New claim for ESA by mature student already on PIP

Alison

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

We have had a spate of members being called for re-assessment without an ESA50 being issued, whilst legal it clearly places the claimant at a disadvantage, yours is the first time that we have heard of it happening for a new claim.

My initial advice is that you contact the DWP to make them aware of the situation and for them to defer the appointment at no fault to you, this is important as you are only allowed to miss one assessment, until an ESA50 can be issued, completed and returned.

The DWP make take the view that everything can be covered in the assessment, I would recommend that you take the position that this will not be the case, as this is a new claim the assessor will have no information on your problems whatsoever and will not have been able to contact anybody supporting you.

If this fails, then contact ATOS and do the same.

In either case, make sure you get any decision to delay confirmed in writing.

In neither organisation will move on the issue then contact your MP, you may want to do this anyway so that they are alerted to the situation.

Contacting your MP

In the interim I would recommend that you start filling in an ESA50, you can download a copy from the Gov UK site and complete it on your computer.

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

To help you complete the form you should have a look at our ESA Claim guides which explain how you will be assessed and the criteria that will be used, it also covers the assessment process and the questions you are likely to be asked.

Please let us know how you get on if you can.

If you have any questions on the above or anything else to do with ESA, please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.

Gordon