When should I apply for ESA?

Good morning, my first time posting, but am impressed with the ESA guide and shocked at how the assumption is made from the off that claimants are fraudulent!
My questions:
I am about to finish work, no more SSP only half wages about £500 a month until 18 June, should I apply for ESA now or wait until my employment ceases? I am awaiting occupational health assessment to confirm that I am unable to continue in my employment.
Is it better to start the claim over the phone or fill in the form and send it off?
I have multiple health issues and am desperately hoping to be placed in the support group without medical. I have cystic fibrosis, undergone heart lung transplant twice, renal transplant which is now failing and am at 18 GFR,no dialysis at moment, chronic Epstein Barr virus associated with transplant, adrenal insufficiency, micro bleeds in the brain with amyloid disease and chronic fatigue along with many minor issues all relating to the above!

Barbara wrote: Good morning, my first time posting, but am impressed with the ESA guide and shocked at how the assumption is made from the off that claimants are fraudulent!
My questions:
I am about to finish work, no more SSP only half wages about £500 a month until 18 June, should I apply for ESA now or wait until my employment ceases? I am awaiting occupational health assessment to confirm that I am unable to continue in my employment.
Is it better to start the claim over the phone or fill in the form and send it off?
I have multiple health issues and am desperately hoping to be placed in the support group without medical. I have cystic fibrosis, undergone heart lung transplant twice, renal transplant which is now failing and am at 18 GFR,no dialysis at moment, chronic Epstein Barr virus associated with transplant, adrenal insufficiency, micro bleeds in the brain with amyloid disease and chronic fatigue along with many minor issues all relating to the above!

Hi B,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

If your SSP is about to end, or has ended, you can make your claim for ESA now !

It will not matter that you are still classed as employed.

It is up to you whether or not you make your initial claim over the phone or by filling in and returning an ESA 1 Form.

If you make the claim over the phone, they will simply fill in all the details gleaned via the call on an ESA 1, then post it to you to check for accuracy and to gain your signature.

www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/how-to-claim

If you have the necessary NI Contribution from employment for the previous two Tax Years (2012-13 & 2013-14) you should have entitlement to payment of Contribution Based (CB) ESA.

Even though you may feel that you have no entitlement to Income Related (IR) ESA payments on top of your CB ESA, you should still request that you are also assessed for entitlement to IR ESA payments.

You initial claim should be processed fairly quickly, and once this is done your should receive payment of Assessment Rate ESA currently £73.10/Week paid fortnightly in arrears.

Benefit Rates 2015/16

You should receive an ESA50 Questionnaire within a fortnight or so after your claim has be authorised.

This, along with a possible face to face "medical" will be used as part of The ESA WCA to see whether you should be placed into The WRAG, The Support Group (SG) or found fit for work.

You could make a start on the ESA50 now by :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Whilst referring to the guides on this page, 3rd & 4th links down :

ESA Claims Guides

There is also an Understanding ESA Guide 2nd link down the same page.

See also :

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?

ESA50 too big for the envelope

&

Sending Documents to the DWP or Maximus

You could also start gathering any medical evidence that you may need to help relieve the time constraints for filling in and returning the ESA50 once you receive it through the post.

Your ESA WCA will be carried out by : The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) (Maximus) who took over the ESA WCA Contract from ATOS on 02/03/15.

You might want to Bookmark/Favourite this page in your browser, you can then return to it easily for future reference and any other queries that you may have.

bro58