Due to an ongoing medical condition I have been off work since June last year. My statutory sick pay expired as of December but as my employer had applied for me to receive income protection they agreed to pay me in full until a decision had been made. Insurance company decided I was eligible in February and so since March I have been receiving income protection from the insurance company monthly, 65% of my salary. This is until I am better enough to return to work or until I retire, whichever is first. I will remain employed by my company and my pension will keep going. In March I successfully applied for ESA which has topped up my income and is a huge help. It's the first time I have applied for any kind of benefit and am slightly worried about how easy it was for them to agree. At the very first stage of the application I told the lady I was receiving income protection and I wasn't sure whether I was entitled to ESA. She told me that once a decision has been made I must notify them of additional income, seemed pretty backwards to me but I did just that and sent them all the letters from the insurance company. I had to go to a meeting at the job centre the other week and again mentioned the income protection to the lady who seemed very surprised that I had been accepted for ESA and called some colleagues over all of who didn't know whether I was entitled or not. When she looked on the system there was no mention of me receiving income protection nor had any of my documents evidencing the insurance been uploaded even though all the other documents had been!! She told me to go home and get the documents so that she could upload them herself which I did. I'm now worried that I'm not entitled and will at some stage be requested to pay the ESA back. Has anybody had a similar experience and been declined or approved for ESA?