Capability for work questionnaire

Hi All,

I was assessed ESA over 2 years ago, and placed in a none work focused group due to my severe disabilities. I was told at the assessment that I would not need to be assessed again, due to the nature of my disability, today I have received a Capability for work questionnaire, I phoned them but to be honest the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing, and they insist I complete the form, which I will, are they legally entitled to do this after I was told by the GP doing the assessment that I would not need to complete another form in the future ?

Thank you as always.

HI cfm,

The GP who assessed you exceeded his authority in saying that you would not have to be reassessed in future.

I say this for 2 reasons -
Firstly, it is DWP who make the decision, the assessor can only recommend.

Secondly, every ESA claimant is being reassessed at intervals - the longest interval in usual circumstances is 3 years for SG claimants (there have been delays due to overloading of the system so many people have had their reassessments postponed).

I'm afraid you need to complete the ESA50 in detail. Do not assume that the assessor has any prior knowledge of your situation as they are unlikely to even know that you have a current claim.

See our ESA guide for help with completing the form.

ESA claims and appeals


May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This will allow you to return with further questions or comments about your ESA without having to start a new topic each time. We ask members to keep everything relating to the same claim in one topic as it helps us enormously - and I hope you will find it useful too