ESA Assessment soon. Think I'm going to fail. I need some advice please

DramaQueen123

Hi. I have an ESA Assessment soon and I think I'm going to fail it. I have quite severe depression and anxiety. I stopped attending dr's appointments about 18 months ago because they weren't offering any help and my anxiety was getting worse, which caused me to just not go because it's easier than dealing with the stress of going out. I haven't even left my flat for about 10 months now because of the anxiety. Last time I went out was to vote in the general election last year., and the only reason I managed to do that was because my postal vote application thing never arrived and of all the stuff in the news and online about benefit cuts and things and I didn't want the tories to win (Don't think Labour are much better though either) and I end up really struggling even more.

I think I'm going to fail because of a lack of medical evidence and I'm really stressing about it. I don't know what to do if my benefits are stopped. I only have a small amount of savings which was from a back payment I received after my initial assessment just over a year ago. If my claim is rejected I'll run out of money in like 2 months at most. I struggle to keep a schedule or to even leave my flat so being able to work will be extremely difficult.

Can anyone offer some advice please. I don't know what to do. Everything is a mess and if the money is stopped I don't know how I'll cope. I need some help but there's nobody who will help me. I have problems dealing with day to day things. I get so many letters telling me I owe money. I have problems with my landlord stealing my post. When I claimed benefits initially he wouldn't let me claim housing benefit and I had no copy of my tenancy agreement and he wouldn't give me it, so I started ignoring his calls and things and he's not evicted me and I don't know how to find somewhere else to live because I have pet cats and no private landlords allow pets and the housing list is too long to get somewhere. I feel trapped here and don't know what to do. Someone (I suspect my landlord but I have no proof. I even tried report it to the police but they wouldn't help) has been taking my post from the communal area where it all goes since this started. Some letters come but often the important ones are missing, like letters from the DWP, a replacement credit card which has been sent multiple times and I've never received it so just given up, and quite a few parcels, which has got me to the point I don't even dare order things online because there's a good chance I'm just throwing away my money because it'll not be downstairs when I check for my post. I didn't even get the letter for my assessment and only found out about it from a text message.

Sorry I've been rambling too much. I really need some help and advice please if anyone knows how to help or someone who will be able to

Thank you

TELLIT01

The first thing I would suggest is to get back in touch with your GP. If you have had no contact with any medical professional in the past 18 months it certainly won't help support your claim.

pmlindyloo

Yes, definitely ring your doctor and ask for a home visit.

When is your WCA? Are you going to a face to face?

Have you got no family or friends who can help you sort through your paperwork to find out what debts you have?

This organisation do home visits:

https://capuk.org/i-want-help/our-services/cap-debt-help/other-options?jump

They do not 'force religion' down your throat and I have heard good things about them.

If you follow the link there are other organisations that can help with your debt.

Did you send any medical evidence in with your ESA form? Are you on medication? Did you explain on the form that you have not left your house for so long?

And lastly, your rented property? Are you paying rent? What's happening with this?

DramaQueen123

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Yes, definitely ring your doctor and ask for a home visit.

When is your WCA? Are you going to a face to face?

Have you got no family or friends who can help you sort through your paperwork to find out what debts you have?

This organisation do home visits:


They do not 'force religion' down your throat and I have heard good things about them.

If you follow the link there are other organisations that can help with your debt.

Did you send any medical evidence in with your ESA form? Are you on medication? Did you explain on the form that you have not left your house for so long?

And lastly, your rented property? Are you paying rent? What's happening with this?

I can't do a home visit. I really struggle to motivate myself so my flat is quite messy. It'd just make me even more anxious having a home visit

I don't have any family or friends to help either. Not spoken to my mum in years now, my dad hasn't been in my life for about 20 years, and I've got no friends anymore because I cant even go outside without it being really stressful. It's been 10 months since the last time I left my flat, and probably many months without going out before that too

I never received the form. I got a reminder letter about a form but never received it. I called the DWP and they said they'd send out another. I didn't receive that either. I also didn't even receive the letter telling me about my assessment, and found out by text message late last week. The flat I live in is a converted house with separate flats inside it. All the post goes through the letterbox in the front door and left in the hallway. I've been having post go missing for a long time now which I'm pretty sure is my landlord but cant prove it.

My flat is rented but I've not paid rent in quite some time. When I started claiming ESA my landlord told me I cant claim benefits here and wouldn't give me a copy of my tenancy agreement as i'd lost mine (Been here quite a long time). He started coming over banging on my door and phoning at all hours and shouting at me about arrears and calling me lazy and saying I just dont want to work. I told him to evict me so I'd maybe get help finding somewhere else from the council but he hasn't. I really dont want to be here because it makes my anxiety even worse but I feel like a prisoner. When I've tried find somewhere else they either wont accept someone on benefits or wont allow pets and I cant be without my cats. It's been 2 - 3 years now since that situation started

Edit: Forgot to answer about the assessment. It's tomorrow and I have to go face to face. It's only about a 15 minute walk but going to get a taxi there and back to try get it over with as fast as possible.

Nannytone

Something isn't adding up here.

You haven't paid rent in a long time but the landlord isn't making any attempt to evict yo you say you haven't completed an esa50 form and yet there's made an appointment for a work capability assessment?

They wouldn't assess you at all if you didn't return the esa50 they would just cancel your claim

pmlindyloo

Nannytone wrote: »

Something isn't adding up here.

You haven't paid rent in a long time but the landlord isn't making any attempt to evict yo you say you haven't completed an esa50 form and yet there's made an appointment for a work capability assessment?

They wouldn't assess you at all if you didn't return the esa50 they would just cancel your claim

Actually that's not true.

http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/ask-cpag-online-have-you-failed-submit-esa50-questionnaire

I am also concerned about the 'not paying rent'. If the OP is not receiving their mail how do they know that a Section21/8 has not been issued?

DramaQueen123

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I am also concerned about the 'not paying rent'. If the OP is not receiving their mail how do they know that a Section21/8 has not been issued?

I don't know and that's one of the worries. I constantly worry that any day someone could turn up and kick me out with nowhere to go

Nannytone

But the Opie hasn't made a case to the DWP about why they should be assessed without the esa50. They said they were just sent an assessment appointment by text/B]

DramaQueen123

Nannytone wrote: »

But the Opie hasn't made a case to the DWP about why they should be assessed without the esa50. They said they were just sent an assessment appointment by text/B]

That's right. I looked at the link pmlindyloo sent and it says:

If you have mental health problems, the DWP has a policy of referring your case to Maximus for consideration if you have not returned the ESA50, rather than automatically refusing your claim.

So I guess thats why

Nannytone

X you really need to start being a bit more proactive.
Even if you aren't in a position to deal with things yourself you need to find an organisation that can act on your behalf.

There are some pretty major things in your life that could cause an awful lot of problems. Such as your benefits situation and your current housing position. These things won't go away because you ignore them in fact it will make things worse.

Make an appointment to see your GP and phoned social services and asked for an adult assessment

poppy12345

DramaQueen123 wrote: »

Edit: Forgot to answer about the assessment. It's tomorrow and I have to go face to face. It's only about a 15 minute walk but going to get a taxi there and back to try get it over with as fast as possible.

Have you thought about how you're going to do this alone if you haven't been outside for 10 months? That's huge step to take after not being out for so long, especially when you said you have no family or friends to support you to go out.

I agree with nanny, you need to think about some help to at least be able to move out of where you're living now. Moving from there maybe the step you need to be able to start to move on in your life.

I wish you good luck and hope you really do find the help you need.