What if esa is taken away

Hi Agis

Because you are in the support group then CB ESA will be an indefinite award with scheduled reassessment based on the Prognosis Date completed by the assessor in their report, so your existing ESA award continues in payment until a new Decision is made.

CB ESA is limited to 365 days if you are not in the Support Group therefore if you failed to get into the support group then you would have to apply for Universal Credit.

You can put your information into one of the online calculators to see what benefits you may be eligible for. www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

Don't forget to check out our guides before your assessment. To be placed in the SG you need to meet one or more the SG Descriptors, have you looked to see whether this is the case or not, the Descriptors are listed in our ESA Claim guide.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1

Gary

Hi Agis,

You have told us that you have a review pending in August. I can see that you are beginning to worry about that. However, you have plenty of time to sort out some medical evidence etc in the meantime. If you have a consultant or other specialist nurse etc, maybe contact them, and explain your concerns - you can truthfully say that you are very worried about your forthcoming review and would it be possible to have a letter/report about your health. You can also speak to your GP and ask the same. Many people with ongoing health problems seldom see their GP. - Prescriptions are usually renewed without the need for a consultation. Unfortunately then when you fill out the ESA form and it says 'when did you last see your GP?' your answer could be several months or more. That doesn't look good on the form - DWP will then say eg ' Condition is not serious, last visit to GP was 18mths ago'. (No one wants to be seen to pester a busy GP, but it is really important to do this in the run up to an ESA review, or PIP one!) If you haven't seen your GP/specialist recently then you can avoid the negative assumption DWP may make per above AND crucially your symptoms/health concerns will be documented around the same time of your review.

Keeping a health diary is another good idea. This can be started now, but maybe best to do this 2 or 3 weeks before the review, again so this is evidence of you at that time. Either you/friend etc should write down the difficulties you have across the day. Include feeling better and worse
An example of this could be;
Monday 1st - very tired, didn't sleep well, body very achy and shaky. Dressing took 30 mins and was very tiring. Nearly fell on the stairs. Had cereal, partner made me a coffee, but I lost grip and the cup slipped out of my hand, I was lucky not to be burned. Partner reminded me that it was my Aunt's birthday and we were meeting her for lunch. This made me feel very anxious, and I started to feel panicky at the thought of going out... ETC ETC

If you read the members guides there are more examples. You can then refer back to your diary when filling out the form, and will have great examples to include on the form. The members guides also give ideas about filling out the form, and provide examples of what to say.
I know that it is often difficult and confusing when filling out claim or review forms, and it's even worse when you are aware of a pending review and this can cause increased anxiety. However, you can be fully prepared for the review; you know what you need to say, you have already organised and/or have received up to date medical reports, you have the details from your diary, and of course you can also get a brief report/letter from a friend or relative who can explain how your illness/disability affects you, and if need be, you can also contact a welfare benefits advisor if you need further asssistance - setting this all in place now means that the form will not be so daunting when it arrives in August, and means that you can be more in control of the review process.

Do you claim Personal Independence Payment? - This is a benefit (that won't affect your ESA, or indeed UC if you ever claim this.) It may be worthwhile considering claiming if you do not do so already. Again this is all explained in the members guides.

A final point - you are currently on contribution based ESA- whilst I appreciate that claiming UC is a bit tedious, it is possible that you would be better off claiming UC. UC makes provision for people who are too ill to work, it is the same test is used for cbESA. If you have no additional earnings, including occupational pension, or money from savings etc, and you have less than £16,000 of savings/investments then you could apply. As mentioned earlier, if you receive PIP this isn't counted as income, but some other benefits are. It might be appropriate to contact a local welfare benefits advisor and ask him/her to do a full benefits check - the advisor will be able to look at all your circumstances, and make calculations and of course can advise you on how to apply for any benefits you are entitled to.
This link provides details of local advice centres
advicelocal.uk/

I hope this helps, and by staying positive and proactive this helps to reduce anxiety about your ESA review. Stay strong.

LL26