IB TO ESA conversion initial letter recieved

Good evening this is my first post and I am generally inexperienced with forums so please forgive any errors I make, thank you. I have today recieved my first initial letter about the conversion of my IB claim (which iirc had another year to run) Almost the first thing it said was for me to phone them within 7 days to be asked some questions. I do not for a variety of reasons wish to do this! can I instead write to them and explain I want to communicate in writing? what are these questions anyway does anyone know?

Also is it possible to have an IB to ESA conversion delayed or postponed? I am currently with the help of the guides on this site re claiming DLA and although I have been dealing with the form and gathering evidence for 3 months I am still not finished and quite frankly I feel battered and under siege having to deal with essentially two claims at once.

Any helpfull comments will be appreciated, Thank You

Q wrote: Good evening this is my first post and I am generally inexperienced with forums so please forgive any errors I make, thank you. I have today recieved my first initial letter about the conversion of my IB claim (which iirc had another year to run) Almost the first thing it said was for me to phone them within 7 days to be asked some questions. I do not for a variety of reasons wish to do this! can I instead write to them and explain I want to communicate in writing? what are these questions anyway does anyone know?

Also is it possible to have an IB to ESA conversion delayed or postponed? I am currently with the help of the guides on this site re claiming DLA and although I have been dealing with the form and gathering evidence for 3 months I am still not finished and quite frankly I feel battered and under siege having to deal with essentially two claims at once.

Any helpfull comments will be appreciated, Thank You

Hi Q,

Welcome to the Forum, although it would seem that you are not new to B&W.

You do not have to answer this phonecall, it is purely a courtesy call, and has no importance to the conversion process.

Nor do you have to provide your phone number if they do not already have it. Have a look at this topic thread from earlier today :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=top...id=10&id=96561#97285

Now your conversion process has started, you should receive The ESA50 form through the post around a fornight after receipt of the conversion notice letter. If you have not received it by then, you may wish to contact the DWP/ATOS to ensure that it has not got lost in the post.

Once you have received it, it will then have to be filled in and returned by the deadline that you will be given, which should be no less than 4 weeks from receipt.

I can understand that you could well do without this if you are currently in the process of making a DLA claim, however now the ESA migration process has started the DWP will not delay or postpone it.

You may wish to have a look at : Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Please be aware though that there "MAY" be changes to ESA50's issued after the 28/01/13.

You should refer to our : ESA Claims Guides 3rd and 4th links down, whilst filling in the ESA50.

See also : IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s and : ESA FAQ’s

Please repost on this topic, if you have any further queries.

bro58

Thank you very much indeed for your quick and helpful reply and the links. I will study them in detail. I joined 2-3 months ago I think as I felt I needed as much advice and help as possible given the current terrifying political (imo) mood regarding anything benefit related.

Thank You again