CPN help for ESA question?

dan99

If you have a CPN who fills the ESA form in or goes to the assessment with you does it look better at the ESA assessment? I have anixtery and depression.

IAmWales

This is the fourth thread you have started dan and you've come back to none of them. If you want help you need to contribute to your own threads a little more.

No, having a CPN fill in your form does not make your application look better. Most of them wouldn't have time to fill one out for a patient anyway.

Avocadotoast

Hi Dan,

No, it most likely will not make it look better at all. If you need help having your forms filled out see if your local council or CAB advisor can help. You have to book this in straight away so you can get it back on time.

Where I receive community mental health care, not one of the four preofessionals I see would ever be so hand on as to fill in a form. They're too busy and it's not their job. They will provide evidence if requested by the DWP but that's as far as it goes.

And most CPNs can't go to WCAs either and it probably wouldn't help anyway. You must take an appropriate person with you.

Good luck.

Alice_Holt

Dan,
Yesterday you posted this:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5659317
in which you implied that after travelling to an ESA assessment you were experiencing an episode of poor mental health...."i have been feeling really depressed, do i go to my gp and tell him that i'm ready to hurt myself and will then section me. i'm worried because i don't want to end up homeless? what do I have to do to get sectioned, is it hard?".

This was my post in response:

"Please get an urgent appointment with your GP, and see what help is available in your community.

See also: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/mental-health-and-stigma/help-and-support
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/your-mental-health/getting-help
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/#.WTL1dBgrK00

Don't worry too much about your WCA.
If you need help to appeal a decision your local CAB / advice centre can help you, but the assessment should look at what you can do reliably. You had little choice but to manage the journey to your assessment even though you must have been very anxious, but this still may well be something you couldn't do reliably and repeatedly on a normal day.
(I would suggest making a note of how the journey and the assessment has affected you, as this would be useful should you need to appeal the ESA decision).
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-we-provide-advice/advice/

If you are in social housing, and have a supportive housing officer- it might be worth having a chat with them. Sometimes, they will know of local organisations who they can refer you to for help.

Are you receiving PIP?
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/before-claiming/check-you-are-eligible/
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-self-test
If not this could provide you with additional income to help with your circumstances / recovery.

If you are receiving housing benefit / council tax reduction, then let the local housing benefit dept know of any changes to your circumstances. If you do, then this will continue to be paid even if your ESA changes. So, don't be too worried about the rent.

Best wishes, please take care of yourself."



I hope you can understand why I'm now slightly puzzled by your latest post, as your previous posts indicated that you had already completed the ESA50 form and attended an assessment.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5650831

If you can let us know your precise situation, we may be able to help further.
But I would again urge you to make an appointment with either your CPN / GP if you are experiencing a MH crisis.
Because you have not replied to any of the forumites who have tried to help, as IamWales says, we don't really know how to advise you further without knowing your particular circumstances.



But to answer the question you have just asked:
1) It is best to get help with the ESA50 form from the your local CAB / advice agency. If your CPN can add a evidence letter to the form, so much the better.
2) If your CPN has the time (which is unlikely per IAmWales) then having them at the assessment may be of help. But having a family member / friend present who helped you get there would also be helpful.

dan99

sorry about not relying.

my foster mum filled the last ESA assessment form out and my after old care social worker sighed it and I got put straight into the support group, i have mild learning difficulties (but never tested only school reports) and anxiety and depression. I have fallen out with my foster parents now and my new aftercare social worker is unapproachable. I got recently esa form and I filled it in best I could and started panicking because I'm not at filling them in, I don't have no support networks and don't see my GP and I rarely go out. I got called to a medical and I had to go alone because I have nobody to go with me and I was only in the 20 minutes and the women didn't seem nice or understanding.

I have rang the crisis team and they made a appointment for me to see somebody also I have been on a section 136 before for a night and seen by a doctor but they said to do Assertiveness and Confidence Building course.

I don't think I'm going to pass this medical and worried I have to go over on job seekers and would end up homeless, i wish I never fallen out with my foster parents

IAmWales

You're not going to be homeless if you go on JSA, you'll still be entitled to housing benefit. Do you think you are capable of some work? Did you go on the course your doctor suggested?

Wayne121

Not sure why so many people say having your cpn fill in your claim form does not help i suffer from eupd an scizophrenic tendicies my cpn has always helped fill in my claim or had the cmht social worker to do it i have never had a face to face with atos although i know i am lucky as this is not the norm my pip just was re assessed an dwp phoned my cpn who spoke to them in length about how my condition affects me an how a face to face could be too much for me an he said 99.9 percent sure i will not have to go in !

System

Can't recall my CPN ever helping me with the forms, i think she signposted me to CAB for help. I think having mental health services involved can help in the sense that it provides more evidence potentially and possibly indicates a more serious case of mental illness (not that that is always the case, my bipolar has been very bad the past 5 years and ive only just back onto the waiting list for a MH assessment, so for 5 years ive had no specialist imput nut still struggled massivley).

Ames

I would be very wary of having a CPN (or any other medical/support worker*) fill in a benefit form. They're not benefit experts and don't know the rules and how to fill in forms. We see it often on here 'my doctor says I'm not fit for work', 'my specialist says I should get PIP', but when you question further the doctors/nurses/specialists/support workers can't tell the claimant what the rules are, let alone how they apply to that person. I've had it happen to me - 'oh yes you should definitely qualify for ESA'. A few weeks later I casually mention a few of the support group descriptors and the same person says 'wow I had no idea the rules were so harsh'.

A letter confirming your problems and which descriptors fit would be far more useful than a cack handed attempt at filling in a form. I can't imagine a CPN having enough time to fill in the form thoroughly.

*The exception would be someone like a Macmillan nurse, where the rules are much simpler and it's a large part of their job, not something being squeezed into a normal health appointment.