ESA claim form will be available on line via DWP or Jobcentre Plus website from 27 July according to our local liaison group. This is to cover the 3 month claim in advance possibility.

Contact Centres not able to take telephone advance claims, as don't have a script yet.

JC+ staff are starting "intensive training" in September apparently.

Well, I can't find it which is no great surprise. Anyone else tracked it down?

presumably it will appear here ...

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/resourcecentre/claim_forms.asp

.. but nothing under "E" at the moment ....

... or pehaps here http://www.dwp.gov.uk/esa/

...or maybe here?

Jobcentre Plus

Latest update - our local JC+ office contact thinks the form is available on their Intranet site only. So they can print one off for anyone who wants one though they don't expect to be overwhelmed by people wanting to claim in advance.

And the Contact Centres should also be able to get a printed off form sent to claimants if they ask for one.

I've asked for a copy - sadly will not get the colour version (pink apparently).

Fri 08-Aug-08 10:10 AM by rwils

Have now had a fairly brief look at the paper claim form and found a few points of interest:
- it is a common form for ESA and ESA-Y
- asks if clamaint wants to claim contributory and/or income related ESA with a note saying claim income related now if not sure as if do not and later ask for it, may not be backdated
- asks a lot of questions about work including voluntary work, eg "can you choose whether or not to be paid for this work" which I think could create traps for claimants not sure of the implications of their answer
- the accompanying notes section says "some medical conditions or mental health problems are so severe that we can decide straight away that they would affect your ability to work. If you have one of these conditions you will not need to have a medical assessment unless you want to"

I'm especially interested in the final point as I'm not aware of any provisions under which a person with any specific mental health condition can be treated as having limited capability for work or work related activity. Does it indicate a policy intention that I haven't come across?

Where did you get the form from,I can't find anything on the usual sites.

It certainly doesn't appear to be on either the JC+ or DWP websites yet. We got a copy from a contact at the local JC+ office - it is on their Intranet site.