Letter from Health Assessment Advisory Service

wild666

Anyone going for a FACE2FACE assessment should call them 48 hours, or threabouts, before the time and ask for the assessment recording. There is a reply by Sarah Conner on the FOI site that states the machines require boundary mics to work properly.
Go in and hand over your duplicate copy of the appointment form, then ask for the travel expenses form, and ask them if the recording equipment is there. They may go away to find out, when they return ask if it's complete and in full working order. When you get in check that it has 2 boundary mics, no mics then it's not complete or in full working order, tell them you want it rescheduling! Then leave, you will have to wait for them to put a code in the door to get out, let them know that if the benefit is stopped it's immediate court action. Then when you get home, if all went well, put in a SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST for the forms and all accompanying paperwork.

• ESA50
• ESA85
• ESA85(S) Decision makers scoresheet
• ESA113
• LT54/ESA65
• All the information the HP used to make their opinion and their GMC/NMC/HCPC number & that of anyone they contacted for advice & their field of medical expertise
• All the information the Decision Maker used to make their opinion and the name and GMC number of anyone the contacted for any opinion and their field of medical expertise

Look up the BOND SOLON rule about opinion and fact and use it against them if it gets to an appeal. FACTS are what are in your medical records, opinions are that of the HP/ disability analyist & Decision Maker. That's why they never turn up to tribunal hearings if you request them too.

epitome

wild666 wrote: »

Anyone going for a FACE2FACE assessment should call them 48 hours, or threabouts, before the time and ask for the assessment recording. There is a reply by Sarah Conner on the FOI site that states the machines require boundary mics to work properly.
Go in and hand over your duplicate copy of the appointment form, then ask for the travel expenses form, and ask them if the recording equipment is there. They may go away to find out, when they return ask if it's complete and in full working order. When you get in check that it has 2 boundary mics, no mics then it's not complete or in full working order, tell them you want it rescheduling! Then leave, you will have to wait for them to put a code in the door to get out, let them know that if the benefit is stopped it's immediate court action. Then when you get home, if all went well, put in a SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST for the forms and all accompanying paperwork.

• ESA50
• ESA85
• ESA85(S) Decision makers scoresheet
• ESA113
• LT54/ESA65
• All the information the HP used to make their opinion and their GMC/NMC/HCPC number & that of anyone they contacted for advice & their field of medical expertise
• All the information the Decision Maker used to make their opinion and the name and GMC number of anyone the contacted for any opinion and their field of medical expertise

Look up the BOND SOLON rule about opinion and fact and use it against them if it gets to an appeal. FACTS are what are in your medical records, opinions are that of the HP/ disability analyist & Decision Maker. That's why they never turn up to tribunal hearings if you request them too.

Any one tempted by the above advice had better read this post in full before following the above advice.

I would say before any decision has been made all you really want is the medical report.

You would be better off waiting for a decision to be made before asking for all that you listed and you forgot the HCP summary statement (I forget what it is called ESA85something (I thought it was ESA85S but you put that down as the score sheet)............ and you could just ask for a copy of everything in the ESA55 because that would cover everything on your list. ... and you could just wait for the appeal bundle to come to you as that should contain the ESA55 contents anyway.

And you don't need to use a subject access request for any of that stuff... it is ALL available by simple request over the phone (please send me copies of the content of the ESA55) and you should consider, that there will be a reasonable delay for copies of everything used because the folder takes up to 2 weeks to come into the Benefit Centre from CHDA and it is then forwarded on to the Decision Maker. So you would be asking for something they either have not yet received from CHDA or that has already been sent on to the Decision Makers and it won't come back until the Decision has been made.

However, I would also say, to anyone reading your advice....it would be better, to inform CHDA in writing way before they even give you an appointment that you want it recorded, and not a last minute thing on the day you turn up, by all means, remind them when you phone them 48 hours before the appointment and remind them again when you turn up. But also... CHDA won't care less that you say "It's immediate court action if benefit is stopped" It's not CHDAs decision to stop your benefit, it is the DWPs decision....and the DWP won't care less that you say you will appeal if your benefit is stopped, It's pretty obvious that you will appeal and there is a process to be followed to allow you to appeal, so why bother saying it? The person you say it to will not care one bit that you have said it.

But realise this, if you refuse to attend your WCA on the basis that the recording equipment is not available or not working, you will be marked down as a DNA (did not attend) and you will have to supply DWP decision maker your reasons for not attending. The Decision Maker may take the view that it was unreasonable of you to have refused to take part and close your ESA claim. You would then Mandatory Reconsider, and then go to tribunal. (all the while without any ESA as your claim will have been closed). To get money while waiting months for your appeal.... you could either claim Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance (looking for work) or Universal Credit (looking for work) or Employment Support Allowance again. "ESA again" will only pay you if you have a new or worsened health condition otherwise you will be waiting for your next WCA without payment of ESA, and when you get there are you going to refuse to attend again due to no recording equipment?

And realise this, you may get away with this when you send your reasons for not attending, once or twice by mandatory reconsideration, but the DWP is not going to continually allow you to refuse to attend due to lack of recording equipment at CHDA, eventually they will refuse you good cause and your only choice left will be tribunal without payment of ESA.

I don't know how the First Tier Tribunals feel about DNA WCA for lack of recording equipment - does anyone here know?

I don't know how the Upper Tier Tribunals feel about DNA WCA for lack of recording equipment....does anyone here know?

I do, however, agree that every single claimant of ESA should do this and take the consequences of lost benefit until CHDA is forced to record every single WCA as standard practice. But getting people to do it in large numbers is not going to be easy. The alternative is for someone like yourself to do it and take it to the UTT and see if you can get a precedence set which all future claimants can use in their FTT until the DWP gets tired of refusing benefit on this basis.

Good luck to you, let us know how you get on....

Alice_Holt

I agree with epitome on this.

The practical consequences of not attending your WCA (or refusing to take part) are dire.
It can mean many weeks without payment.

If the ESA claim is terminated due to non-attendance then, as epitome says, to reclaim ESA, the claimant has to produce medical evidence to show a significant worsening of their condition or a new health condition.

Wild666 - It is never a good idea to play games with the DWP.
Take the WCA seriously:
have someone with you to take notes;
prepare yourself - have your ESA50 and notes with examples (or a diary);
explain the difficulties you have clearly and fully:
follow the appeal procedures if necessary.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/help-with-your-esa-claim/esa-medical-assessment/

epitome

And I heard that you could now record your WCA yourself now.

Apparantly what I heard was that DWP says you need a dual deck cassette recorder, and two cassettes - blank.

You would then I guess prove that it works, and proceed....

I guess you could have one with a microphone jack and put in a splitter for 2 microphones?

AElene

I don't think we really want to go in there with recording equipment, and I think they make it difficult to do so in any case, saying you need to record onto cassette or CD (I mean who has that sort of equipment these days?)

I'll advise him not to go on his own, either I will go with him, or (better perhaps) he can maybe go with an advocate, though not sure where to look for one!