ESA50

Taggy wrote: The letter which came with the ESA was addressed to his Mum and stated it was for him as they understand she acts as his appointee.

Best regards - Taggy

Hi T,

That should be O.K. then.

To be on the safe side, you may wish to include a copy of this letter, with a covering note.

bro58

Interested to note that I posted the form on Friday & I've checked on the Royal Mail site & it was signed for yesterday (Monday) at 05.30 GMT. Now i'm sure no one would have been at the ATOS Medical Services centre at that time would they? I'm sure I read about Royal Mail staff opening these letters so what happens to the forms if & when they do this?

Regards - Taggy

Taggy wrote: Interested to note that I posted the form on Friday & I've checked on the Royal Mail site & it was signed for yesterday (Monday) at 05.30 GMT. Now i'm sure no one would have been at the ATOS Medical Services centre at that time would they? I'm sure I read about Royal Mail staff opening these letters so what happens to the forms if & when they do this?

Regards - Taggy

Hi T,

Royal Mail do open mail for ATOS and The DWP, and have done for some time :

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dwp_and_atos_healthcare_use_of_r

You have fulfilled your responsibility by ensuring that The ESA50 was received at the address provided by the deadline given.

How it is handled now is not your worry.

bro58

Good News!!

Had phone call this Morning to say my Step Son has been put into the Support Group without needing to go for a Medical!! It wasn't me that took the call so don't know all the info yet, but his Mum was told that next Assessment would probably be in 3 years, which is I think the longest term they grant just now isn't it?

They said they will send out the information this week & are also sending out some forms to fill in as She was told he might be able to get more money. I'm assuming this is because he has never worked as he was Brain Injured at birth & his only income is DLA & IB?

Apparently the transfer from IB to ESA will take place in June.

The Lady who rang up said that they had never seen an application with such comprehensive information in it before, so I am feeling pleased with that, and so should you all at Benefits & Work too, because of course I would never have been able to have supplied the information in the way I did if it wasn't for all your invaluable help, advice & support both through the fabulous guides, and of course the forum too! So I really would like to express my gratitude for all that help that I have received.

As i'm sure you'll realise its a real load off our minds at the moment, and has certainly saved us from the stressful situation of an atos medical, which we were dreading really!

What I would like to do now, once we receive the forms from them, is to look at all the information they have used to arrive at their decision and also to see how they scored him in each of the descriptors on the form. Please could you let me know which specific things I should ask them for to see all this. Also, would it be reasonable to assume, bearing in mind my Step Son was Brain Injured at Birth & will never improve, that hopefully he would not need to undergo Medicals in future assessments or is it difficult to equate atos with reasonable decisions?

So that's one large area of stress removed for the moment. I've just got an appeal on an under-occupancy assessment for the Bedroom Tax to sort out now (don't suppose you advise on those) and the not so small matter of him losing all his ILF entitlement with Government abolishing that!!! Oh & of course there will be transfer from DLA to PIP from 2015, which i'm hoping...but not assuming...may be a little easier now the ESA has been sorted!

Once again a great big thanks you to you all!!!!

Best regards - Taggy

Taggy wrote: Good News!!

Had phone call this Morning to say my Step Son has been put into the Support Group without needing to go for a Medical!! It wasn't me that took the call so don't know all the info yet, but his Mum was told that next Assessment would probably be in 3 years, which is I think the longest term they grant just now isn't it?

They said they will send out the information this week & are also sending out some forms to fill in as She was told he might be able to get more money. I'm assuming this is because he has never worked as he was Brain Injured at birth & his only income is DLA & IB?

Apparently the transfer from IB to ESA will take place in June.

The Lady who rang up said that they had never seen an application with such comprehensive information in it before, so I am feeling pleased with that, and so should you all at Benefits & Work too, because of course I would never have been able to have supplied the information in the way I did if it wasn't for all your invaluable help, advice & support both through the fabulous guides, and of course the forum too! So I really would like to express my gratitude for all that help that I have received.

As i'm sure you'll realise its a real load off our minds at the moment, and has certainly saved us from the stressful situation of an atos medical, which we were dreading really!

What I would like to do now, once we receive the forms from them, is to look at all the information they have used to arrive at their decision and also to see how they scored him in each of the descriptors on the form. Please could you let me know which specific things I should ask them for to see all this. Also, would it be reasonable to assume, bearing in mind my Step Son was Brain Injured at Birth & will never improve, that hopefully he would not need to undergo Medicals in future assessments or is it difficult to equate atos with reasonable decisions?

So that's one large area of stress removed for the moment. I've just got an appeal on an under-occupancy assessment for the Bedroom Tax to sort out now (don't suppose you advise on those) and the not so small matter of him losing all his ILF entitlement with Government abolishing that!!! Oh & of course there will be transfer from DLA to PIP from 2015, which i'm hoping...but not assuming...may be a little easier now the ESA has been sorted!

Once again a great big thanks you to you all!!!!

Best regards - Taggy

Great news T,

Thanks for the positive feedback.

We don't advise on The Bedroom Tax, but there is an article on it in this month's News Letter :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2276-15-may-newsletter

10 test cases are being heard 15-17th May, so you may wish to keep an eye on the outcome.

bro58