Severe Disablement Allowance to Employment Support

My wife has sent in her esa50 and atos has requested a report from her GP which atos has received from him. They say they are now looking into it.

My wife is being migrated from severe disablement allowance to employment support allowance so I am quite worried for her.

She is registered blind and she can see very little, also she has other health issues.

I praying that dwp does not find her fit for work, she is 45 now and never worked at all.

Has anyone here had similar experience and outcome?

43djbrooks wrote: My wife has sent in her esa50 and atos has requested a report from her GP which atos has received from him. They say they are now looking into it.

My wife is being migrated from severe disablement allowance to employment support allowance so I am quite worried for her.

She is registered blind and she can see very little, also she has other health issues.

I praying that dwp does not find her fit for work, she is 45 now and never worked at all.

Has anyone here had similar experience and outcome?

Hi 43djb,

We do have a number of members who have visual impairments and have been successfully transferred over to ESA.

We also have a number of members who have been successfully transferred over to ESA from SDA.

Nothing can really be gained by trying to make comparisons, as even though 2 different people may suffer with the same medical condition/s, they may well suffer differing limitations as a result of their medical condition/s.

The ESA WCA is a "Limitations/Capabilities" assessment.

It sounds like they have sent an : ESA 113 Questionnaire to your wife's G.P.

They only send these out to G.P.'s in around a quarter of cases, and generally only where a severe level of disability has been identified from the other evidence provided by the claimant.

Hopefully, your wife will receive a positive decision.

Please update us when you hear anything further.

bro58

ok my wife contacted ATOS today and they told her they do not need to see her and that her claim was successful and has been passed back to a dwp decision maker.

I just hope they do not find her fit for work, due to her condition she has never had work due to her severe disability.

We contacted the DWP and they have confirmed that they recieved the report today and it will take a few weeks for a DM to make their decision, so I guess they got a backlog as usual.

I have asperger syndrome and my anxiety and paranoia levels are high because of this.

I have read elsewhere that SDA people are moved to contribution based ESA first, is that the case?

If so then she will have to go through it all again.

43djbrooks wrote: We contacted the DWP and they have confirmed that they recieved the report today and it will take a few weeks for a DM to make their decision, so I guess they got a backlog as usual.

I have asperger syndrome and my anxiety and paranoia levels are high because of this.

I have read elsewhere that SDA people are moved to contribution based ESA first, is that the case?

If so then she will have to go through it all again.

Hi 43djb,

Try not to worry too much !

As Gordon has advised, the good thing is that your wife cannot be found fit for work.

When the national transfer over to ESA started in circa March 2011, it was stated that SDA recipients would be transferred over to ESA last in the process.

When will I be transferred?

Even though The DWP did not stick to most of the guidance given at that time, it does seem that they have left SDA recipients until last.

We have still not heard from a great number of members who have been transferred over to ESA from SDA.

The one's that we have heard from have in the main been successfully transferred over to ESA.

You are right regarding backlogs, the whole national transfer process was supposed to have been achieved by Spring 2014.

This has not happened.

For a current SDA recipient being successfully transferred over to ESA, they would be paid Contribution Based (CB) ESA :

What will I be transferred to?

If your wife is currently in receipt of any Income Support top-ups, they may be paid CB ESA with Income Related (IR) ESA top-ups.

On successful transfer to ESA, she will also be covered by Transitional Protection, in that she will be paid no less, although she may receive more, than she was being paid prior to transfer :

What will I be paid?

From our :


IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s

Please return to this topic to let us know when she receives a decision, and we will try to advise further.

bro58