Claiming ESA a second time and the Fit Note

DivideByZero wrote: Hi

I have just joined. I really need some clarification, because I don't know if I am going down the right route.

I am a 38 year old paraplegic, which means I can't walk and I have week upper body strength, and I have been like this since the age of three. Last year I got on to a year long apprenticeship(I've had no paid employment before this). That finished in early August. I am now trying to claim ESA because I have a disability. However, I am having trouble with my GP and the Fit Note. My GP doesn't understand why i need a fit note for claiming esa. A sick note or a statement on my disability yes, but not a fit note. So, I didn't know what to say to get her to write up a fit note.

can anyone shed any light on this please?

I would start by asking, you might want to think of the best way to phrase this, why they are prepared to provide a sick not but not a Fit Note? Fit Notes replaced sick notes several years ago and perform the same function!

Following on from that, the basic question is do they consider you fit for work or not, this is not a binary question as there are more than two answers; either they believe you are fit for work in which case they should not provide a Fit Note, or they can consider you unfit, or they can consider you fit but with restrictions on any work that you might do, either of the latter would result in a Fit Note being issued and is sufficient for you to start an ESA claim.

However, you will need to provide additional Fit Notes until a Decision is made on your claim, so you will also need to discuss this with them.

Gordon