Questions regarding the reassessment of my ESA

Hello,

I am a new member here and I had my first ESA50 through the door in 3 years earlier this week and have already made a start reading though the guides and filling in the PDF form and I have already found the guides you supply to members very helpful but I do have some questions which I hope are ok to ask here.

1. Only 2 of my medications are on repeat the rest I must request in writing. I asked my GP's surgery to print off a list of my medications officially to submit as evidence with my claim. The agreed to do so but when I went to collect the letter it was just a hand written note on scrap paper stapled to my regular repeat script, with items missing anyway. When I asked for something better they said no. I have current up to date medication issued in the last month can I just photocopy or photograph the medication with the pharmacy label and include that with my ESA50 as evidence?

2. Should I make a note on the ESA50 that I do not generally see my GP regarding my condition but instead see a specialist regularly?

3. Is it permissible to discuss in the ESA50 how medication side effects which I take for my neurological disorder affect my ability to do certain things repeatedly and safely or will this just be disallowed because it is a side effect rather than a symptom of my condition?

4. I have been in the support group for 4 years now (including a 2 year deferral). Each time I have been put in the SG for Exceptional Circumstances (substantial risk). I have me previous ESA from 3 years ago which states this. Would it be useful for me to quote directly from this ESA85 with this information then include a photocopy of this page as evidence with my form.

5. The new ESA50 states that you should not send appointment letters and print outs about your condition however I would like to send these as I believe they are important evidence. Would it go against me to do so?

6. I plan on sending a lot of information this time and am worried that if it is sent loose vital information could go missing. How best to keep all the photocopies and printouts together is there some recommended way of binding everything together that is acceptable to Maximus and the DWP. I know it is also advised by some to send separate copies to Maximus and the DWP decision maker. How would I send extra copy to the DWP and it get to the right person?

I know that is a lot of questions so my apologies in advance and tink I do have more but will save them for another time. If I have further questions should I continue with this thread or start a new one?

Many thanks in advance!

Hi Sootyca and welcome. This link should help you find your way around the site. I'm glad you have already found our guides helpful.

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I will try to answer your questions in turn.

1) Your surgery should be able to print off a list of all the 'acute' and 'repeat' medication you have been given over the past 3 months (for example). However, if they have refused to do this there is not much you can do (other than complain to the senior partner of practice manager but this would be unlikely to help you in time). Under these circumstances a photocopy of the pharmacy labels might be the best you can provide.

2) At some stage in the process you should tell DWP about who you see for your condition/s

3) Yes, you should tell DWP about all the side effects of your medication. They have stated that they will not consider physical side -effects if you have mental problems or vice verse. However, our advice is that you should tell them everything, they cannot consider what they have not been told!

4) Include anything that might help. However, if you are going to rely on the exceptional circumstances again it is up to you to prove that this is still the case.

5) Yes, include copies of anything that you think will be helpful.

6) It is up to you how you present this. You might staple things together, put them into a folder or join them with 'treasury tags'. Whatever you do you must ensure that your name and NI No is clearly shown at the top of every page. At the bottom they should be marked '1 of 20' etc. At one stage things had a nasty habit of getting 'lost' and we advised sending a copy to the decision maker. It does seem to be better now but there is no harm in sending a copy.

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS

If/when you have further questions please reply to this message and we will do our best to help. You might want to bookmark/favourite it on your web browser now so that you will find it easily in future

Thank for that Mrs Hurtyback, that advice is very helpful. I am sure I do and will have more questions as I continue with my reassessment but that is great to be getting on with for the moment

Thanks again!

Another question regarding my ESA reassessment:

I plan on printing out information regarding my condition from the NHS website and a charity for my condition to assist the HCP and DWP DM what my condition actually is. This will be in addition to my own personal statement. Would it be a good idea to literally highlight the more pertinent information from these information sheets?


In addition I contacted my GP's office today to ask about access to my medical records, was asked why I wanted them and when I said to assist in a benefits claim I was told I had to just instruct the DWP to contact them. After speaking to the practice manager she reluctently agreed I could request them but she couldn't give me a time scale when I would get them and told me it would cost me £70 as my records are both paper and online. At this point I am doubtful I will have anything "official" beyond appointment letters and medication boxes. They don't make it easy do they!

Thank you for that advice Gordon, I do see what you are getting at. I am aware that if I just supply screeds of additional information there is risk none of it will be read especially if it is just generic information from an NHS website for example. I have considered editing it down to what I think is relevent i.e. to back up from a recognised body the way my condition effects me but I worry that they then feel the information I was providing was somehow unbalanced or contrived. Perhaps editiing the information down and then providing a URL to the rest of it would be ok?

Thank you also for the additional information regarding requesting my Medical Records. It looks like they were incorrect about what it would cost it should be a £50 max charge I think and also in being unable to give me a time frame as your info says 40 days. However I cannot afford £50 at the moment, I spent the last of my "spare" money on printer ink and paper for this claim and now need to worry about postage costs. I will need to wait and request that information if I can should I not be successful.