessment I haven't been able to deal with, which I thought would lead to my claim being stopped, but instead they have phoned every few months. I find dealing with this draining.

If I do the phone assessment, would it be worth sending a letter to the decision maker explaining the situation? Can I ask them to use my last ESA50?

poppy12345

Are you sure that you had your last review 2-3 years ago? They were suspended at that time and have mostly been suspended for those in the Support Group since then. 

Could it be a PIP review and not ESA?