ESA3 Form

I'm presently getting contribution based ESA in the support group, having been transferred from IB back in 2014. A week ago I received an ESA3(IBR)09/17 form to fill in to be returned by yesterday. I have been bedridden with Flu so have only just gone through the mail and seen it today. The form itself says it should be returned within a month from the date of the letter which is the 2nd week in February not yesterday incidentally.

The letter with the form says that they want to look at my claim back from August 2014, (presumably when the ESA began after IB transfer) to see if I am eligible for income related ESA as well. I was awarded full contribution based ESA from back then and am surprised to get this form that asks me to provide all sorts of financial info going back three and a half years just to see if i am eligible for some small extra sum. Is this normal? Do I have to bother with this form. Does this mean the contribution based ESA is ending? Does contribution based ESA have an end date at all?

The letter just says they want to look to see if I am entitled to extra premium payments from 2014. I am sure this was assessed years ago and I wasn't then. It does seem a huge ball ache and I've already missed the deadline to return the form. I'm wondering if this is something they are sending out to lots of people if they've made some error with claims from back then they now noticed.

I'm wondering if i ignore the form will it affect my current claim. Any help or advice appreciated here. Thanks.

Thank you for the info Gordon. I will contact them, I'm not sure i would even be able to get hold of all the detailed info from 2014 that they want now and I'm not sure any amount of money is worth the stress and hassle involved. Obviously this may not be the case for others. it's bad enough just seeing the envelope and thinking it was another esa50 and the thought of going through all that again is a nightmare.