IB to ESA Support Group (no medical)

Just wanted to share some good news and give hearty thanks to B&W for all the advice/support provided.

I was fooled by not receiving a dreaded brown envelope at first - ATOS sent the preliminary letter and the ESA50 in a sneaky white one.

I went through the worry of having a phone call, which went well as they rang me on my mobile while I was at a therapy session. The polite lady just said , "Oh well, I'm sure we can just send the form out" which they did.

When it arrived I contacted Mosaic our local disability help charity, and an advisor went through it with me by phone, giving me some good pointers.

I decided that typing was easier than writing, and definitely didn't want to complete it online in case they said I would be fit for work, so I created an office document and typed all my answers.

I went through it with my MS nurse who then wrote a letter of support. Sadly this didn't arrive until after the deadline so I completed the form and sent the letter a week later.

Because I wrote so much I ended up cutting and physically pasting all my typed answers onto the form, together with a few extra pages, all stapled and sellotaped on.

I photocopied it and sent it Special Delivery, tracked and signed for to avoid 'lost in the post' and it arrived before the deadline on 4th August. The following week I sent the letter from my MS Nurse, also Special Delivery.

On Saturday 20th August I got a dreaded brown envelope which I made my husband open. This was from DWP and I've been placed in the Support Group.

I am sure that giving them chapter and verse of my medical problems and how they affect my ability to work provided them with enough information to make the decision.

It's such a relief and a huge weight off my mind. I'm still getting used to the idea, but can now concentrate on keeping myself as well as possible and start to enjoy life a little.

One piece of advice to others: tell them exactly how things affect you, don't worry about repeating the same things in different places and as has been said before: make the form fit you, don't try and fit yourself into the form.

Good luck

Great news, I am pleased for you, this shows the diversity of how things work out depending on your location, yesterday someone explained how it took over 4 months to get the whole thing completed but you appear to have been delt with within4-6 weeks, enjoy life now as much as your probleems allow.

Lester

Well done madderbat and thanks for sharing your good news.

Derek

madderbat wrote:

One piece of advice to others: tell them exactly how things affect you, don't worry about repeating the same things in different places and as has been said before: make the form fit you, don't try and fit yourself into the form.

Good luck[/quote]

Congratulations madderbat

What a great piece of advice.

Margaret