Renewals/ESA50 Questions

[Beddz]

Hi

I am due to have both PIP/ESA reviewed this upcoming Dec/Jan and have a few questions if anybody could help.

• Can you fill in the ESA50 or PIP form on the computer?
• Can you be found fit for work via a telephone assessment?
• Should I still send in a home visit request letter from my GP?
• How long have the F2F assessments been for?

[nukecad]

You may not get a PIP renewal form, they may simply extend your current PIP award for 6 months at a time until they can restart F2Fs.
They are already doing that with PIP awards that are due to end, you get a letter about a month before it ends saying that it has been extended.

Similarly with ESA reviews, they are not sending out any ESA50s for reassessments until they can restart F2Fs.
ESA doesn't need to be extended and will simply continue to be paid as it is now.

December is 3 months off though and things with benefit reviews/renewals are changing all the time, so to answer your questions.

ESA50s can be done on computer and printed off, see here https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-questionnaire
You still have to post it to them though, in place of the one that they send you. (Don't send them one before that, you'll just confuse them).
It's a good idea to download one, fill it in, and save it to your computer. That way it's already done and just needs tweaking and printing off when they do ask for one.

PIP forms are currently in the process of becoming an online form, it's been trialed but is not rolled out yet.
Unless they send you the web address for the online form as part of the trial then it will still be a paper one that they send you.

You cannot be found FFW following a telephone assessment, that can only be done following a Face-to-Face.

You can ask for a home visit, but won't get one at the moment.
Telephone, and sometimes video, assessments are all they are doing at the moment. (Plus paper only of course).

Not sure what your last question means.
If you mean when will they start F2Fs again, who knows?

[Beddz]

You may not get a PIP renewal form, they may simply extend your current PIP award for 6 months at a time until they can restart F2Fs.
They are already doing that with PIP awards that are due to end, you get a letter about a month before it ends saying that it has been extended.

Similarly with ESA reviews, they are not sending out any ESA50s for reassessments until they can restart F2Fs.
ESA doesn't need to be extended and will simply continue to be paid as it is now.

December is 3 months off though and things with benefit reviews/renewals are changing all the time, so to answer your questions.

ESA50s can be done on computer and printed off, see here https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-questionnaire
You still have to post it to them though, in place of the one that they send you. (Don't send them one before that, you'll just confuse them).
It's a good idea to download one, fill it in, and save it to your computer. That way it's already done and just needs tweaking and printing off when they do ask for one.

PIP forms are currently in the process of becoming an online form, it's been trialed but is not rolled out yet.
Unless they send you the web address for the online form as part of the trial then it will still be a paper one that they send you.

You cannot be found FFW following a telephone assessment, that can only be done following a Face-to-Face.

You can ask for a home visit, but won't get one at the moment.
Telephone, and sometimes video, assessments are all they are doing at the moment. (Plus paper only of course).

Not sure what your last question means.
If you mean when will they start F2Fs again, who knows?

Thanks for your response Nuke much appreciated I have just gotten off the phone with CHDAUK and they advised me you can be found fit for work via a telephone assessment and that is 100% correct information?

CHDAUK also said ESA50's are being sent out by the DWP then reviewed by CHDAUK and a telephone assessment is booked or you'll be putting a waiting list for a F2F when they allowed to do so

[nukecad]

Thanks for your response Nuke much appreciated I have just gotten off the phone with CHDAUK and they advised me you can be found fit for work via a telephone assessment and that is 100% correct information?

CHDAUK also said ESA50's are being sent out by the DWP then reviewed by CHDAUK and a telephone assessment is booked or you'll be putting a waiting list for a F2F when they allowed to do so

The person you talked to at CHDA needs some better training.

CHDA's own guidance says that you cannot be found FFW via telephone assessment. The actual wording is:
https://www.chdauk.co.uk/information...ne-assessments

Will my claim be stopped as a result of my telephone assessment?

Your claim will not be stopped as a result of the telephone assessment. If the healthcare professional is unable to complete a full report during the telephone assessment you will receive a letter to let you know. We will contact you with details of a face-to-face assessment as soon as we can. In the meantime, your claim will continue as normal.

That means that if they can't recommend a group then no decision is made until they can do an F2F whenever that may be, and your ESA will continue to be paid.
So you can't be found FFW, and your ESA stopped, via a telephone assessment only.
(In fact in practice it means that unless they can recommend Support Group following a telephone assessment then any recommendation will be postponed until they can do a F2F).

Just think of it in practical terms.
Can you imagine the outcry in the media if the DWP started finding people Fit for Work without them actually being seen by anybody?
Plus it would be a no brainer for the appeal tribunal to overrule and order that a F2F be carried out.
The DWP can do without any more of that type of publicity.


They are correct that some ESA50s are still being sent out - but only for new claims, or if you report a change of circumstances.

Currently ESA50s are not being sent out for reassessments that fall due.
As they can't currently do F2F assessments it would simply be a waste of the DWPs time and yours if they kept sending them out.
The completed ESA50s would just pile up at CHDA, and be out of date by the time F2F reassessments can restart.

That is not a new situation, between 2014 and 2016 because of assessment backlogs they stopped sending out ESA50s for reassessments and only sent then out for new claims and C-of-C's for those two years.

[Swizzle]

Hiya,i have been worried about both esa and pip,been 5 years,been expecting to hear this year regarding esa,and my pip ends jan 2021..i haven't received any paperwork at all this year,i thought,what if it was posted out to me,and it got lost/went to the wrong address..i hope that's not the case,perhaps i'll get an extension for pip a month before it ends,so if i haven't heard anything by early december,i'll have to call them..or maybe call them sooner ?

[nukecad]

By all means call them to get reassurance, but they should just tell you the same as above.

Of course things are changing all the time with Covid, so by Dec/Jan they may have come up with something else.
But it's hard to see just what else they can do until F2Fs can start up again.

[Swizzle]

thank you for your reply nukecad,i'll give it a bit more time,then call them before the year is out just to check.

[ChrisDA95]

By all means call them to get reassurance, but they should just tell you the same as above.

Of course things are changing all the time with Covid, so by Dec/Jan they may have come up with something else.
But it's hard to see just what else they can do until F2Fs can start up again.

In terms of F2F appointments, I suspect with Covid cases going through a surge before Winter has even arrived and with the typical cases of Rhinovirus and Influenza that it brings, we most likely won't be seeing F2F appointments until next year.

[Beddz]

Do you know if the information is correct Nukecad regarding letters from GP's requesting claimants to be considered for a home visit are only acceptable if they are not more than 6 months old? I did just ring CHDA for there advice and they stated they would take any evidence as long as its not over 6 months. Even though they DWP ESA have my renewal down for December I wanted to try and prepare myself better than I did last assessment... So requesting all evidence now so I'm not rushing around in a panic when the ESA50 drops through the post

[nukecad]

They can't refuse any evidence that you send, however old it is.
I've regularly sent them consultants letters over 2 years old, because I've nothing newer from that particular consultant.

They may ignore it, there is not much that you can do about that.
But if it is still relevant and they ignore it then that's ammunition for if/when you go to tribunal.

The question about Home Vists is a bit different though and it may be resonable for them to ask for an up to date GP opinion.
TBH it's a moot point because they are not even doing F2Fs let alone Home Visits at the moment, and it's unlikely they will start anytime soon.