ESA Assessment/UC

skye_

I've been on ESA in the support group since 2013. Never had an assessment, must have had a paper assessment and been put straight through? Since then, I've never had an assessment or had to fill in any forms, they've just left me alone all that time!

But recently I was supposed to go for an assessment but I asked for a home one and it was approved, however the letter said.. 'you have been approved for ESA/UC home assessment.'

Do you think they are trying to roll me onto UC now??

Also who does the assessment? Is it the same company that do the PIP assessment?

Why do you think they've left me alone all this time?? Lurking on these boards it seems unusual.

Many Thanks!

calcotti

I think it’s just a standard letter, the assessment process is the same for ESA and UC. They cannot currently ‘roll you’ onto UC, the only person that can do that is you.

Presumably you have had to complete an ESA50 Capability for Work form in advance of this assessment.

How long there is between assessments depends on your health conditions and how likely the DWP think it is that their impact on you will change.

poppy12345

skye_ wrote: »

I've been on ESA in the support group since 2013. Never had an assessment, must have had a paper assessment and been put straight through? Since then, I've never had an assessment or had to fill in any forms, they've just left me alone all that time!

But recently I was supposed to go for an assessment but I asked for a home one and it was approved, however the letter said.. 'you have been approved for ESA/UC home assessment.'

Do you think they are trying to roll me onto UC now??

Also who does the assessment? Is it the same company that do the PIP assessment?

Why do you think they've left me alone all this time?? Lurking on these boards it seems unusual.

Many Thanks!

Work capability assessments are done by the Health Assessment advisory service, a different company to those that do PIP assessments. https://www.chdauk.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance-esa


Not being assessed since 2013 in my opinion is just luck but having said that ESA Support Group is an ongoing award but you can be reassessed anytime from 3 months.

skye_

Ah great, thank you.

No, they just sent an appointment through.. I've never been sent or filled in a ESA50 Capability for Work form.

poppy12345

skye_ wrote: »

Ah great, thank you.

No, they just sent an appointment through.. I've never been sent or filled in a ESA50 Capability for Work form.

That's not good, you should have been sent the work capability assessment form. As you say you never received one then what information are they going to use to write the report? The last time you were assessed was 2013 and that's a long time ago.



Have you had the assessment yet? Did you hand in any evidence? If you haven't yet had the assessment then i'd be ringing them to ask why you weren't sent the form.

calcotti

poppy12345 wrote: »

Have you had the assessment yet? Did you hand in any evidence? If you haven't yet had the assessment then i'd be ringing them to ask why you weren't sent the form.

Agree with that. It seems wrong for you to be having an assessment without first being asked to fill out a form to describe how your health affects you and to provide supporting evidence.

The only exception to this I could imagine is if they have reason to believe that you would not be capable of completing and returning a form - but I don't know if, even then, it is possible to do an assessment in this way.

poppy12345

calcotti wrote: »

The only exception to this I could imagine is if they have reason to believe that you would not be capable of completing and returning a form - but I don't know if, even then, it is possible to do an assessment in this way.

I've not heard of that before but i could be wrong. Although i know i wouldn't want them to assess me without first filling out the form and sending my supporting evidence. Even more so if my last one was 2013.

calcotti

poppy12345 wrote: »

I've not heard of that before but i could be wrong. Although i know i wouldn't want them to assess me without first filling out the form and sending my supporting evidence. Even more so if my last one was 2013.

No I've not heard of anything like that, pure speculation on my part as to whether or not there could be some exceptional circumstance which might apply. Advice to OP is definitely to contact DWP for clarification about what is happening.

mark55man

maybe also make an appointment with you local CAB - if you haven't done one before you definitely need advice from someone who has - doesn't have to be CAB but they were very good for my DS

skye_

poppy12345 wrote: »

That's not good, you should have been sent the work capability assessment form. As you say you never received one then what information are they going to use to write the report? The last time you were assessed was 2013 and that's a long time ago.



Have you had the assessment yet? Did you hand in any evidence? If you haven't yet had the assessment then i'd be ringing them to ask why you weren't sent the form.

Nope.. absolutely never filled in any form, just got the appointment randomly through the post. I wrote to them asking for a home assessment and sent them a recent copy of my PIP report , I'm on enhanced for both.

poppy12345

PIP and ESA are completely different benefits with different criteria and your PIP report may not help your ESA claim. My advice is to ring the health assessment advisory service and ask why you haven't received the form. I'd also advise you to gather some evidence to send or hand in on the day because they very rarely contact anyone for any evidence.