other members living in France re IB to ESA

Hi bro58,

unfortunately i am not on facebook.

Gordon, 2 questions if you would be so kind.
i have searched but can't find the answers: do you know if DWP are allowed to transfer IB to ESA earlier than usual 'we may contact you again after...' date?
I was not due to be re-assessed for IB until 15th December 2012, so they are almost a year early (just found the IB72 04/10 dated 10th nov 2011. Would this be a basis for an appeal on technical grounds if they do not put me in the ESA support group? ESA Work group usless to me as I have been on IB 8 years so benefit due to end in April. (Obviously I can't claim anything means tested as not in UK so do not expect you to address that issue as it is out of your remit)
Also I realise that I could probably claim lower rate DLA care (had been previously told I couldn't) Is it wise to do this
Before?
During?
After ?
or Not at all? being transfered from IB to ESA?

I'm just clutching at straws really after yesterday.

Hi Worried, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put the name of the forum but here goes. Try 'Angloinfo'. What part of France do you live? Am I allowed to ask?

Berlioz the fact you have been on IB for 8 years, and if placed in WRAG, by my reckoning you will still be entitled to ESA WRAG for 12 months irrespective how long you have been on IB, I stand to be corrected here, but that is how I understand it, now our esteemed MPs have overturned The Lords amendment to pay WRAG for 2 years sadly it will only be 12 months.

Regarding your DLA claim I think you will find that to claim DLA care outside the UK and living within the EU you will have had to be a UK resident for 6 months out of the last 12, thus stopping anybody living outside the UK from making a claim. There was a big campaign organised on another forum for people already living in France after the law was changed claiming they should have the right to have their DLA reinstated as it was stopped unlawfully when they left the UK. The Labour government at the time fought tooth and nail for this not to happen, but in the end they had to reinstate DLA for people already living in France, but implemented the 6 months out of 12 residency rule to stop people like yourself from making a new claim.

I also do not have a facebook account and have no intention of opening one, so I hope this thread can continue so we can converse with each other via B&W. Berlioz I would be careful as to what you post on your facebook page, as there could well be someone at DWP checking to see if you have posted any incriminating photos of yourself maybe say smiling, obviously if you can smile then you are fit for work!

Worried I think you mentioned previously that you have lived in France for less than 5 years, so would obviously have a problem obtaining health cover if your IB is stopped. Not sure if you read a certain French property website, but they do keep up to date as to what is happening regarding letting inactive ex-pats into the health system before 5 years legal residency is achieved. The latest report suggests that the French government is still preventing inactive ex-pats access to CMU-B before 5 years legal residency has been achieved. But interestingly in the article it stated that people with pre-existing conditions such as yourself if you can provide a letter of refusal from a private insurance company refusing full health cover, they seem to be letting these people into CMU-B. This would take away a big worry we have as I have previously stated we have only lived in France just over 3 years. So I guess we will have to try and find a nice insurance company to refuse us full health cover, in order for us to be able to access CMU-B, quite bizarre! Sorry bro for using a French word there, but as the English language has adopted the word bizarre I thought it would acceptable to use it.

Hi LL,

French word excused.

Can you please keep your posts to a shorter format in future, all posts appear as one solid block of text in the pre-approval area, and long posts make it most difficult to check for inappropriate content.

We are allowed to delete long posts if we wish, however that is the last thing that we want to do.

bro58

landlord: I have lived in france for just over 5 years and hubby pays contributions here but apart from making sure we are legal and paying correct tax/contribs in FR and UK and getting carte vitals we have no experience of the French system.I found www.cleiss.fr/docs/regimes/regime_france/an_1.html (in english) and it is a clear as mud!