Forum

ESA help please

Everyday living
#1

Hi all,received the dreaded ESA phone call and they will be sending

me the questionnaire.

I am a full time wheelchair user and in the process of having a indoor/outdoor

electric wheelchair on the NHS just waiting for the OT to access my home for

suitability .

Looking at the descriptors i came across this question

‘‘Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid can reasonably be used’’ ?

Also if i qualify for WRAG and not the support group would i receive less money than i am on now ?

IB IS DLA( high rate for both)

JOHN

#2

Hi sorry

it should have read " mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick,

manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid can reasonable bee used" ? i see no mention of

electric wheelchair in the question, any ideas folk ??

John

#3

Hi John Give me a ay or so and I will have more info for you. Mike

#4

I think electric wheelchair is included in that but you could give them a ring to clarify it. You do get less money on WRAG I was on contribution based and got about £40 a month less than I do in the support group. Hope it all goes well for you Xx

#5

Hi John, I belong to a site called benefitsandwork, which is excellent and gives you advice on how to fill in the questionnaire (and what the questions really mean (the thinking behind them) as opposed to just ticking the box).

It does charge a membership fee (I think it’s about £20 a year) but it is well worth it and a lot of support groups use it. If you can’t afford the membership PM me and I’ll send you my login.

Mags :slight_smile: xx

#6

Hi John ‘‘Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid can reasonably be used’’ ? If you answer this section in a further info box on the form and state your mobility, if there is no further section send a covering letter What I suggest is 1. Get a copy of of neuro dx and associated paperwork 2. Copy of OT report Mike

#7

Hi John Sorry missed this copy them and enclose copies with form

#8

Hi,

I’m not sure if anybody actually answered but using an electric wheelchair is not classed as mobilizing (what a word!)

You have to be able to do the walking (mobilizing?) under your own steam be it with a stick, crutches or manual wheelchair.

I could go 20 miles or so in my electric wheelchair but only 20m or so under my own power!!!

Jane

#9

[quote=“MS02978L”]

Hi sorry

it should have read " mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick,

manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid can reasonable bee used" ? i see no mention of

electric wheelchair in the question, any ideas folk ??

John

[/quote] How far can you walk without your wheel chair With wheelchair You need to state distances. Point out that with manual chair. Xx meters. Electric chair xx meters. They use same descriptors for DLA and will for pip Mike

#10

I don’t like to be argumentative Mike but I can see no reason for putting how far you could go in an electric wheelchair. Like I said I could go miles in mine but that does not give any indication of my ability to move myself, which is not so good.

I personally think that including manual wheelchairs is a blooming cheek. (after all pushing yourself on a flat, good surface is not the real life of bumpy pavements and hills) There is no way I will be opening up the debate of using an electric chair with DWP - I’ll be sticking to metres not miles.

Jane

#11

Hi I agree it is totally wrong to measure how far you can walk…etc, but this is not and is one of the scoring criteria for pip. The DWP will score people for DLA some who have got it will loose it, some that have t may have payments increased. Mike

#12

Hi thank you all for your replys

I think i will join the benefitsandwork website,

a good few people have told me its really good

John

#13

Hi John I couldn’t find this link earlier http://www.advicenow.org.uk/advicenow-guides/problems-with-benefits/turned-down-for-dla-aa-think-youre-not-getting-enough/ Mike

#14

Hi Mike, if you have an ms centre near you or a neuro support centre they will help you with the forms for free. Just photocopy it and they will do a rough one for you which you can then put on the real one. Best of luck with it, I don’t think I would mention the electric chair as that is not describing what you can do, just what the chairis capable of if you see what I mean? Chis