Hi

I just found out today on the phone (I rang up because of a late payment) I have been placed in the ESA Support Group for 2 years, after returning the WCA questionnaire. I am delighted with this result My conditions are M.E, anxiety and depression. I am currently in the ESA Support group, but last time had to attend the face to face assessment, (which I found highly traumatic) so I was not expecting this result. I think the B&W guide helped me massively as I filled in the form completely differently this time to how I have previously, including loads more detail. Anyway since the ESA form came through a couple of months ago, I decided to apply for PIP so at least I had 2 chances of getting some kind of benefit to live on. At this point, I am questionning whether to go ahead with my PIP claim, as I am worried if I fail to be passed as eligible, they might reverse the ESA decision. Can anyone give me advice on this, whether it is likely to be the case?

Many thanks in advance for any replies.

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Congratulations on your ESA award! Thanks for letting us know and for your kind words about B+W

ESA and PIP are benefits with very different criteria. For instance, it is not unusual for people to be getting high rate PIP but still work full time.

Although it is possible that your ESA files could be looked at as part of your PIP claim, we have never seen a case where failing PIP has triggered an ESA reassessment.

Have you done the self-test on this site? Although DLA will score you much more harshly than you do yourself, it should still give you a good idea of whether you are likely to be eligible.

Ok that has put my mind at rest then to go ahead and see if I qualify. I will definitely be following B&W guide to the letter to fill in the form.

Thank you very much.

I have some questions regarding the PIP daily diary evidence. How useful/important do you think this is to include? Also how many days would you recommend doing? My PIP form answers are up to 3500 words already (my sister is typing it out before I copy it up.) Can the diary be done all on the computer, exactly following the template categories and everything or would a diary written out by hand in non table fom would be better?

Many thanks in advance for replies.

Lucky wrote: I have some questions regarding the PIP daily diary evidence. How useful/important do you think this is to include? Also how many days would you recommend doing? My PIP form answers are up to 3500 words already (my sister is typing it out before I copy it up.) Can the diary be done all on the computer, exactly following the template categories and everything or would a diary written out by hand in non table fom would be better?

Many thanks in advance for replies.

It depends on your conditions and in particular the degree of fluctuation, although it should not be excluded even if your conditions are static.

I would try and keep each entry down to a short sentence.

If your conditions do fluctuate then ideally you want to cover the period over which they change, as a minimum I would say at least a week worth of entries, more tends to be better but if you are simply repeating the same information then I wouldn't go beyond two weeks. That way they can do a week on week comparison.

Gordon

Oh goodness I don't think I will manage a weeks worth in the time I have left before I need to send form off. (2 days really, 4 at absolute latest) Should it be done on the computer on by hand? \Many thanks.