ESA & DLA both up for renewal

I am starting to get nerves again as my ESA (support group) is due for renewal this April & my DLA is due sometime May/June this year. I suffer with bad depression and am on medication which helps most days but can still have very down days. Alongside this my fibromyalgia is flaring up more and more and have now been diagnosed with Carpol Tunnel Syndrome in both hands (it explains all the pain in my wrists and hands), arthritis in neck and back and Osteoarthritis in knees. I had to go to a tribunal 3 years ago to overturn the Atos doctors decision that I was totally fit and nothing wrong with me, his words were I looked fine at the time of my home medical. I just dread this happening all over again and although my renewals are not due for a couple of months I am already getting depressed and anxious about having to complete all the forms over again and find again they don't believe the physical & mental pain I go through everyday just getting through each day. I was awarded 3 years in ESA support group last time and 3 years DLA (HMR & LCR). Does anyone know time wise when I should expect to receive the dreaded letters. Thank you

mazi wrote: I am starting to get nerves again as my ESA (support group) is due for renewal this April & my DLA is due sometime May/June this year. I suffer with bad depression and am on medication which helps most days but can still have very down days. Alongside this my fibromyalgia is flaring up more and more and have now been diagnosed with Carpol Tunnel Syndrome in both hands (it explains all the pain in my wrists and hands), arthritis in neck and back and Osteoarthritis in knees. I had to go to a tribunal 3 years ago to overturn the Atos doctors decision that I was totally fit and nothing wrong with me, his words were I looked fine at the time of my home medical. I just dread this happening all over again and although my renewals are not due for a couple of months I am already getting depressed and anxious about having to complete all the forms over again and find again they don't believe the physical & mental pain I go through everyday just getting through each day. I was awarded 3 years in ESA support group last time and 3 years DLA (HMR & LCR). Does anyone know time wise when I should expect to receive the dreaded letters. Thank you

Hi m,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

With regards to your ESA reassessment, it is hard to say when you will receive your new ESA50 through the post.

Normally one would expect to receive a new ESA50 around 2 months before the end of the prognosis period, which in your case would appear to be circa February 2015.

However, as you may be aware reassessments of current ESA recipients were deferred in January 2014 due to the huge backlogs, see : This Topic.

Our best advice would be to prepare for your reassessment as much as you can.

You could make a start with The PDF ESA50, save it, and update as applicable :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Whilst referring to the guides on this page :

ESA Claims Guides

See also :

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?

ESA50 too big for the envelope

&

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS

Once you receive the paper ESA50 through the post, you could make sure that the information in The PDF version is current, print it off, and return it within the deadline given.

It is not a definite that you will have to undergo another F2F "Medical" the more evidence that you can provide with the ESA50 the less chance of having to attend a F2F.

It will be important to show that you still qualify for The SG, in that the limitations that gave you the SG award last time have not diminished, nor have you been prescribed any new medication, or undergone any procedures that would help with the limitations to such an extent that you no longer qualify for The SG, all this being the case, of course.

If applicable, you should also mention that you have not been able to cope with or adapt any better to said limitations since the time of your current SG award.

If you know the reasons why you were placed into The SG, it would help to cite those.

With respect to your DLA award, it would be normal to expect renewal forms some 16-20 weeks before the end of a fixed term DLA award.

However, if you are in a live PIP area, you will be invited to claim PIP, in which case you will be reviewed under PIP qualifying criteria rather than DLA.

You should be able to see whether you are in a Live PIP Area : Here.

If you are not living in a Live PIP Area, or you live in Northern Ireland (NI) then you will be reviewed under current DLA criteria.

See the following for either scenario :

PIP Claims Guide. (2nd Link on page)

PIP Self Test

PIP Topic Thread in Spotlight Area

Or

DLA Changes and Renewals are covered around a 1/3 of the way down this page:

DLA Guides

Hope this helps, and please reply to this topic if you have any further queries.

bro58

Hello bro58. Thank you for your reply and all the links you have provided. I will be looking through them all and making notes to help guide me through the forms when they arrive. Hopefully it will be a smoother run this time with all the help and guidance this site gives to help everyone fill out our forms accurately and fully. Would also just like to say this is a fantastic site and everyone seems so helpful to each other