Upcoming ESA Phone Assessment - Worried

Nashota

Hello,

I have a phone assessment on the 25th of October, I'm pretty worried about it because I have a problem with explaining thing in general let alone how my health conditions affect me, I find the very hard to do as someone with mixed mental and physical health problems. I can't even explain to people I'm close to how I'm affected and it's not because I don't want to, it's because I'm not very good at explaining or wording things, I get confused, distracted and forget things.

Also when they ask what your typical day is, what does that mean exactly, because honestly, I don't do very much, I get up, feed the dog, make a cup of tea and that's about it for the rest of the day, I spend most of my time trying to preoccupy myself with streams, YT videos, Netflix etc. I don't go out, I don't mix with people, I either need prompting, help/support to do certain things, like washing, eating, I'm in my PJ's all day, I have someone that does a majority of things for me.

Any help would be appreciated, please go easy on me, I've been on a help forum before and ended up closing my account due to someone's attitude sadly. I'm a bit of a delicate/sensitive soul due to my mental health problems, I find it hard posting on forums.

Thanks in advance.

TELLIT01

Between now and the assessment, write down how your condition affects you.  Then you will have something to work from during the conversation and be less likely to forget anything relevant.  If your normal day is as you have said here, tell them that.  Don't allow yourself to be rushed into answering a question immediately, allow yourself a little time to formulate your answer. Just pausing for a few seconds can make a big difference.  Trying simply to remember everything you need or want to say is very difficult even when no in a stressful environment, which is why I suggest taking time over the next week to make notes.

Remember, the person on the other end is simply there to collect information.

Nashota

Thank you @TELLIT01 for taking the time to respond, I have been doing notes, just to prompt me.

I do worry about it a lot because I sometimes disassociate when I get too anxious and/or have an anxiety attack, it happened in my PIP assessment and I went into autopilot which isn't good.

Is there any specific wording you should or shouldn't use on the ESA50? They have said that I can fill in an up to date one as they are trying to go off an old form, I do have an advocate who said she'd help but I want to make sure it's filled in correctly this time as I feel like there wasn't enough info about my conditions and the wording was weird on the one they have now (I didn't fill it in). I've seen people say you should say "significant discomfort" if you have conditions like FM, ME etc rather than "significant pain" because everyone's pain threshold is different?

Thanks again

poppy12345

Nashota said:

Is there any specific wording you should or shouldn't use on the ESA50? They have said that I can fill in an up to date one as they are trying to go off an old form,

There's no specific wording that you should use. When was the last time you filled and returned the ESA50 form? Didn't you receive a form for your current review?

Nashota

Nope, the one they have is over 4 years old. I disputed it a few times but kept being told it was fine.

A woman who is in charge of dealing with my complaint and my queries has said I can do an up to date form and send it to her via email for her to attach to my info for the assessor.

poppy12345

The form is here. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/975770/esa50-capability-for-work-questionnaire.pdf

You should make sure you put as much information as possible about how your conditions affect you. Any evidence you have should also be sent with the form.

If you haven't already changed your appointment date/time you can do this, this will then give you a little extra time to fill out the form and send it by email.

TELLIT01

The only advice I would give about completing the ESA50 is not to base the information on how you are affected on a 'good day' i.e. days you are feeling at your best.  Describe a typical day but include information about particularly bad days and how often the bad days occur.   When I worked on ESA I heard all too often from people who had really pushed themselves to do the most they possibly could at assessments and ended up beings assessed as more capable than they really were.

Nashota

Yeah, I have the form thank you, been trying to fill it in already and not gotten very far.

The problem with rebooking the appointment is that they've messed me around 3 times now, this is my 4th appointment, I know I can reschedule it though. I've emailed the advocate and asked for her opinion with her being the person that's helping me with the form.

I have shared a copy of my previous ESA50 and notes I was writing up myself with the advocate. She said she was going to look through everything between Thursday last week and tomorrow which is when she's calling.

Nashota

Sorry just saw your post, thanks @TELLIT01

I refuse to do that now, I would do whatever they asked before because I felt like I had to but when I had my PIP review in 2019, I refused to do things that I actually couldn't and stated why. It's kind of hard when you have mental health problems because you overthink everything then worry that if you refuse to do something it'll go against you.

I don't really have any good days, so that won't be hard lol. My mental and physical health conditions are very tiring to deal with daily and my GP's are of no use.. hence me now having an advocate who is trying to help me with the medical centre.

Alice_Holt

Nashota said:

Yeah, I have the form thank you, been trying to fill it in already and not gotten very far.

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

Nashota

Well, I didn't manage to get help with the form yet, the person came down with a viral infection, so I'm currently trying to rebook the assessment with the person who is dealing with my complaint for 3 weeks time, they did say I could book one at my convenience so.