UC health assessment anxiety

sazrun

Hello,
I have a telephone health assessment on friday for universal credit. I have been signed off work all year due to anxiety and depression and has i am on universal credit i am to have a health assessment. 
They are conducting in via phone and im getting very anxious about it as i can struggle to talk to people on the phone and im worried they won't mark me fairly as i am capable to move ok and im and only signed off in their eyes for mental health and they will force me to go back to work which im not ready for. 

Does anyone have any experience with the telephone assessment method as iv only experienced face to face previously and im worse now than those occasions

huckster

Have you thought for any proper assessment you may need to be showing some signs of your health condition ?

Can a friend or relative be with you during the phone assessment?

Robbie64

Is this a Work Capability Assessment? If so, as far as I am aware the current position is still that no-one will have UC (or ESA if the assessment is for that benefit) stopped following a telephone assessment. This can only be done following a face-to-face assessment. See https://www.chdauk.co.uk/information-about-telephone-assessments,

From the above link:

Will my claim be stopped as a result of my telephone assessment?

Your claim will not be stopped as a result of the telephone assessment. If the healthcare professional is unable to complete a full report during the telephone assessment you will receive a letter to let you know. We will contact you with details of a face-to-face assessment as soon as we can. In the meantime, your claim will continue as normal.

However I believe that a decision in which group to place someone can be made following a telephone assessment.

poppy12345

Robbie64 said:

Is this a Work Capability Assessment? If so, as far as I am aware the current position is still that no-one will have UC (or ESA if the assessment is for that benefit) stopped following a telephone assessment. This can only be done following a face-to-face assessment. See https://www.chdauk.co.uk/information-about-telephone-assessments,

From the above link:

Will my claim be stopped as a result of my telephone assessment?

Your claim will not be stopped as a result of the telephone assessment. If the healthcare professional is unable to complete a full report during the telephone assessment you will receive a letter to let you know. We will contact you with details of a face-to-face assessment as soon as we can. In the meantime, your claim will continue as normal.

However I believe that a decision in which group to place someone can be made following a telephone assessment.

That's correct, they can't find you fit for work without a face to face assessment. Although, sometimes it's not always possible to get enough of information from just a telephone assessment. If this happens then you will need to wait until the face to face assessments are back up and running again. I've heard of quite a few people that this has happened to.