IB50 Form

Gareth wrote:

Crazydiamond wrote:

Gareth wrote:

Crazydiamond wrote:

I believe the change occurred on 20 October 2008, one week before the commencement of ESA on 27 October 2008.

Do you know who initiated the change, the DWP or ATOS?

I would imagine it would have been a government initiative.

Do you recall where you read/heard about this "government initiative"?

I cannot easily identify the source, as I believe that it was a member who posted in this forum some time ago, having written to the DWP, who reported that the issue of form IB113 had been brought into line with the issue of form ESA113.

Current guidance for the issue of form ESA113 is contained in Volume 8, Chapter 42 of the current ESA decision makers' guide and states:-

42134

Medical services are responsible for gathering any information required to support the WCA process. This includes:

1. sending the questionnaire (ESA50)

2. sending a reminder if the claimant does not reply within 28 days

3. deciding if further medical evidence is required and if so issuing ESA113 to the claimant’s GP or HCP.

Note: This could be any such additional information as the DM requires to determine whether a claimant has LCW1.

1 reg 21(1)( c)

A chap called 'Bentley1956' brought this problem up in December last year.

Thread

Two interesting points from it were the following:-

In the FAQ page on the DWP website the following:-

What is the point of asking a GP for a medical report (IB/ESA 113) when he has already issued certificates expressing his opinion?

Question
People suffering from certain specified severely disabling conditions (“exempt” category in Incapacity Benefit or “support group” in Employment and Support Allowance) may be treated as incapable of work without being tested.

Answer
Jobcentre Plus therefore takes steps to identify such people before applying the Personal Capability Assessment (Incapacity Benefit) or Work Capability Assessment (Employment and Support Allowance). GPs (acting as certifying medical practitioners) play a crucial role in providing a precise diagnosis and factual clinical details in cases where a person may have a severe condition that, under Regulations, allows them to be treated as incapable of work.

A fully completed IB113/ESA 113 report may thus avoid the need for a person to undergo a benefit related examination and help Jobcentre Plus to give a prompt decision on entitlement.



Also as far as I can ascertain the most recent ( I cannot find any updated versions) of the:-
Incapacity Benefit Handbook for Approved Doctors
MED-S2/IBHB
Version: 3 Final
3 June 2004

on page 13 it says (I've underlined the important part):-


2.1 Exempt Categories
Incapacity Benefit legislation recognises certain categories of severe disease where it is considered unreasonable that a person with such a disease should be judged capable of work. Claimants with disease in these exempt categories are not asked to complete a self-assessment questionnaire or undergo the Personal Capability Assessment.

There are two types of medically exempt categories:
(1) Conditions which can be determined by an Decision Maker, with or without further medical advice from Medical Services; and
(2) Conditions which require the Decision Maker to consider the advice of a doctor approved by the Secretary of State.


If there is as it appears to be conflicting information on this matter then it may be worth Steve perhaps looking into this matter in more detail as Benefits & Work prides itself (and quite rightly to) for providing up to date benefits information.

Gareth wrote:

A chap called 'Bentley1956' brought this problem up in December last year.

Thread

Two interesting points from it were the following:-

In the FAQ page on the DWP website the following:-

What is the point of asking a GP for a medical report (IB/ESA 113) when he has already issued certificates expressing his opinion?

Question
People suffering from certain specified severely disabling conditions (“exempt” category in Incapacity Benefit or “support group” in Employment and Support Allowance) may be treated as incapable of work without being tested.

Answer
Jobcentre Plus therefore takes steps to identify such people before applying the Personal Capability Assessment (Incapacity Benefit) or Work Capability Assessment (Employment and Support Allowance). GPs (acting as certifying medical practitioners) play a crucial role in providing a precise diagnosis and factual clinical details in cases where a person may have a severe condition that, under Regulations, allows them to be treated as incapable of work.

A fully completed IB113/ESA 113 report may thus avoid the need for a person to undergo a benefit related examination and help Jobcentre Plus to give a prompt decision on entitlement.



Also as far as I can ascertain the most recent ( I cannot find any updated versions) of the:-
Incapacity Benefit Handbook for Approved Doctors
MED-S2/IBHB
Version: 3 Final
3 June 2004

on page 13 it says (I've underlined the important part):-


2.1 Exempt Categories
Incapacity Benefit legislation recognises certain categories of severe disease where it is considered unreasonable that a person with such a disease should be judged capable of work. Claimants with disease in these exempt categories are not asked to complete a self-assessment questionnaire or undergo the Personal Capability Assessment.

There are two types of medically exempt categories:
(1) Conditions which can be determined by an Decision Maker, with or without further medical advice from Medical Services; and
(2) Conditions which require the Decision Maker to consider the advice of a doctor approved by the Secretary of State.


If there is as it appears to be conflicting information on this matter then it may be worth Steve perhaps looking into this matter in more detail as Benefits & Work prides itself (and quite rightly to) for providing up to date benefits information.

The Incapacity Handbook for Approved Doctors from which you quote is a version from June 2004, which is likely to be well out of date.

I really cannot expand on my answer any further, but If you wish to obtain a definitive response, you could always contact Atos and/or the DWP yourself?

Crazydiamond wrote:

The Incapacity Handbook for Approved Doctors from which you quote is a version from June 2004, which is likely to be well out of date.

I really cannot expand on my answer any further, but If you wish to obtain a definitive response, you could always contact Atos and/or the DWP yourself?

However on the other hand it may not be out of date and may still be the current one, hence we need to get to the bottom of this if we are to continue to provide our Members with up to date accurate advice and maintain the high reputation that B&W [rightly] enjoys.

Hopefully Steve will be able to comment on this in due course.

Hi All,

I'm happy to take another look at this and get back to you.

It may be a couple of days before I do so, however.

Steve

does any of this make a difference to me eg should I wait to see what you guys pull up or should I go ahead and make contact with DWP/ATOS? And does it matter whether i speak to atos or DWP as the letter came from ATOS and said for queries to speak to job centre?