just wondered how phepia is getting on , She was seeing her gp on monday and she hasnt been back on yet .

Hi, sorry for not getting back. It's been a busy few days. Thank you for thinking about me

GP gave me a low dose of 20mg amitriptyline to take of a night to help me sleep. The last time I was gave it a year ago it did nothing, same so far this time around. He was going to up the Gabapentin but they already make me fall asleep as it is on the 300 mg, 4 daily dose. He refused to make it worse for me. I can't take codeine based medicines, or nsaids grasping at straws pain killer wise now.
He agreed he didn't think I was depressed and did agree on the anxiety, stress and feeling out of control with events with my life right now.
I have to see him and my benefit advisor at the end of the month as to see how I am getting on tablet wise, and to sort out my PiP tribunal which is the 24th June.

I'm on ESA, income based, and in the support group and I also get PIP.
I was sent a new form for the ESA a few weeks ago, which I filled in and sent off.
I've just received a letter from them and I've got the same awards as before, but it says the amounts apply from 3rd May to 28th November 2016. As this is only a few months will I have to fill out another renewal form for after November? Is something happening to ESA in November that I haven't heard about? Any answers will be greatly appreciated.
My problems are both mental and physical. The physical problems will not get better, in fact they are very gradually getting worse, and I stated this on my renewal form. They haven't asked to see me, just sent the award letter.
It just seems odd filling out a renewal form that is only going to last a few months. Also it says it's up to 28th November but that I also get the £10 Christmas bonus in December.

Hello all.

I've read a little bit of the thread, not 25 pages, but hope someone can please advise.

If someone was to gain around 45k from a parent who is selling their old house and splitting the money, therefore not an inheritance as such, I understand they will lose ESA and HB/CTB.

Her concern is because she is on ESA and will then have to live off of the 45k, when she runs out of money or falls below a threshold, she won't be able to claim ESA again, or she can, but it will be a new claim and no guarantee of acceptance?

She has mental health difficulties and is unlikely to ever work but it will be hard for her to get back on ESA as their is a lack of support for her. She will have many to back her up but not a lot official as all of the mental health support has been cut dramatically.

She understands her money will stop now (or soon) and agrees with that, but what about the future? When the money starts to run dry, she will need to go on JSA or Universal Credit and she won't be able to cope with that, she is not mentally able too.

She's not worried about losing the financial part of ESA at this time - she doesn't expect to get ESA and inheritance , just the support of ESA when she inevitably is spent out because of rent, council tax, living costs etc with no other money than this approx 45k and having to claim another benefit where she is pressured.

What i'm meaning to ask is, is their any kind of protection for people coming off of ESA for reasons other than work? Or is it a brand new claim in a few years time?

Thanks

I don't know, but I would think she'll have to apply for whatever benefit that is available when she gets below the limit of savings you're allowed, which I think at present is £16,000. As far as I know all the benefits in the future will be changed to Universal credit but I think the disability benefits will be the last to change.
Someone in the know will probably come along soon, in the thread, and be able to answer you. Or maybe it would be good to ask for advice from the CAB or one of the other disability advice organisations.
Sorry I can't help more.

Would she be able to try claiming PIP? Its not means tested as my mother is on it but has over 20k saving.

Yes, I thought she may have to apply then. I don't see her situation changing that much, but we can hope.

What disability organisation should I ask? I've been in touch with a couple of local organisations who have been very unhelpful.

Thanks for your response.


I don't think their is much chance of PIP sadly. Doing the self test for her, she'll get 6 points at best. Physically she is fine and if you met her you'd think she was shy, maybe nervous but without knowing the full details, people wouldn't know the truth.

She can bathe/dress etc, in fact she makes a lot of effort with both, but she suffers severe manic depression and diagnosed with bi-polar and personality disorder. She does voluntary work but it's in a supported environment. The problem she has a few friends like me that do a lot of things for her - cook her meals, do her housework, pay her bills, give her counselling and support because mentally it's too much for her. If we left her to her own devices, she'd just eat ready meals and chocolate, have a dirty home, forget all of her bills and get into trouble and go under, but Bi-Polar etc doesn't seem to be enough. She's been dropped by the local mental health team as they say they can't do anything for her despite some of us contacting them and questioning their judgement - the local mental health team are woeful, they let a lot of people down.

She refuses medication. Sometimes she'll try it for a week and then say it's not working, so stops. She panics over anything that changes - anything that slightly goes wrong is a disaster, even if it can be fixed in seconds. Example - if an app goes wrong on her phone she starts simpering and saying her phone is dying (this has been the same phone that has been dying for 6 years) and then someone will just sort it out and it's working again. Basically, everything is the end of the world - she's up and down and when she is down, it really is tough.

I won't go deeper into detail here, but as much as people want to help, it affects them negatively being around her for too long as every tiny thing is magnified.

It's not about the money anyway, she's worried a few years down the line when the money is gone that she won't have the comfort of not having DWP on her back - she really can't work, she has panic attacks when she's her DWP Advisor every 3 months as it is, but she is supportive to her. A normal JSA one would probably push her over the egge. She's talked about killing herself before but she's someone that won't admit to these things outside a small group of people and won't tell the full truth of how bad she gets, so she doesn't help herself with these Atos medicals etc as she does the opposite of what she should and withholds information that would help as she does't want to look, in her words, pathetic, but in reality, she's never likely to work, she's severely damaged.

Thanks for your response.

If she's in the support group for ESA, she'll still get the basic amount (£109.30 pw), because people are treated as being on contribution-based benefits indefinitely. She won't get housing benefit or council tax reduction until her capital drops below £16,000 though.

If she's in the work-related activity group, it's likely to be income related and her ESA will then stop.

She'll also need to be careful how she spends her money. If the DWP think you've blown your capital so you can get more benefits, they can treat you as still having it. If she goes on bender and spends it on posh cars and holidays, there's a real risk of this happening.

I'd be very surprised if she wasn't entitled to PIP though. On the basis of what you've written above, she needs:

prompting to cook meals (2 points)
prompting to take nutrition (4 points, because she doesn't eat reliably)
help/prompting to manage medication and monitor her mental health (1 point)
help making complex budgetting decisions (2 points)

And that's without discussing her condition with her in detail.

When you factor in the neglect of personal care that lots of people with bipolar suffer from, and the fact that she's likely to have some sort of problem mixing with people, I think she should qualify for the standard rate of the daily living component.

Get her to get the forms and see a benefit adviser, I reckon she stands a fair chance of getting it.

You might find some help from these sites -

https://www.rethink.org/living-with-...mental-illness

http://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/our-...work/benefits/

LakieLady - I don't know if you saw my earlier post regarding my ESA. Have you any idea why my award letter only covers me until November?
Sorry to be a nuisance.

I'm confused. Today my ESA should've gone in and hasn't

I have sent all the fit notes off as requested

I'm afraid I have no idea. It could simply be a mistake. When was your previous award due to end?

I've just gone through all my letters from 2012, when I was changed to income related ESA, and none of them tell me when it's due to end.
The letters have been sent because of general increases in benefit payments and the addition of Severe Disability Premium.
This latest letter is the only one where it's said the from and to dates. All the others have just said a from date.

It's very odd. I've never known someone have an award of such short duration.

I'd ring them and ask them.

ETA: you don't hit pension age then or anything, do you?
Last edited by LakieLady : 18-05-2016 at 17:06

That seems odd to me. The uprating is in April. All my ESA don't have an end date on them either.

No, I was 59 two months ago. To be honest I'm a bit scared of ringing them for fear of rocking the boat.
It seems odd that I've never been given an end date 'cos as far as I understand no one gets it indefinitely as such do they?

You don't get it indefinitely; but they also don't give you a date when you're going to be reassessed.

Okay my Doctor has apparently sent 2 letters to these people. A plea for a home visit and a back up letter. That was a couple of weeks ago. My rearranged appointment is for next Tuesday. I have heard nothing so far!. I'm really frightened. Do these people realise the damage they do?

Right, I plucked up the courage and rang them this morning.
Apparently it's a new thing they're doing. They are now putting dates on the award letters which only cover a few months. This is to stop people that have had an award letter, and that have gone back to work, still using the letter as proof of getting ESA, like for hospitals and dentists etc. So this will happen to everyone when they renew their claim. These letters then are basically just a proof of entitlement.
The lady said they'll just keep renewing the letter as long as you're still eligible for the benefit. You'll just be reassessed as you would normally do, not when the date on the letter runs out.
Well that's a weight off my mind. I'm glad I rang them to clear it up.
Thanks for all your help.

It is work related activity I think. She goes and sees a Job Centre Specialist every couple of months who puts no presssure on her.

One of her problems is money spending. She won't be buying big things but she'll go online and blow £30 on this, £20 on that and before she knows it she's spent her weekly money and people have to keep bailing her out. When she has £45k she could be a nightmare - she needs real help with this but all my contacts can't really help.

I'll look into PIP for her, but i'll have to do it on the sly at first. I brought it up with her earlier today and got an earful. She always talks about her mental illness but any talk of 'help' and she thinks you're trying to be above her and I copped a barrage of verbal aggression

Thanks.


Many thanks. I'll check them out

Okay so we are going to ring them at 9 ish tomorrow morning and find out what the frigg is going on!. These people do not even have the decency to tell us what is going on.

This has been going on for 3 Months now. This is driving me mad. I feel desperate. I cannot sleep I am beside my self. I do not understand the cowardice and the bitchery and officious nature from these people. I have my Mam who will bat for me but it is still scary. I feel all over the place.

I think you have been appallingly treated, and that you should make a formal complaint, through the DWP complaints procedure. Or you could contact your MP, the DWP aren't keen on having to reply to MPs and justify their actions, (or inaction, in your case).

just wanted to let everyone know how i got on at my assessment on Wednesday,

turned up and i was a bag of nerves, my legs couldn't stop shaking and i just felt so uncomfortable i could even make eye contact with the assessor for more than a second, i was too busy looking around the room i was so anxious,

he did however seem nice enough and seemed to be understanding of the things i go through on a daily basis but part of me wonders if this is a ploy to try and get me to slip up on the things i was saying.

as i suffer from depression and anxiety he asked me about do i do any housework, do i watch tv, what do i do on a daily basis, do i go shopping, do i get a bath, do i have a phone or social media, how does my illness affect my daily life, do i use public transport, but most of my answer where the same, everyday is different, i have more bad days than okay days, i can't be around people or in places i don't know ect,

now i'm worrying that i won't pass the medical and i just can't bare to think how it's gonna affect me

Had a reply from re-think who didn't offer anything I didn't already know (I work in the care sector, but know little about benefits).

Mind automated email says up to 5 days before they reply.

I know it's a worry (i've been with a few people to medicals) and won't tell you not too, as it's not possible to not think about it but I hope it all works out for you.

I hope he was genuine, some of them are and please let us know how you got on when the result comes through.