Employment Support Allowance

trepolpen

hi , had letter telling me that I will be changed over from Incapacity Benifit to ESA , they gonna phone up in next couple of weeks

had RA since 1996 & been on Incapacity since then , had Triple Arthrodesis Fusion on both Ankles & know need several more joints done because of the RA + other complications that go with RA

has anyone been changed over & have you had problems with the DWP & thier Doctors & has anyone been put on the support part of ESA who suffer with bad RA

seems like this Goverment are just picking on people with disabilities as a easy option

rant over

stickywicket

Sorry, can't help but I hope someone else will be able to.

villier

Hi

Afraid in much the same predicament as yourself I got income support as I was on SSP, since having to give up my job my SSP stopped so phoned DWP who sent me out forms which went astray, filled in more forms waited weeks to get a phone call to say I would have to apply for ESA, after ten weeks have just recieved backdated money and yet more forms to fill in for ATOS. I have OA in just my hands but have a very rare neurological disease which affects a lot of my body so hands have a double whammy going on. What I can gather is make sure you fill in every part of the forms and send as much information from other sources i.e doctor, cosultants, OT, they are trying to phase out all other benefits and yes the goverment are trying to get people with disabilities back to work, sorry I couldn't be of more help hope someone will be along soon.......Marie

trepolpen

thanks for the advice , the DWP doctors ,I dont trust at all , from what I seen of them they just lie sometimes & make things up , would prefer if I did not have to see them

some disease were exempt on Incapacity Benifit & was hoping RA was the same but will wait & see what they say

justinbarrow

There are lots of people losing out to the governments cuts more so regarding ill health payments. It looks like the only exemptions for a medical under the new ESA rules so far are if you have the following....

1: You are terminally ill and expect to die within 6 months

2: You have a serious contagious infection

3: You are pregnant

Apparently even if people qualify for SDA they will still be required to attend a medical and these medicals are to be even tougher from next year when the new replacement for all disability benefits come into effect (the Personal Independence Payment) (P.I.P)

Some info is available on the following link...

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch42.pdf

Its so unfair as genuine people are falling foul to the new medicals that have been introduced and have to go through appeals.

trepolpen

had phone call from DWP today , sending forms in next 7 weeks , just in time for xmas , got no faith in them or thier doctors & pretty sure they will know very little about Rheumatiod Arthritis

looked up Personal Independence Payment) (P.I.P) so will end up with another form to fill in & expect two rounds of appeals coming up in next year or so

did not know what they were doing with DLA , just that they are doing away with the lower rate of care component ,
realy dont know what they will do with so many disabled people on ESA in thier working group & most wont/cant ever return to work because of thier disability

trepolpen

had a letter saying I been put into ESA support group & did not have to go for medical so am very pleased , had someone help me fill the forms in who works for the carers service

question I got is about prescription cost , on Incapacity I allways had to buy Prescription prepayment certificates as well as pay for dental & eye test but seem on one thread about we are entitled to get this free now , does anyone know , thankyou

barbara12

Hi trepolpen
I was wondering how you had got on, I am so pleased for you..sorry I cant help with the prescription cost...hopefully someone will be along soon with some advice. x

trepolpen

barbara12 wrote:

Hi trepolpen
I was wondering how you had got on, I am so pleased for you..sorry I cant help with the prescription cost...hopefully someone will be along soon with some advice. x

thanks barbara , its a pain going through ESA & knowing we all got the same coming with DLA is not good , was so pleased as to not need medical as the doctors write so many lies when doing these forms ,

tkachev

There are 2 types of ESA income based and contribution based. I think if you get income based then you can still get help with prescription costs but I looked all through the gov.uk site and nothing was mentioned. I'll take a look around on Martin Lewis as seen it mentioned before.


found this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4047779

Elizabeth

tkachev

This post is clearer;
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3748175

Elizabth

trepolpen

tkachev wrote:

This post is clearer;
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3748175

Elizabth

hi Elizabeth thankyou , I am on income base ESA Support group , but still dont realy understand what they have done & more read about it the more complicated it seems , will get a HC1 form from somewhere & see how I get on

gilly1957

If you are on Income based ESA you don't pay for prescriptions,dentist or opticians.

If you have a letter about your ESA entitlement it should tell you on there, and you use your letter for proof of your entitlement.

Hope this helps.

Gill

trepolpen

gilly1957 wrote:

If you are on Income based ESA you don't pay for prescriptions,dentist or opticians.

If you have a letter about your ESA entitlement it should tell you on there, and you use your letter for proof of your entitlement.

Hope this helps.

Gill

Hi Gill thankyou , those letters are clear as mud , looked through them again & I am on contribution-based ESA so wont have to worry about it & just keep my pre-payment cert going