ESA for 16 year old in full time education

Hello

A friend has mentioned that my son may be eligible to claim ESA.

He is 16, at a specialist school and has Autism, Social Communication Disorder, severe Anxiety and is under a psychiatrist at Camhs.
He also has Talipes Equinovarus (club foot) for which he has undergone many operations and is currently under Great Ormond St Hospital and another consultant at Our local hospital. He suffers a great deal with pain when standing or walking and is currently trialling a new bespoke brace.

With his mental health issues and physical problems he has struggled a lot since birth which is well documented in reports. He has trouble attending school every day due to his disabilities.

However, I cannot see despite reading through a few ESA online documents if he would be entitled to this. He does get DLA which is due to transfer to PIP and I am his official guardian with the DWP since an interview recently when he turned 16.

Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated.


Kitty

Thank you, Gordon. I did call the ESA yesterday and upon checking they said he could apply and spent 50 minutes completing the application on the phone with me. So I will let you know the outcome once the process has gone through.

Kitty

My son has been awarded ESA. However, I believe he should be in the support group,his anxiety is so high his current school attendance is at 17% for the year. The contacted his GP but no other specialists I provided evidence from.

I am confused as they called me to say due to his issues they would not be doing a face to face assessment. This showed some level of understanding of his severe anxiety issues. Yet now he is not in the support group.

Please could you advise if there is a legal firm you would recommend to help me as I find it all so complicated despite reading through the guides on here?