Question about ESA claim

Peter333

bspm wrote: »

No one can tell you it is safe to book a trip or not even though you have been given the link explaining rearranging an assessment.

It is up to your neighbour to decide not for someone on a forum to give her permission to travel

Originally Posted by pmlindyloo View Post
You can postpone a WCA appointment once.

See here:

https://www.chdauk.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions

They have to give 7 days written notice (unless the claimant said they would accept shorter notice) so she should be OK.

Thank you. And Lindyloo too.

I did notice on that link though, that even though you can cancel the assessment once, you have to ring the number they tell you to ring, the day before the appointment only.

The lady I know is only going to Scotland, so she shouldn't have any problem ringing the day before (unless it's a Sunday LOL,) but I must say this is quite strict and limiting. You must ring the day before only. What if you were out of the country for a few days? What if you can't get through?

I wonder why it has to be the day before only...? Surely it would make more sense for the people doing the assessments to have more notice of a cancellation!

Hopefully, she will end up not having to have one.

NeilCr

Couldn't she contact them now with her holiday dates? If she explains the situation there is a pretty good chance they won't schedule any assessment for those few days

Peter333

NeilCr wrote: »

Couldn't she contact them now with her holiday dates? If she explains the situation there is a pretty good chance they won't schedule any assessment for those few days

That sounds like a fairly good idea. But I wonder if they will say 'why did you not mention this on your form when you were asked if any dates were not OK; eg hospital appointments?'

The reason she didn't by the way, is because she thought that if she was going to have an assessment, they'd call her maybe 4 weeks or so after they received the form. Not more than 3 months after. She thought it would be all over and done and dusted by the middle of April at the latest.

She also said she didn't want to say she was away/on vacation in case they held it against her (like, why is someone who is too unfit to work swanning off on a vacation?)' Daft I know, but this is what she said when I said 'why didn't you give these dates in the form in the first place?' She was worried they'd judge her for going away, even though it is her son's wedding.

NeilCr

Peter333 wrote: »

That sounds like a fairly good idea. But I wonder if they will say 'why did you not mention this on your form when you were asked if any dates were not OK; eg hospital appointments?'

The reason she didn't by the way, is because she thought that if she was going to have an assessment, they'd call her maybe 4 weeks or so after they received the form. Not more than 3 months after. She thought it would be all over and done and dusted by the middle of April at the latest.

She also said she didn't want to say she was away/on vacation in case they held it against her (like, why is someone who is too unfit to work swanning off on a vacation?)' Daft I know, but this is what she said when I said 'why didn't you give these dates in the form in the first place?' She was worried they'd judge her for going away, even though it is her son's wedding.

If she says what you have just said - "she thought the assessment would be earlier etc" I think that is more than reasonable. And she is going to her son's wedding after all.

There is a danger of overthinking this. To be honest I would think they would be relatively grateful to be given advance notice and it is only a few days. The alternative is to stay quiet and fret all the way up to the wedding. Probably best to get it settled now

[Deleted User]

I agree that there is a danger of overthinking on this.

No point in worrying if they have already made a decision.., in case it affects a 4 day stay in six weeks. Deal with it if it happens. Its not likely that out of all the days the assessment could be, IF it happens, it will be on one of those four days. But its not even known at this point if an assessment will happen.

I would hope it is unlikely she'd miss out on her son's wedding for an appointment, all she has to do is rearrange it. IF she needed to.

adviceforall

When I claimed ESA in April i did not have an assessment until the following January. I cancelled one appointment as we were going to be away, I did not have to wait until the day before....seems silly as surely they would like to know asap to give the time to someone else...If she is going on a 800 mile trip hope they dont hold it against her, I had a 50 minute car journey to my assessment and they held that against me saying it proved I could sit for that long....I was in terrible pain on the trip but if I had not gone they would have stopped my money so I was stuck either way.
Good luck to her and hope she enjoys her sons wedding without worrying too much.

Peter333

adviceforall wrote: »

When I claimed ESA in April i did not have an assessment until the following January. I cancelled one appointment as we were going to be away, I did not have to wait until the day before....seems silly as surely they would like to know asap to give the time to someone else...If she is going on a 800 mile trip hope they dont hold it against her, I had a 50 minute car journey to my assessment and they held that against me saying it proved I could sit for that long....I was in terrible pain on the trip but if I had not gone they would have stopped my money so I was stuck either way.

Good luck to her and hope she enjoys her sons wedding without worrying too much.

Wow, a nine month wait? Is that normal? I have spoken to a few people (since I posted this,) who said 2-3 months, but not nine months? I wonder why it took so long?

Thanks for your response. And the same to everyone else.