esa benifits

[angieskye]

hi been on esa for a year now been taken off has they say i only entitled to it for 365 days because i am in the work related group waiting to go for a medical to be assessed to see if i will be put in the support group was wondering is there any1 with lupus been put on the support group ty

[kulie13]

I wrote a blog about this under the heading 'Benefits Information- ESA' back in April. But please note that even if anyone else with Lupus is in the support group, it doesn't help you, because they do not make awards on the basis of your condition - they do it based on how much it affects your ability to do certain tasks, which is different for everyone. Check out the list of descriptors in the blog and see if you meet any of the support group descriptors, and make sure you get whatever medical evidence you can. This 'medical' is not really a medical at all, it is purely someone with medical training who will assess you against this list of descriptors, and maybe ask you to move your limbs a little bit. If you can't move as much as 50metres, this should be an automatic support group placement, but please be sure to explain how limited your mobility is, and if you tell them you walk a dog or go to a supermarket for yourself, they won't award it, because you must be walking more than 50m to do that. Good luck.

[charm81]

Hi Angie,

I was placed in the support group in 2010 and I am still in it today. Before my ATOS assessment my advisor at the job centre advised me that it would be very unlikely that I would be put in the support group. However in Nov 2009 I had an infusion of RITUXIMAB (chemotherapy) and was administered high dose steroids and gained a lot of weight which impacted on my joints and in turn limited my mobility.

I later discovered that anybody undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, haemodialysis etc automatically get placed in the support group. But I am sure there are other factors.