DLA declined - Trying ESA

Hi everyone,

Have just subscribed to the members only section and have confused myself even further.

Sorry bit of a long story but here goes -

My husband has Ankylosing Spondylitis and was diagnosed 1996.

Up until the last few months we have worked together and I have supported him at work. On his bad days I would cover for him. Due to the economic climate and the fact that my husbands condition has progressively got worse we had to close our business.

My husband put in a claim for DLA which last week was declined due to a GP report. A GP my husband has never seen as he has been under the hospital since 96 and not the GP.

We have since spoken to the GP and she agreed that the form has been incorrectly filled in and is now writing a letter to the DLA. We are asking them to look again at the claim.

We have now completed a claim for ESA - What a mine field that is!

We received the ESA50 form yesterday which prompted our joining the members only section.

We are wondering if it really is all worth the bother - it seems from all that we have read that there are pitfalls at every step.

My husband has pain and reduced mobility, fatigue, breathlessness, eye conditions, walking difficulties, sitting and standing problems for periods of time,I could go on. All of these problems can be present one day, every day, every other day or all week.

He has good days and bad days - how would this work with the ESA - the form at first seemed simple until we read how to complete it correctly.

On a bad day I have to get him out of bed, help him in and out a chair, accompany him whilst walking.

The questions all appear to be trying to catch you out.

I fear that we are going to put one thing and it will be wrong.

Is it worth pursuing? Just to get told further down the line NO.

Sorry a bit long

Any advice much appreciated

Kim wrote:

Hi everyone,

Have just subscribed to the members only section and have confused myself even further.

Sorry bit of a long story but here goes -

My husband has Ankylosing Spondylitis and was diagnosed 1996.

Up until the last few months we have worked together and I have supported him at work. On his bad days I would cover for him. Due to the economic climate and the fact that my husbands condition has progressively got worse we had to close our business.

My husband put in a claim for DLA which last week was declined due to a GP report. A GP my husband has never seen as he has been under the hospital since 96 and not the GP.

We have since spoken to the GP and she agreed that the form has been incorrectly filled in and is now writing a letter to the DLA. We are asking them to look again at the claim.

We have now completed a claim for ESA - What a mine field that is!

We received the ESA50 form yesterday which prompted our joining the members only section.

We are wondering if it really is all worth the bother - it seems from all that we have read that there are pitfalls at every step.

My husband has pain and reduced mobility, fatigue, breathlessness, eye conditions, walking difficulties, sitting and standing problems for periods of time,I could go on. All of these problems can be present one day, every day, every other day or all week.

He has good days and bad days - how would this work with the ESA - the form at first seemed simple until we read how to complete it correctly.

On a bad day I have to get him out of bed, help him in and out a chair, accompany him whilst walking.

The questions all appear to be trying to catch you out.

I fear that we are going to put one thing and it will be wrong.

Is it worth pursuing? Just to get told further down the line NO.

Sorry a bit long

Any advice much appreciated

Hi K, and welcome to the forum.

In the first instance I would advise that you go through all the ESA Guides and the WCA Handbook stage by stage, accessible from this link. :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa

You may wish to use the Pdf ESA50 see download link and further info from here. :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=vie...imit=6&start=6#70879

Many members find the Pdf version easier as you can save and edit without having to scrub out, etc.

Using the guides, concentrate on your husband's limitations/disabilities with respect to each question, rather than the medical conditions themselves.

E.G. don't just say he's breathless, go into detail how this breathlessness affects him with respect to any given question and action, etc, etc.

Fluctuating conditions are covered in the guides also.

If you have any general questions regarding the filling in of the ESA50 after using the guides please come back to the forum.

bro58

Hi Gordon,

We have asked them to look at their decision.

Thanks

Hi again

We are filling out the ESA50 form and have completed the mobility questions that apply to my husbands condition. We have now reached section 2 which is for mental health problems, do we totally ignore this section, as my husbands condition has nothing to do with a mental health problem or do we need to tick the boxes?

With what we have learnt from this great site we are very dubious about any question whether it applies or not.

Many thanks

Kim