ESA supporting letter

Hi I'm new to b&w, have been on IB and higher rate DLA for both care and mobility for many years due to severe M.E.

I have received the form ESA50 today to be transferred from IB to ESA and just wondered what information my supporting letter should contain. My dr is happy to write one and also my occupational therapist from M.E clinic.

Have been dreading going through this, and as am housebound really worried wont get a home visit for assessment. Any help really appreciated, many thanks

Hi,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

If your forum name is also your real name, you may wish to change it to maintain some anonymity.

This can be done quite easily by following the instructions on this FAQ

My full name is showing, how can I stop it?

Any letters of support from your G.P. etc, should ideally relate to how you qualify for either The WRAG of ESA, and/or The Support Group (SG) of ESA.

Here are The WRAG qualifying criteria, (you need at least 15 points which can be achieved cumulatively across all the activities, or on any single activity)

WRAG (LCW) Descriptors

You can also qualify for The WRAG under ESA Reg 29 :

ESA Reg 29 for entry to The WRAG (LCW)

See also : Qualifying for the WRAG

To qualify for The SG, you have to fulfill any one of The SG Descriptors, as below :

SG (LCWRA) Descriptors

Or you can qualify under ESA Reg 35 :

ESA Reg 35 for entry to The SG (LCWRA)

See also : Qualifying for the Support Group

A common misapprehension made by G.P.'s is that stating in writing that a patient in "Unfit to do any type of work" will help their patient to gain access to The SG, it doesn't, this is only saying that the patient has Limited Capability for Work, (LCW) which give access to The WRAG.

To gain access to The SG, you must be classed as having Limited Capability for Work Related Activity, (LCWRA) so you would also be unfit to take part in interviews, training courses, etc (WFI's & WRA)

Which version of The ESA50 have you received, is it The ESA50 03/11, (the 03/11 should be on the bottom left of page one) or is it The ESA50 01/2013. (the 01/2013 should be at the bottom right of page 20 of the form).

Once you have replied to this topic, I can advise further.

bro58

Hi thanks for your reply I have emailed to change my full name showing. I have received the ESA50 01/2013

O.K.

In that case you may want to consider :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Whilst referring to the corresponding section in the ESA Claims Guides under the heading of :

"New ESA50 form"

On this page :

ESA Claims Guides

With respect to the ESA50, see also :

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?

ESA50 too big for the envelope

From our : ESA FAQ’s

&

Sending Documents to the DWP or ATOS

As you are being transferred over to ESA from IB you may find it helpful to work your way through our : IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s .

I am not expecting you to take on board everything in my posts all at once, but if you bookmark/favourite this page, you can refer to it as you wish, and then pose any queries that may crop up, by replying to this topic.

bro58

Hi am now working my way through the ESA form with help from your wonderful guides, it's a very slow process! I have come across a letter written by my old occupational health worker to my dr before she retired but its 5 years old. It has good information in it about how my illness affects me and my daily life. Should I put a copy in with my ESA form or would it not be considered as years old? Many thanks