Hi all,
I am currently working partime and claim working & child tax credit. I was diagnosed with my second round of breast cancer Nov 2016 and had a mastectomy followed by chemotherapy,herceptin,anastrazole and zoleidronic acid infusions. I keep trying to return to work but inevitably after a few days pick something nasty up and end up being signed off sick again. At the moment I have debilitating vertigo and have just been signed off again for a month. My doctor mentioned stopping work and recuperating properly and claiming ESA. Has anyone else made this transition and is it complicated ? I would really appreciate any advice :)
Hi Carrie,
There are two types of ESA income based or contribution based,when you apply you will recieve the basic amount to start with and then you will be sent a Work Capability Form to complete, it is a long form but as a cancer patient you only complete two pages and your doctor one, when you return it please make sure you send copies of all your hospital letters from consultants, oncologists and any test results you have ( i didn’t and my claim dragged on for months), once they recieve these they have 13 weeks to assess your claim.
Government legislation states that as a cancer patient you should automatically be assessed as having a Limited Capability for Work and be placed in the support group which increases your money and means you will not have to supply Medical certificates, it does seem long winded but so worth doing, macmillan will always help you but it is pretty straightforward, just remember to send those letters with your work assessment form, good luck
Mary x
Hi Carrie, I hope you have moved forward and made choices that work for you.
I just wanted to add to Mary’s advice that you can do “permitted work” whilst claiming ESA - up to 16 hours per week with a £ limit which I’m not sure of the figure (somewhere around £100). So you may be able to reduce your hours and still claim. X