Employment and support allowance

Do you receive incapacity benefit or income support due to incapacity?

If the answer’s yes, the support you receive will change when you are assessed for Employment and Support Allowance.

When this happens there are a few things that you will need to be aware of...

You'll receive a letter from JobcentrePlus

You will get a letter about this from Jobcentreplus about the changes. It’s important that you respond by providing them with a telephone number so they can give you more information about any changes that affect you and find out what extra help you need.

Get your written medical evidence together

You should start to get all your written medical evidence together. This can be from your doctor, a professional caring organisation or charity.  The more evidence and information you can provide the better you will be able to support your case.

Attending a medical assessment

You'll be invited to a medical at an assessment centre that may be some distance from your home.  If you can't attend you must ring and arrange a new date. If you're unable to travel for medical reasons you need to get written confirmation of this from your doctor. You're advised to take someone with you when you attend the medical.

Outcome of the medical assessment

If you don't agree with the outcome of the assessment you can appeal against the decision (you'll be informed of your appeal rights in the decision letter).  At this point you may need to seek specialist advice and we'll be able to help you with this - call us on 0300 100 0303 if you would like to speak to someone about this.