Work Capability Assessment Survial Tips Welcome..

biggysmaller

I am due a WCA in a few weeks.

I would welcome some tips on the process and what to watch out for and what the assessors may say to or do to confuse the questioning and answers to ones disavantage.

What kind of questions should one be prepared for and how did you positively handle them?

I can only attend the assessment alone - I have read that by doing so this will be a automatic failure of the assessment - is this really true?

Much appreciated.

Alice_Holt

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/help-with-your-esa-claim/esa-medical-assessment/

If using public transport (due to physical or mental health) / going out / being amongst people / is problematic, you can arrange a taxi and have the costs refunded:
https://www.chdauk.co.uk/before-your-assessment
(Claiming expenses section)

As Penitent says qualify your answers, and explain fully.
Be aware of the reliably criteria:
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-medicals


Good luck.

Stop_Watch

Tell the truth.

borkid

Stop_Watch wrote: »

Tell the truth.

Exactly. My daughter had her assessment a couple of weeks ago, I went with her as she needed to be driven. The assessor, who was a doctor, was extremely helpful and supportive. She did ask all/a lot of the questions on the form but also asked for the answers to be clarified by giving examples and asking for a typical 'bad' day and typical 'good' day. Towards the end of the assessment she said she wouldn't ask for the physical tests to be done as she could see my daughter was in pain. One thing she asked was what was my daughter's work before she became ill.

Letter came through today and she is in the support group.

I will add that although the system seems to go wrong a lot, this was the 5th appointment for an assessment the others were cancelled by them, all the staff we have seen face to face have been very helpful and considerate. It was one of the receptionists who saw my daughter and said she should not be expected to take the stairs and arranged for her to have a downstairs assessment room. Not sure if we've been lucky or the office has a good manager or the way we treat the staff ( I was brought up with 'Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby).

ikcdab

I would say the most important thing is to be consistent. Make sure that what you say in the intervirw is the same as on the form. So if the form says you can't travel alone, then make sure someone goes with you. You must tell the truth. I have had two assessments. I read lots of horror stories but both were fair and gave the right result.

biggysmaller

Stop_Watch wrote: »

Tell the truth.

I agree. however, when I had my first ESA assessment some time ago the assessor's report was full of lies and disgraceful contradictions. She was a doctor and reported that althought I had difficulty lifting mysefl out the chair and bending over that I was able to perform squats in front of her! Her attitude was incredibly aggressive and at one point she raised her voice and insisted that I could perform a physical task when I resisted because of the discomfort. Because of her actions I had all support money stopped and went through absolute hell for a few months - The appeal judges found in my favour and I didn't even attend the hearing!

A few month later I have a PIP assessment and having learnt from the ESA assesssment I asked for the session to be recorded. The assessment was the polar opposite of my first experience. The assessor was polite, sypathic and, above all, truthful!

So telling the truth is all very well and good but there are some real bad apples out there!

My top tip would be to have the assessment recorded. When they know they are being recorded they usually allocate those assesors who act and perform the assessment as they should.

borkid

biggysmaller wrote: »

I agree. however, when I had my first ESA assessment some time ago the assessor's report was full of lies and disgraceful contradictions. She was a doctor and reported that althought I had difficulty lifting mysefl out the chair and bending over that I was able to perform squats in front of her! Her attitude was incredibly aggressive and at one point she raised her voice and insisted that I could perform a physical task when I resisted because of the discomfort. Because of her actions I had all support money stopped and went through absolute hell for a few months - The appeal judges found in my favour and I didn't even attend the hearing!

A few month later I have a PIP assessment and having learnt from the ESA assesssment I asked for the session to be recorded. The assessment was the polar opposite of my first experience. The assessor was polite, sypathic and, above all, truthful!

So telling the truth is all very well and good but there are some real bad apples out there!

My top tip would be to have the assessment recorded. When they know they are being recorded they usually allocate those assesors who act and perform the assessment as they should.

My daughter had her assessment recorded ( see her/my experience above) it took 9 months from getting the first assessment cancelled to finally being seen several cancellations later.

biggysmaller

I think recording the assessment is essential for appeals should it come to that. But from my experience the assessor was on her best behavioir during the recorded assessment. I very much doubt they would be brazen enough to lie in their reports with an audio recording, and thus increasing the chances of a sussesful assessment. It amazes me how many people do not even know that they can record thier assessment.
Also some assessors try and be as nice and chatty as possible with the aim to get you engaging in conversation and people often will open up and believe it's not part of the test and will contradict their discriptors.
Everything is assessed from the moment one walks in that door to the waiting room until you leave the assessment centre. I has one assessor point out that because I had a carrier bag in my hand with 2 recording devices that I had full use of both hands....Everything is observed no matter how 'nice' or 'sythpathetic' they appear. I see people in the waiting room, texting and using their phones and being chatty and laughing with each other and they have no idea that they are being observed.
There's a clip on youtube of some being assessed and the guy fails from the very start - he gets into a conversation with the friendly assesor about computers. She asks if he likes gadgets, to which he then rants on about fixing computers and having his own youtube channel etc, and then she chats to him like a friend would and asks him is that a hobby of his....he replies yes - this was after he initially told her no. The poor guy just could not keep his mouth shut.

biggysmaller

I've just read soemwhere on the net that maximus are telling reassessment claiments that they can't send updated Esa50 forms in which is what they told me (!!!!!) and it not true.
So there are people out there being assessed on Esa50's that are years out of date.
Well i have filled in mine, made a copy of it, sent it in and asked my doctor to fill out a questionnaire on my condition. And just to make sure if they claim not to have the new evidence i will be taking the lot with me on the day! I also have a full list of the descriptors and will take a bullet point sheet with my answers just in case they decide to miss out those vital questions.

TELLIT01

Assessors can't "catch people out" if the person is telling the truth. In the example given by biggymsaller in #10 the person being assessed was contradicting themselves by what they said. That isn't being "caught out", that's the assessor getting to the reality of the situation.
I certainly agree that a Yes or No answer to a question will often not provide the full story, and to err on the side of describing a poor day rather than what can be done on a rare good day is sensible.
There are bad assessors out there although I genuinely believe from my experience working on ESA that they are a small minority of the total. I was once asked to type up the assessment report for a claimant who couldn't read the hand written one. Not surprising as the handwriting was appalling. When I'd typed it up I suggested to the DM involved that they read it through due to numerous contradictions in what the assessor had written. The descriptions of the problem areas (physical exam) kept changing from left to right and back again. This should never have got past the original DM as they are supposed to read all the reports but I believe the claimant did win the appeal.

biggysmaller

I have an excellent GP who has just supplied me with a fully detailed report for the DWP decision makers, outlining my condition and why I could not be made fit for work, placed in a workgroup nor be considered safe in a work environment. Bring on the assessment!