Progress on applying for benefits

[PurpleRing]

Hi everyone.

Not too long ago I posted about applying for PIP. Well I haven't done that yet, but I did instead apply for Employment and Support Allowance.

Since you get paid a little bit during the assessment period for ESA rather than having to wait for a decision and get backpay like with PIP, I figured this was a better idea for the short term as I've now got more prescription costs to contend with (I'm back on pregabalin 😁👍).

I've just spent the last two weeks making sure I have as much evidence as possible ready to go, I'll be printing out the ESA50 form I've filled in and sending it off early next week. I have 19 double sided pages for my medical evidence, and it only covers the last couple of years! I'm feeling quite confident about it, and since it's a similar set of questions to PIP it will make me feel better about applying for that too.

Another bit of confidence for me comes from the work coach I had. After the telephone interview he said he wanted to avoid having me going in for a face to face meeting (but I didn't want a home visit). And after the in person meeting he said it was quite likely I was going to be in the "Support group" where they don't expect you to do work related activities!

Just wanted to share this little bit of positivity I think (:

[skit]

Please do apply for PIP. You can have that even if you are employed. The issue is the support group is where HMG is focusing on getting people into employment. Whatever your skill set is please do try and keep some of that going. Should you never return to paid employment you might feel volunteering is good for you mentally and socially

[PurpleRing in reply to skit]

From what I understand there's two groups, the Work Related Activity group where they still expect you to Jobseekers activities, and the support group where they don't expect you to do activities. That no-activities group is the one my work coach said I was likely to be in.

PIP is definitely still in the plan, this was just for the mean time. Doing the ESA paperwork has helped me feel ready for the PIP form too since it's basically the same questions.

[Fibrooh]

If you haven’t already, this might be worth considering..

nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescri...

[PurpleRing in reply to Fibrooh]

thank you for reminding me about this! I had one of these a few years ago but I stopped them. I need to get one of these again, thanks again!

[Mrdiagnosis]

Keep a copy of your application. It helps if you decide to go for pip if you can keep the answers similar or the same because for continuity. Plus they refer to what you've written when having an assessment. Just to keep in mind because they are crafty and try and catch you out and confuse you. Photocopy the lot and keep it.

[PurpleRing in reply to Mrdiagnosis]

that's really good to know, thanks. I filled the ESA form out on my laptop so I do still have a copy

[hightree]

Definitely keep copies of any paperwork, I had ESA following early medical retirement, DWP wrote to me after 6 months informing me they were stopping it, ESA is based on NI contributions and should be available for 12 months, I had to go to tribunal that took 12 months to get back the 6 months they owed me

[PurpleRing in reply to hightree]

sorry to hear you went through that! I'm glad you did get it resolved in the end

[Mrdiagnosis in reply to hightree]

ESA is normally paid for 365 days if it's contribution based. However,if you are placed into the support group it continues as long as you paid enough NI for the previous 2 years .

[Midori]

If you are going onESA, you should

Cheers, Midori no longer need to pay for prescriptions, I believe. Alternately, you could ask in your Pharmacy for Form HC1, (it's for folk on low incomes to get free prescriptions.)

[MistyMints in reply to Midori]

Only free prescriptions if you are on income related ESA. With contributions based you should apply for a prepayment certificate which is around £10 per month so well worth it. You'll have no additional cost.

[PurpleRing in reply to MistyMints]

I'm definitely getting the prepayment certificate, I completely forgot that was even a thing

[PurpleRing in reply to Midori]

i tried applying for the HC1 low income scheme but they said that because I'm getting a maintenance loan for university, I should have enough for my prescriptions. and as MistyMints said, it's only the old style income-based ESA that grants you free prescriptions. the new style ESA (which is the only kind you can apply for now) unfortunately doesn't count for free prescriptions

[Binky68]

apply for pip and also get an annual pure payment certificate for prescriptions if you’re on contributions based ESA. I received help from the old peoples parliamnet via my GPS social prescriber to apply for both of these as I didn’t know they existed having worked for 30 years.

[PurpleRing in reply to Binky68]

PIP is thankfully my next goal, I only applied for ESA out of desperation. pre paid certificate for prescriptions is also on my list of things to do

[Mrdiagnosis in reply to PurpleRing]

If you get ESA definitely mention it on your application for pip . I think I read it somewhere that it definitely helps .

[Midori]

That's new; I used to have an HC2 certificate.

Cheers, Midori