Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Repeat claims for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

You will not usually be able to claim for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) again if you are found to be capable of work after your Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

There are some exceptions when a new ESA claim will be allowed. The main situations are where:

• your current condition has got a lot worse

• you’re claiming for a new condition.

There are other exceptions that may apply in certain circumstances.

If you have failed the WCA and you want to reclaim ESA, it is essential that you seek advice from an experienced adviser before making a new claim to check whether you fall into any of the exceptions groups which would enable you to reclaim. You can use our Find an Adviser tool to find details of local advice agencies in your area.

Getting ESA whilst appealing

If you are appealing against a decision that you have failed the WCA, then depending  on the facts, you can still be treated as having limited capability for work and so be entitled to ESA whilst appealing in the following situations:

• If the WCA failure that you are appealing against is the first such failure (or the first since a previous decision that you passed the WCA),

• Where the WCA failure that you are appealing is the second or subsequent WCA failure and your condition has got significantly worse or you have a new health condition.

You should seek advice from an experienced adviser if you intend to appeal against an ESA decision. You can use our Find an Adviser tool to find details of local advice agencies in your area.