ESA claim.. UCB?!

Clouds88

Hey guys not sure if its appropriate in this forum but I just wanted any advice..

My husbands ESA ran out in august and he hasnt yet had a health assessment. Filled in the e50 or whatever the questionnaire is called months ago. I tried to chase the other week and didnt get anywhere then yesterday we spoke to someone (one of the decision makers) and he said this...

Based on my husbands answer on the questionnaire hes been given an 'unacceptable claimaint behaviour' marker. This is due to question 6? (Cant remember what the question was now) but he said he can get aggressive and has attended an anger management course. Both are true and he is mentally unwell, hence trying to get the ESA and support. But the guy said because of this no one has made a decision on his claim yet and is being passed back between departments like a hot potato? 
He suggested writing to the UCB department and ask for it to be removed.. 

Anyone have any advice or heard of this before?

Thanks xx

poppy12345

I've never heard of UCB, others may have.

My thoughts are that the work capability assessment form (ESA50) in this case, isn't returned to DWP, it's returned to the health assessment advisory service, who do the work capability assessments.

Has the assessment report been written and returned to DWP?

The marker on his file will mean that they can't come to your home to do a home assessment BUT all face to face assessments are currently suspended and telephone assessments have taken their place. If the report can't be completed by either a paper assessment or telephone assessment then a face to face assessment will need to be completed at a health assessment centre near to you, once they are back up and running again.

The only issue with this is that the ESA payments will not continue now unless he's placed into the Support Group because of the 365 day rule.

I would advise him to ring the health assessment advisory service and ask them what's happening. They should be able to give him some information. https://www.chdauk.co.uk/contact-us

Muttleythefrog

I have a UCB marker on my ESA claim - after motioning to kill a previous PIP assessor. I got a release of the paperwork involved in my last reassessment in summer last year...and it did indeed seem to pinball around behind the scenes before they decided a face to face assessment was required and would have to take place at assessment centre with some precautions. I'm not sure why they've advised getting the marker removed... or even how plausible that is... are you to argue the information on the form is false... hmm? Agree with Poppy.. contact as suggested and see if you can get more information... could be that they have determined a face to face is necessary but obviously currently can't be done... but see what they say

poppy12345

Muttleythefrog said:

could be that they have determined a face to face is necessary but obviously currently can't be done...

Potentially yes. I have heard of a few people that have to wait for the face to face assessments to start back up again because they can't write the report based purely on a telephone assessment.

Clouds88

Thank you for your input. The decision maker from ESA side wasnt very helpful last time, was more concerned about me getting the UCB removed than helping us progress the claim. Also he said it was 'unlikely' to make any difference as he wont be put in the support group (how he knows without knowing much about my husband!) 

Rang the number you said Poppy the guy was nice and said I have to go back to ESA as there is no live claim and they will then send it back to the health assessors and we should get a letter soon. The whole of this ESA claim has been terrible, from being first wrongly denied it to having to chase so many things and it takes a full hour to speak to anyone once you've told them your blooming national insurance number via automated service 5 times.  

We are  not claiming that the information is false, due to his mental state he gets worked up easily and anger outbursts. Hes been on lorazepam before to help chill him and  hes had some anger management to try and help those also. 

Spoonie_Turtle

This may or may not help: the ESA handbook, the official DWP guidance. I don't have the brainpower to look through for you but there might be some mention of what's *supposed* to happen because surely they can't just not make a decision on someone's claim!
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-capability-assessment-handbook-for-healthcare-professionals

Clouds88

Hello,

So just an update. ESA had to send a live claim back to health assessment. I was then told we would hear from health assessment. 
Today- letter from health assessment. ESA50 form again. Rang them to explain, they said dont worry about filling in the form you just now need to wait for a face to face assessment. We filled in the original in Feb. So 7 months and still waiting. Apparently only a few people are eligible for a telephone assessment and he isnt.

Does this sound right? I asked how often I should ring back for updates and they said weekly. 

poppy12345

Clouds88 said:

Apparently only a few people are eligible for a telephone assessment and he isnt.

Does this sound right? I asked how often I should ring back for updates and they said weekly. 

It's not always possible to get all the information needed through just a telephone assessment, especially for the work capability assessment. Some people have had telephone assessments and are now waiting for a face to face because they couldn't get all the information needed.

Face to face assessments are still suspended and there's no further updates on when they are likely to start back up again. Alot of the HCPs are still working from home and with the Government announcement advising people to continue to work from home if possible (in England) i have no idea when they will start back up again.

Do be aware that once the 365 days have been reached, if a decision still isn't made then payments will stop.