ESA50 review: ASD etc

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for filling in my ESA50. I've been off work for quite a few years after suffering a fairly major meltdown and was on Incapacity Benefit for a bit. In 2012 I was transferred to ESA which was not a particularly smooth transition: they attempted to put me in the WRAG, which I am really incapable of doing, and in spite of medical reports acquired at a fairly significant cost it took the intervention of my MP to get it sorted out (the DWP and ATOS blamed each other for the medical report going missing: in this rare instance, ATOS weren't culpable and the DWP were just using them as an excuse).

Now I've been sent another ESA50, which is admittedly quite some time since the last inquisition, but I'm very worried as they didn't really seem to be in a hurry to take my condition seriously. I suffer with pretty extreme anxiety and depression, as well as agoraphobia and very severe social phobia. I also have ASD (I seem to be at the low-functioning end of "high functioning" if my day-to-day life is anything to go by) but due to my general failure to organise myself or go out I haven't yet got an official diagnosis. I do however have professional opinions from consultant psychiatrists.

I don't have a lot of support: where I live, there is essentially no mental health services. In spite of numerous suicide attempts over the past few years, being sectioned, being involuntarily detained etc, I have no psychiatrist, no social worker, no care plan and no anything else. So all I have to say on my form about my health care is my GP. I have had a number of severe meltdowns over the past couple of years which involved the police being called out and was detained under Section 136 several times. Various injuries occurred to myself and others and my life was at serious risk on several occasions, which is probably just the way of things given my overall mental state.

Now I have this ESA50 to complete. I've tried reading up on the various things and stuff about what to fill in but I'm kinda lost after filling in my name. The local CAB and MIND are overwhelmed and can't help in the timescale in question, which is about a fortnight.

I guess I'm asking someone to wave a magic wand. I guess there's no simple way out of this that isn't going to result in another meltdown or several.

What I do know is that I'll get no help from the local JobCentrePlus or whatever the hell they're called: prior to my appeal about being put on the WRAG, I informed a supposedly "sympathetic" specimen there that I was severely agoraphobic after she'd told me I'd immediately have to attend work related activities and she just laughed at me and said I'd have to do it anyway. So I don't expect an easy ride.

Hi v and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

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I'm sorry that this is so difficult and that you have so little support.

I'm afraid that all I can suggest is that you make full use of our ESA guide and break things down into smaller chunks, doing a little at a time.If you really cannot get the form completed in time then you are better sending in what you have done rather than nothing at all. Please reply to this message with further questions and we will help as much as we can.


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Sorry if I sounded slightly hysterical earlier on. I'd finally decided that today I would take the form seriously after trying to ignore it for a fortnight and had quite a major case of "argh!" in the process.

I guess my best bet is to spend the remaining fortnight perhaps trying to tackle one question at a time... though I guess the whole thing rests on the trouble that my ASD can cause me, so I probably need to make a case for that in particular.

Just a spot of random pontification, if I may, but I can't help feeling that this constant reassessment process even for people whose condition won't change must be terribly expensive to run, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it costs much more than the money it saves, which leaves me wondering about its actual intent.

I've gone through the helpful PDF which is fortunately quite clearly written as my concentration is absolutely shocking! My aim is to remain in the Support Group, but I wonder if they've made eligibility even more hard to attain since I last did an ESA50 back in 2012. Though as I mentioned, the medical report that eventually moved me out of the WRAG needed the support of my MP before they'd take any notice ("ATOS lost it, it's their fault!" said the DWP, which is an accomplishment considering it was sent directly to the DWP). Fortunately I have my other half to help me. Also fortunately, I have my other half to repeatedly turn off the cooker when I've forgotten it was on.

One question I have, which may be answered elsewhere (I did look, but I have a remarkable inability to find stuff, especially if it's left somewhere obvious) is that I'm wondering if there's a particularly useful mechanism for sending in medical reports after the ESA50 has been submitted, bearing in mind this was essentially the problem I ran into a few years back. My ESA50 needs to be returned by the beginning of next month, but the earliest I can see a specialist, even privately, is the end of that month, so I would anticipate that the time it would take to get him to produce a letter, send it to me, and for me to send it to them would be around six weeks from the date my ESA50 is returned. And even then I understand that it may be the case that only an NHS opinion will do, in which case I'll be looking at a timescale of at least three months after submission.

It was also slightly bothersome reading about the eligibility for being in the Support Group, especially given my history of meltdowns, which have included suicide attempts, self-harm requiring medical attention and overdoses. Thanks to careful management of my lifestyle (which basically means doing almost nothing... I try to get out but it in no way constitutes a normal life) I've managed to avoid any especially nasty meltdowns for just over a year now. Which apparently means that my history of "all of the above" including the noble sport of policeman wrestling will be entirely discounted. It does seem a little unfair that any attempt to mitigate one's problems or better oneself might actually work against a successful claim. :/

Thanks for the advice. It does seem rather strange that the less one tries to mitigate one's symptoms, the less convincing one's case may be. I came very close to self-harm today because of the stress of the ESA. Somehow I managed to pull back from it, though most of the self-harm doesn't require urgent medical attention anyway (which is good, but it also means there's no official medical record unless it involves a trip to A&E, the mental hospital or the police station).

Obviously I'm not questioning your advice on this matter, it just seems rather counterproductive and quite perverse that they will only accept that someone is on the edge if they can successfully push them over it. It's just wrong that they would see a managed condition turn into an unmanaged condition just so they can say they did... well, whatever it is that they're trying to do.