Incapacity Benefit to ESA

Hello, just thought I would say "hello" as I,m new to the forums and as the subject states I have just received my ESA50 03/11 form from ATOS and have til the 12 September to finish it. Boy they make you work hard-I am completing it bit by bit with the help of the guidance papers. My hat goes off to the authors. From reading the guidance and looking at the form it does look as if they are trying to trip (?) you up a bit. I have had 4 operations on my spine with each operation not helping my mobility as I,d liked. I thought getting through this, then Incapacity and finally DLA was hard-was I wrong.
I think it is unfair that people who have gotten DLA on the basis of pain/mobility and or the rest of the problems we each have now have to fill in a new form which does not take ito account your DLA!! As we know DLA usually goes hand in hand with why we claimed Incapacity anyway.
I hope that we all get what we want and I will endeavour to keep you updated as to how I get on.

s1aughtered wrote:

Hello, just thought I would say "hello" as I,m new to the forums and as the subject states I have just received my ESA50 03/11 form from ATOS and have til the 12 September to finish it. Boy they make you work hard-I am completing it bit by bit with the help of the guidance papers. My hat goes off to the authors. From reading the guidance and looking at the form it does look as if they are trying to trip (?) you up a bit. I have had 4 operations on my spine with each operation not helping my mobility as I,d liked. I thought getting through this, then Incapacity and finally DLA was hard-was I wrong.
I think it is unfair that people who have gotten DLA on the basis of pain/mobility and or the rest of the problems we each have now have to fill in a new form which does not take ito account your DLA!! As we know DLA usually goes hand in hand with why we claimed Incapacity anyway.
I hope that we all get what we want and I will endeavour to keep you updated as to how I get on.

Hi s1,

Welcome to the Forum.

If you have any queries please feel free to post them on the Forum.

We will do our best to help.

Good Luck on filling your ESA50 in, by using the B&W guides, you should be able to present as good a case as possible, of course as you will no doubt realise, there's no gaurantee that you will gain the correct assessment.

However many members do !.

cheers

bro58

Hi, unfotunately I received the letter requesting I attend a medical.
Anyhu the letter stated I should attend a medical at 0920 on 26 October in Balham. This would have entailed 1hour 14mins by public transport. Most of this time was walking between Bus to train etc. This I found incredible as I have very limited mobility and I am in constant pain. Even by own car the time would have been to long an endurance. My wife (bless her, rang Atos who assured me that there was no place closer to me other than Wimbledon (this is even worse)! So we stuck with Balham but a later date and at 1150hrs.
I then saw on the BBC london news that a person who was attending a medical was very disappointed for some reason. And the location, Croydon! A mere 20mins travel by car for me!
My wife again rang Attos who stated that as We have already changed the date of the medical we can't change it again. My wife was very good and persuaded the Atos person to seek advice from a supervisor. So I now have a medical (of which I am not looking forward too)only 20 mins away and on 8 November.

My thanks to this site for the very detailed advice in the guides.

I will let you know how it goes.

Well done for persevering and getting the medical moved to somewhere that is more accessible for you. Your wife must be a very persuasive lady!

Hi S1aughtered, the reason Croydon is not appropriate for all claimants is that;

the medical assessments take place on the first floor and although there is a lift, you are not allowed to use it if you are in a wheel chair. (health and safety).

Good luck with your assessment,
Rachel

good luck with your medical, croydon was on a news programme for being unaccessable for wheelchair users/ not allowed to use the lift. Atos did say that you can get a medical at another assessment centre. Do they not have a list of them?