leaving well alone re question 1 walking

Hello

The last time I filled in an esa50 form was 2 years ago and was upgraded to the support group as previously I was in the work related group. At first my thoughts were just to copy from the p/copys of my esa form of 2 years ago that I made back then. My logic being that as I was upgraded so if I say the same things I should be left on the support group.

My conditions have stayed the same but im worrying that Maximus might have my old esa50 from 2 years ago (which I sent to atos) and think it suspicious that this time im saying exactly the same things and look into things closely , but if I filled it in different ( which would be quite hard to do I think) then at least I would be not be attracting unnecessary attention.

I realise that this might be my ocd playing havoc with my thoughts and I would be grateful for any advice on this.

Thanks

Hi again,

The last time I filled in the esa50 2 years ago I ticked the " it varies " box and explained how my walking is affected by my spinal injuries and was upgraded to the support group . On reading the advice in the advice guides here im wondering if I should now say "no I cant walk 50 mtr because of the pain and I collapse on one side regularly and the pain brings me down on my knee ,or stick with "it varies" because it sort of does vary but never goes away etc. Its the point difference in the different answers that is worrying me, that and my ocd making me think that "what if I fail because of new tightening up in other parts of test and regret not going for the straight of 15 point answer " The other thing that was confusing me was the regulations that say if I tick "it varies" and the decision maker fails to take that into consideration it would help with any appeal. So my dilemma is to leave well alone and repeat what I said two years ago or go for the higher scoring answer because of possible changes in points because of changes in legislation in the last two years.. I realise it might not be possible to give specific advice as in telling me what to do but any thoughts would be greatly received

Hi again,

The last time I filled in the esa50 2 years ago I ticked the " it varies " box and explained how my walking is affected by my spinal injuries and was upgraded to the support group . On reading the advice in the advice guides here im wondering if I should now say "no I cant walk 50 mtr because of the pain and I collapse on one side regularly and the pain brings me down on my knee ,or stick with "it varies" because it sort of does vary but never goes away etc. Its the point difference in the different answers that is worrying me, that and my ocd making me think that "what if I fail because of new tightening up in other parts of test and regret not going for the straight of 15 point answer " The other thing that was confusing me was the regulations that say if I tick "it varies" and the decision maker fails to take that into consideration it would help with any appeal. So my dilemma is to leave well alone and repeat what I said two years ago or go for the higher scoring answer because of possible changes in points because of changes in legislation in the last two years.. I realise it might not be possible to give specific advice as in telling me what to do but any thoughts would be greatly received

davuck wrote: Hello

The last time I filled in an esa50 form was 2 years ago and was upgraded to the support group as previously I was in the work related group. At first my thoughts were just to copy from the p/copys of my esa form of 2 years ago that I made back then. My logic being that as I was upgraded so if I say the same things I should be left on the support group.

My conditions have stayed the same but im worrying that Maximus might have my old esa50 from 2 years ago (which I sent to atos) and think it suspicious that this time im saying exactly the same things and look into things closely , but if I filled it in different ( which would be quite hard to do I think) then at least I would be not be attracting unnecessary attention.

I realise that this might be my ocd playing havoc with my thoughts and I would be grateful for any advice on this.

Thanks

Hi d,

As I advised another member : Here, there is nothing wrong with re-submitting evidence/information that you have used previously as long as it is still current and relevant to the limitations that you are suffering.

It is highly unlikely, that the ESA Assessor will have access to your last ESA50, they may not even be aware which ESA "group" that you are in and why you qualified for it.

This is why we advise members to treat re-assessments as if it was their first assessment.

Neither ATOS nor Maximus store any of your personal information including previous ESA50's.

Once you have gone through the assessment/re-assessment process, you ESA file is returned to The DWP, where it is securely stored by The DWP Data Control Dept.

If you are aware how and why you were placed into The SG last time, it will certainly do no harm to point this out within your current ESA50.

You may also find : This Post helpful.

bro58

davuck wrote: Hi again,

The last time I filled in the esa50 2 years ago I ticked the " it varies " box and explained how my walking is affected by my spinal injuries and was upgraded to the support group . On reading the advice in the advice guides here im wondering if I should now say "no I cant walk 50 mtr because of the pain and I collapse on one side regularly and the pain brings me down on my knee ,or stick with "it varies" because it sort of does vary but never goes away etc. Its the point difference in the different answers that is worrying me, that and my ocd making me think that "what if I fail because of new tightening up in other parts of test and regret not going for the straight of 15 point answer " The other thing that was confusing me was the regulations that say if I tick "it varies" and the decision maker fails to take that into consideration it would help with any appeal. So my dilemma is to leave well alone and repeat what I said two years ago or go for the higher scoring answer because of possible changes in points because of changes in legislation in the last two years.. I realise it might not be possible to give specific advice as in telling me what to do but any thoughts would be greatly received

Hi d,

See my response to your query in your other topic : Here.

Please try and keep all your related queries to one topic, it helps Mods to see other queries that you have already made, and provides some continuity !

There have been no changes to ESA qualifying criteria since 28/01/13.

For the "Mobilising" Descriptor (Activity 1) it was a small change to the wording.

You should go with whichever tick box option best matches your "Mobilising" limitations at this time.

If you think that non of the tick-box options fit in with your own limitations, don't tick them, simply write a comment such as "non of the available tick-box options reflect my own limitations, please see my response below/on added A4 page.

Regarding being classed as being able to carry out an "ESA Activity" :

If you can't carry out any of the ESA "Activities"/"Descriptors" repeatedly, reliable and safely for The Majority of the Time or for The SG, On the Majority of Occasions that you attempt them, then you should not be assessed as being able to carry them out at all.

When carrying out any of the "Activities" you must also be able to do so without suffering severe pain, discomfort, fatigue or breathlessness.

Again, if you can't, then you should be classed as not being able to carry them out at all.

The majority of the time is greater than 50% of the time, i.e. more than 12 hours in a day, 3.5 days in a week, more than 15/16 days in a month, more than 6 month in a year.

This is explained further in our : ESA Claims Guides

bro58

davuck wrote: Hi again,

The last time I filled in the esa50 2 years ago I ticked the " it varies " box and explained how my walking is affected by my spinal injuries and was upgraded to the support group . On reading the advice in the advice guides here im wondering if I should now say "no I cant walk 50 mtr because of the pain and I collapse on one side regularly and the pain brings me down on my knee ,or stick with "it varies" because it sort of does vary but never goes away etc. Its the point difference in the different answers that is worrying me, that and my ocd making me think that "what if I fail because of new tightening up in other parts of test and regret not going for the straight of 15 point answer " The other thing that was confusing me was the regulations that say if I tick "it varies" and the decision maker fails to take that into consideration it would help with any appeal. So my dilemma is to leave well alone and repeat what I said two years ago or go for the higher scoring answer because of possible changes in points because of changes in legislation in the last two years.. I realise it might not be possible to give specific advice as in telling me what to do but any thoughts would be greatly received

Hi d,

As you can see I have merged your 3 related ESA queries to the one topic, for the reasons explained in my other response.

Please don't post duplicate queries in different topics.

There will always be a variable delay between you posting and your post showing up on the forum, as explained in This Topic which is always near the top of the forum.

By the way, ESA Activity 1, is not purely a "walking test". (as PIP is)

It is a "Mobilising" Activity, so as well as the distance that you can walk, aided or un-aided being assessed, the distance that you could self propel a manual wheelchair unaided is also assessed.

This is the case even if you have never owned one, used one, or been advised to use one.

ESA Activity 1 :

"1. Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid is normally or could reasonably be worn or used.!"

Again, this all explained in our ESA Claims Guides.

You can Bookmark/Favourite this page in your Internet Browser, that way you can find your topic again easily to pose any other queries that you might have, by replying to this topic.

bro58