ESA work assessment

rvj87

Hoping I can get some help/confirmation with this. I also hope that this is an error on the DWP's part. I have been sent a letter informing me that I failed to attend a work capability assessment on the 27th of September. I have absolutely no record of a letter or phone call informing me about an assessment, yet I am now being told that I have until the 9th to give the DWP a reason for not attending. I am very confused about this; I have been claiming income related esa for about three years now, and was placed in the support group. I understood that being in the support group meant that I would not be required to attend assessments. I was not aware that I would have to be reassessed every three years. What's going on here? should I contact the DWP asap and get them to re-send my letter? Any help or info would be hugely appreciated.

Alice_Holt

Being in the Support Group does not exempt you from assessments.
It means you do not have to attend work focused interviews.

Did you receive an ESA50 to complete (this normally happens before re-assessment)?

You need to let the DWP your reason for non-attendance (i.e you didn't receive notification). Keep a copy of your letter and get proof of posting. The sooner you send it the better.
http://www.wwras.org.uk/leaflets/public-leaflets-download/80-pb86/file
http://dwpexamination.org/forum/esa-wca-topics/what-to-do-if-you-fail-to-attend-an-esa-assessment/

Then I would suggest you visit your local CAB / advice centre for further help if necessary.

rvj87

I haven't recieved an ESA50 either, no. Would it be also be a good idea to call them and speak to them about it?

TELLIT01

Yes, contact them on Monday morning. Explain that you haven't received any notification of the WCA and that is why you didn't attend.

Alice_Holt

I would add the non arrival of an ESA50 to your letter. If you had received one then you would be expecting to be asked to go to an assessment.

It may be worth calling them but you must respond by letter setting out your good reasons for non-attendance within the time-scale indicated.

rvj87

Thanks everyone for the responses so far. I should probably add that there was a space, on the back of the letter I was sent, for me to write down the reason for non-attendance. Do I have to reply to the DWP with this letter, or would I be able to write my own?

epitome

Alice_Holt wrote: »

It may be worth calling them but you must respond by letter setting out your good reasons for non-attendance within the time-scale indicated.

This is not the case. This can all be dealt with on a phone call Monday morning. Ask for and insist if necessary for the reasons to be sent by HOTT.

I have been sent a letter informing me that I failed to attend a work capability assessment on the 27th of September. I have absolutely no record of a letter or phone call informing me about an assessment, yet I am now being told that I have until the 9th to give the DWP a reason for not attending. I am very confused about this;

You have a letter sent to an address...
Is it the correct address?
Has your address changed in the last 3 years?

What you need to do:

Once you get through security, make sure they have your current address, it can be a bit tricky to get them to acknowledge they have the correct address for you on their systems because they are not allowed to. If they refuse...say to them..."As you cannot tell me what you have, I will need you to update your systems with my current address" You should then be taken through a "change of address form" where all sorts of relevant questions will be asked, and they should then tell you that they have updated your address to their systems..... problem solved you now know what address they have as your "correct address" and can ask the following to be compared to your correct address.

You need to know that your medical letters have been sent from MSRS (Medical Services) to the correct address... so ask them to "Please look in MSRS"...and answer the following:
Does MSRS hold my correct address
Does MSRS hold my correct mobile number?
What date was my ESA50 sent ?
What date was my ESA50 reminder sent?
What date was my appointment letter sent?
What address was my ESA50 sent to?
What address was the ESA50 reminder sent to?
What address was my medical appointment sent to?


When you have all the answers... You can maybe use some of it in your reasons...

I have to go out now... I will be back in a couple of hours to finish my advice....

Alice_Holt

The other reason for a letter (having kept a copy of it and got proof of posting) is that the OP then has proof of that he has responded to the DWP (within the time limits) giving them his reasons for non attendance. If the matter does need to go to appeal, then such evidence will be vital.
I also think that many claimants might struggle to be sufficiently assertive on a phone-call to a DWP call handler to get a resolution in their favour.

Epitome is right in qualifying my remarks (I did rather over-egg it!), but I still maintain a letter should be sent in this case. (Ideally, both the telephone and correspondence)

rvj87

Epitome, could you please explain what a HOTT is? What you said was very informative but I'm a little confused now as to what the best course of action is. Should I contact the DWP to explain, and then send the letter? I am not certain I can do all the above in my current state of health. I'm also slightly wary of rocking the boat.I am sure they have the correct address for me on file. The letter saying that I failed to attend was sent to my current address.

epitome

I disagree, a letter is not required.

If you do it by phone, you should essentially have your reasons written out already before you phone. It will generally only amount to about 10 - 50 words. You ask them to send your reasons in a handover to the DWP. When they agree to do so, you wait until they are ready to write your reasons down, then you dictate to them. When you are finished, you ask them to read it all back to you.. until you are satisfied they have it correct.

The enquiry line that you are speaking to should have put in notes that a handover with reasons has been sent. When that handover is received at the other end, the BC will also put a note to say "reasons in handover sent to DM" So the evidence is there on your records that you did provide reasons. If you want extra security you can ask (and insist if necessary) for the handover to be sent as a "call back request" from the "Maintenance WCA" department that they have received your reasons and they have been forwared to the Decision Maker. and the decision maker will make reference to your reasons that you provided over the phone when they write the Written Statement of Reasons which will have a decision date, so the evidence you wanted is going to be within the decision statement itself....

And the person you speak to on the phone is not going to be the Decision Maker, they just send what you tell them to the Decision Maker.

If you send anything by post it will take on average 2 weeks to be actioned, and a lot of post is not actioned at all for months. You need the Decision Maker to have your reasons as soon as possible.

And if the OP does not feel confident to do the asking and dictating by phone, he can ask a friend/family who is confident to be on the phone with him.

As long as you get this done over the phone to your satisfaction on Monday, following it up with a letter is unecessary.


Now, to my further advice:

OP have you got anyone that can help you to phone with you?
If you can't do it yourself by phone, then I advise you to try and phone to get the answers to those questions above, the answers may help you, or they may not but you will never know until you phone and get the answers. (you should by the way relay the answers to me here)
If you want to send your reasons by letter after phoning or not phoning to get those answers, then you should have your letter scanned by a jobcentre. To get the appointment ask ESA for a jobcentre scanning appointment when you phone them...or ask your local jobcentre directly.

a HOTT is a handover when you phone ESA and you say I want my reasons to be sent to the Decision Maker,,,, they write it down and send it in a handover called a HOTT... but only if you insist that they do it for you.

You will note the procedure from start to finish is like this

Step 1 send you an ESA50
Step 2 Send you a reminder for the ESA50
Step 3 send you an appointment letter
Step 3a send you a text of your appointment to your mobile phone
Step 4 send you a "Why did you miss your appointment" letter

So the point of asking them to look in MSRS is to see if there has been any errors on their part, like they hold your correct mobile number on the main ESA systems, but the wrong mobile no. in MSRS. They hold the correct address for your post in the main ESA systems but the wrong address in MSRS when the letters were sent out. By the way, MSRS must have the correct address now, because they sent you "step 4 letter" but you have to check what address the previous letters were sent to.

If you find any errors in MSRS on those questions, then insert that into your failed to attend reasons as you dictate it.

You are saying to the DWP, ok you sent me 4 letters and a text and I only received 1 , (the last one). The balance of probabilities is going to make this very difficult to explain to them, you are going to need a very good reason..

Strictly speaking you only need to answer to Step 3 and Step3a, the ESA50 at this stage is irrelevant, but if you start telling them "I was totally unaware that I was being re-assessed until I got this (step 4) letter" They are going to wonder why you didn't get Step 1 and Step 2 letters.

People in this situation will have very little to say other than "Sorry I did not get the letter"

So unless you have something unusual to say like

"I live in a block and there is a shared hallway and the post goes missing"
or
"My mail is delivered to an external mail box and it is not safe been frequntly broken into and is damaged"
or
"My mail address that I gave you is a correspondence address where my father lives, and he has been away on holiday for a few weeks"

None of the above would guarantee you a good decision. but it might help. But beware, if any of the above is going to be used, remember, it your responsibility to provide and update DWP with a correct fully accessible and safe address for them to deliver your post to and if that is not where you live, you should regularly check your post there more than once a week. And under these circumstances you would be expected to give the DWP a new different address to be used going forward.

If you have no excuse other than "I did not recieve the letter" then string it out a bit like this....

"I am sorry I have missed one of your assessments, I did not receive an appointment letter, a phone call or text about the appointment.
The ESA telephone agent has confirmed that Medical Services did not hold my correct mobile number, this explains why I got no text, but they did have my correct address.
(assuming the following is true.......)
As you can see from my previous assessment 3 years ago, I have shown good faith in that I did attend to the first appointment I was given at that time, I wanted to attend this new assessment and I would have had no problem in attending if only I had known about the appointment."

rvj87

Is there any point at all in contacting them then? I don't know what I can do to show them that I haven't received those letters. Exactly what am I supposed to say to them? I can't believe I'm on the verge of losing my esa because of their mistake! I do not need this. My health problem has gotten so bad I'm currently in contact with the crisis team, and now, on top of that, I have to worry about losing my benefit because of their screw-up. I'll also lose my housing benefit which means I'll be homeless. This is the absolute last thing I need right now.