Income Support to Esa advice please

Hello, I joined here a couple of weeks ago. I am currently on Income Support and have received an Esa form to complete. I have Osteoarthritis in my Spine, hips and knees. I am not receiving any treatment. The only medical support I am going to able to provide is from my GP. My surgery charge £33 for a short letter, which I will have no option but to pay for.

I don't have any family or anyone else to help me. I am feeling really sick about all this. It is all so different than when I had to complete to IB50 form.

I am very concerned that I won't have enough medical support to back up my claim. Also if I have to go for a medical I will have to go on my own on the bus. Which will obviously go against me.

lizzie wrote: Hello, I joined here a couple of weeks ago. I am currently on Income Support and have received an Esa form to complete. I have Osteoarthritis in my Spine, hips and knees. I am not receiving any treatment. The only medical support I am going to able to provide is from my GP. My surgery charge £33 for a short letter, which I will have no option but to pay for.

I don't have any family or anyone else to help me. I am feeling really sick about all this. It is all so different than when I had to complete to IB50 form.

I am very concerned that I won't have enough medical support to back up my claim. Also if I have to go for a medical I will have to go on my own on the bus. Which will obviously go against me.

Hi l,

Have a look at this other post that I wrote earlier, it may help :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=top...d=10&id=98566#107008

Although medical evidence and letters of support can help, it is important that you go into detail of how the limitations suffered as a result of any medical conditions may qualify you for ESA.

You can't provide evidence that is not available, so I would try not to worry too much. many people no longer see consultants, etc, as nothing further can be done.

If you are to gain a letter of support from your G.P., try and get them to go into detail regarding your limitations as well as your existing medical conditions.

With regards to traveling to a face to face assessment, you should include information regarding any restrictions that you face in traveling in The ESA50, and if it is warranted request a Home Assessment.

It would be important to get your G.P. to give their support to the fact that you could not travel to and from an assessment in any letter that they may provide.

DWP/ATOS may, as it is not the norm, send out an ESA113 to your G.P. question 6 on the questionnaire deals with traveling to an assessment, so you should discuss this with your G.P. :

ESA 113 Questionnaire

You can access your G.P. records, by making a request at your G.P. reception, then use any relevant extracts as evidence, there will be a further charge though :

Requesting your medical records

Charging for medical records

It may be worth reading through these, as well :

IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s

Please reply to this post, if you have any further queries.

bro58

Hello, I saw my GP this morning and asked if he could write a short letter for me. He said that all doctors have agreed that they will not write letters requested by patients to Atos. He said this is because it would take up too much time. My GP said he definately supports me and if Atos contact him he will backup anything I say. I would think it would be unlikely that Atos will contact him He did'nt seem to know anything about ESA and did'nt seem particuarly keen to llook at the form.

I am not sure now about asking for a Medical at home, I would just have to hope that Atos would query it with my gp so that he would be able to support me for it.

Also if it came to the point where I had to appeal do you think I would have any problems getting a Fit Note from my GP. They are not obligated to give one are they.

lizzie wrote: Hello, I saw my GP this morning and asked if he could write a short letter for me. He said that all doctors have agreed that they will not write letters requested by patients to Atos. He said this is because it would take up too much time. My GP said he definately supports me and if Atos contact him he will backup anything I say. I would think it would be unlikely that Atos will contact him He did'nt seem to know anything about ESA and did'nt seem particuarly keen to llook at the form.

I am not sure now about asking for a Medical at home, I would just have to hope that Atos would query it with my gp so that he would be able to support me for it.

Also if it came to the point where I had to appeal do you think I would have any problems getting a Fit Note from my GP. They are not obligated to give one are they.

Hi l,

I am sorry to hear this, it is becoming an ever increasing trend for G.P.'s to state similar to what you were told.

You can still request your G.P. records, they can't stop you doing this, and you request it at reception not with the G.P.

You could still request a Home Assessment and give detail of why you would need one in The ESA50.

I note that you state that you don't have family that can help, but is there anybody that knows how your limitations affect you on a daily basis, if so, they could write a letter of support.

Failing that you will just have to follow our guides, go into as much detail as you can regarding your limitations, and return the ESA50.

You would only require a fit note from your G.P. if you were appealing a fit for work decision, and to receive such a decision, you would first have to attend a face to face assessment.

Although, a G.P. doesn't have to issue a fit note to any of their patients, they are allowed to, if a patient is appealing.

Therefore, if the G.P. refused to issue a fit note in such a scenario, they would in fact be stating that they felt that you were fit for work.

There is a major difference in a G.P. refusing to provide letters of support, (which many of them are doing) and them refusing to provide a fit note.

bro58

Thank you bro58 for taking the time to answer. Sadly all my family have died of cancer. I was a full time carer to my dad who had bowel cancer, and it was through lifting him that I got osteoarthritis in my spine. Unfortunately there isn't anyone else that can support me. I will just have to battle on like everyone else here.

lizzie wrote: Thank you bro58 for taking the time to answer. Sadly all my family have died of cancer. I was a full time carer to my dad who had bowel cancer, and it was through lifting him that I got osteoarthritis in my spine. Unfortunately there isn't anyone else that can support me. I will just have to battle on like everyone else here.

Hi l,

I am sorry to hear this.

Follow our guides as much as you can, and just do your best.

If you get stuck, or are unsure, post your query here, and one of the Mods will do their best to help.

It is important that you make sure the ESA50 is returned to ATOS by the deadline given.

bro58