New-Style ESA application - string of questions / thinking it through

Hi all,

I've posted a little on a subreddit, but this is a longer and maybe rambling post that I appreciate the "closed garden" here for. It's partly to make sure I'm understanding the process, partly to make a record of this, and partly to ask if anyone sees any problems with what I'm doing.

Basic info:

I'm self-employed, working part-time from home, for the last 9 years. In part this is because working from home means my access needs are much easier to meet than if I had to be in a shared space or working to other people's schedules. I'm primarily a calligrapher, but also do occasional audio description scripting and recording.

I receive PIP - standard daily living, enhanced mobility. I have bilateral hip dysplasia, chronic lower back pain, and am on the Autistic spectrum also with Dyspraxia (which is a beautiful irony given the work I do, but my co-ordination issues seem to be much more associated with cognitive processing rather than motor skills - I don't process changing stimulus quickly enough to always respond appropriately - if I'm in a quiet space with no competing stimulus my movement is fine. Put me next to a busy road and I can't walk in a straight line!)

I have a problem with my dominant hand that needs surgery to repair. Without the surgery I am likely to lose wrist mobility which will stuff my calligraphy. With the surgery I will be off work for maybe 8 weeks, doing rehab and some work for another 6-8 weeks, then I should be back to normal. I walk with crutches or use a manual wheelchair to get about. While my hand is in plaster, I won't be able to self-propel my chair, and I don't know how well I'll manage on crutches, so my mobility is likely to be reduced.

I've applied for New Style ESA to help tide me over the period I will be unable to work, and this pre-op period where my work capacity is limited by the hand problem. My GP signed a fit note for 12 weeks, and after the surgery this will be reviewed. I'm still doing a little work, it's less than the limit for Permitted Work.

I had a call from DWP last week saying I had a gap in my Class 2 NI credits, but I could back-pay them and they would keep my claim open for me, once the payment was made and HMRC had allocated the credits, to call back and the DWP would process the claim. I paid the NI credits last week.

In the interim, I've received my ESA50 form. I thought it would take a few weeks for this to come through, but apparently not!

I have a job open to me when my hand is healed. I don't want to be expected to look for other work when I have work that works for my access needs, I'm just off sick temporarily. My hand problem has a knock-on effect on my mobility, but will the DWP / Ingeus understand that? Looking through the form, I'm perfectly able to pick up a phone or tap a button with my left hand, and reach above my head, but so many jobs break my brain I really can't handle being told I should find call-centre work for 8 weeks or something.

Am I panicking over nothing? Is a short term, fixable problem occurring in someone with other long-term issues something that the Ingeus assessors can grasp?

Thanks Gary, I’m slowly going through the guide bit by bit.

From my reading I won’t be eligible for the support group, unless the stars align and I get an assessor who accepts the way my issues combine to make “normal” work unrealistic (I’ve tried many times to hold down a regular job from leaving school to age 35, and every time has tipped me over the edge. My self-employed work has now been sustained for 9 years!)

Anywho, with luck I’ll not be on ESA for long enough to get beyond the assessment phase, especially if there are backlogs with processing claims.