Filling out ESA form by yourself

My welfare rights adviser filled it out for me, but I noticed that she wrote it as if I was filling it in, so dont think it would go against you. I think citizens advice used to help people with the form but not sure if they still do it. Good luck. It is a really long pain. Reading the members only section on filling the form, helped me decide what information to give to the welfare rights person, and what was irrelevant.

best wishes,

Melanie

charlie

Derek4, forum moderator said in thread "CFS moving from IB to ESA" "As far as mental health problems are concerned - fill in your own form and you are considered by Atos to have excellent concentration and motivation. You could potentially lose points for learning tasks, sustaining personal action and coping with change."

hope this helps

martin

greeneyedlad wrote:

charlie

Derek4, forum moderator said in thread "CFS moving from IB to ESA" "As far as mental health problems are concerned - fill in your own form and you are considered by Atos to have excellent concentration and motivation. You could potentially lose points for learning tasks, sustaining personal action and coping with change."

hope this helps

martin

Martin

Many thanks.

M

charlie1962 wrote:

I have just received the dreaded ESA form and i wondered is there anybody who can give me advice on whether it's a good or bad idea to fill out the form myself.Could i be penalised in any way when they take a look at the form and see i've filled it in myself.

Hi Charlie

I can only really speak for myself. Filling in the form myself has always been used against me, with a statement such as 'completed IB50 without difficulty'. Not that they ask if you had any difficulty.

But I think it's fair to say that just about anything you do could potentially be used against you at a face-to-face assessment. Things like watching TV, listening to music, going shopping, cooking a meal, etc.

For that reason I wouldn't be overly worried about filling in the form yourself. I personally feel that it's not considered a key issue, but if you are found fit for work for whatever reason, it would be used to justify failing to score points for initiating actions and even coping with change (because filling in a form is a change!).

Regards

Derek

Can I just add

If it went to tribunal, I would certainly be telling the panel how many hours it took to fill in the form and how much 'blood, sweat and tears' I shed!

The tribunals listen to things like this.

I do hope you don't have to appeal though!

Best wishes,
Rachel

Hi Derek

Thanks a lot for that, could i just ask, you said that everytime you've filled out the form yourself its always been used against you, but did you get your benefit anyway?

All the best

Charlie