Toofast, am I right in thinking you were recently found fit for work and are appealing that?

If so, and your GP is happy to issue a certificate, you can be let off jobseeking for up to 13 weeks. It's called an "easement". Until fairly recently, the maximum period was 2 weeks, with a possible extension to 4, but they increased it a little while ago.

It's a great help for people who have to claim JSA pending an ESA appeal.

Absolutely no one has EVER mentioned that!!!!! It infuriates me!
Instead from Tuesday I will be entitled to sign off and and go back on the ESA assessment rate until my tribunal is heard!

Has anyone had the DWP contact you (for PiP) and not ask you for proof of who you was?
I just had someone from them call me in regards to my PiP problem. On a Sunday morning, which I found even more strange.
I had called them as I have a Capita assessment on Tuesday and after looking online they are based on the 3rd floor. I can't use stairs, so I was worried. Capita fobbed me off so I had called Dwp and asked what their procedure was regarding my only being able to access ground floor building. (I can't go higher for fire risk and I can't descend stairs in a emergency situation)
It basically was a courtesy call but it was rather a weird situation.

Never had that, but I have just had a text telling that I'm having my work capability assessment at 10.30 on Wednesday at Hastings Assessment Centre. Which would be handy if I was on ESA, but I'm not.

I've rung them and they have no way of finding out who it should have gone to, apparently, so they obviously have loads of appointments booked at that time. I just hope that no-one misses their assessment because I got the text meant for them.

New guidelines issued to centres from dwp

As well as text messages the centres are to call all appts the day before to confirm attendance so there are less missed appts. Those appts can then be offered on short notice to someone else. The 'failure to attend' rate at its current level is not acceptable to the dwp. Aside from dragging people out their houses I don't see how that will change anything
Occasionally people do forget thats only natural so a courtesy call is useful
When making the calls there's a script to follow to make sure the ID is correct

Perhaps the DWP should ponder the fact that they are dealing with people with long- term health problems. To me, it is self-evident that many of those will wake up on the day feeling too damn rough to show up, too freaked out to be able to face it, or to need complex travel arrangements that rely on a 3rd party to get them there, only for them to be let down at the last minute. Their non-attendance rate is therefore likely to be far higher than that of the general public.

Down this way, they seem to be overbooking to try and make sure they don't have a lot of downtime because of missed appointments.

A client in a rural area recently arranged for his daughter to take an unpaid day off work so that she could give him a lift to his assessment. They got there, only to be told that his appointment had been cancelled because too many people had turned up!

Absolutely. Unacceptable to the dwp but those of us in health care appreciate the difficulties some people face attending
The over booking is now policy, fine all the time there's a failure to attend but when all turn up in the morning often afternoon appts are cancelled however it's not always poss to get hold of people and to be honest why should they be messed about?

Well after having my assessment yesterday I conclude the PiP people are rubbish at their job.
She was almost shouting at me at the end of it and I left in tears. I have OA in both shoulders and neck and can normally lift about 400ml on a good day. She kept asking stupid q's that she knew the answer to. I got the full 8 points first time for PiP for making a meal, and alot of the time she was asking can you make a sandwich, and why not. What about a microwave meal? Err is I can't lift much did she really think I could lift a plate of food in and out of a microwave. I have been banned from the kitchen for safety reasons, my medication makes me dizzy, drowsy and I fall over alot, and I sent enough evidence to create my own tree!
Then she was going on about my depression, of which I have not suffered with since my marriage break up many years ago, I only included it because my GP letter had it on there. I am not depressed atm, just plain angry. with her.
She didn't even explain what role she was in the job for, and gave me less than a second to look at her ID. If I don't get the correct award I shall be livid.
Their place in Birmingham is not wheelchair accessible either imo, the ramp has nothing to hold onto. For someone who needs things like that when going down stairs,and ramps I can't see how a wheelchair could access it if the person had to stop halfway up and had noone to assist. The place wasn't even well signposted and the other half and I ended up in the wrong building to start with. You couldn't even see if they was there from the listing of companies on a placard outside, only after you had passed the reception.
Bleh Crapita and crap /end rant

Hello

What happens when you're due an assessment. As far as I'm aware the assessment I had in March 2014 that placed me in the ESA support group runs out at the end of September.

Many thanks

My own award ran out last year and when I called them I was given a date in 2017 for my reassessment. Apparently it's because Maximus have deferred reassessments to try and catch up with new claims. You can call them on 0345 608 8545 and ask for the date of your reassessment. You don't need to worry about calling them, the call center operative can only read the date on your file and won't instigate any sort of action to bring the date forward.

Normally, you get a new work capability questionnaire (ESA50) to fill in, then another assessment.

However, if they are delaying renewals because of an assessment, I'd hope that they let existing awards run on until they renew them.

sorry to hear that I have heard of them doing that to other people, it is out of order

I suspect that's all part of their trickery. They make the place hard to find so that when you eventually get there, the assessor can use that to confidently state the 'claimant can find their way to an unfamiliar location'.

I am sorry to hear about that. If it turns out that your case is dismissed and you want to appeal, then there's advice here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/be...ort-allowance/ as well as earlier on in this thread.

I cannot stress this more strongly but if you have to appeal a decision, the first thing to do is get professional advice and help from any one of the nearest Citizens Advice Bureau (please see https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ab...advice/advice/), local council benefits advice unit or community law centre depending on what is available locally because getting help like that effectively doubles the appeal success rate.


While that might be technically true, I don't think I could advise anyone to do that because it draws attention to the benefit claimant not least because a record of the call will have been generated.

Really don't want to cause worry
but fair few people are having the renewal forms once the 3 years is up
it does seem certain parts of the country have a delay whilst others appear to be running as expected.

The resin they're not signposted is be a use of the risk of vandalism

Well I was correct, I have gone from 16 points care and 8 mobility to zero in both.

Sorry to hear that. These things seem to confirm that what's going on is a huge attempted cost cutting exercise (and a rather ruthless one at that) at the expense of claimants. Presumably they're banking on many people caving in and withdrawing their claims/applications.

The thing to do is appeal https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/be...-esa-decision/ and get professional help with that appeal as per post #414 above and I cannot stress that aspect strongly enough.

In particular, LakieLady and Little Nell offer very good advice so if it's given, do follow what they say. Good luck with any appeal.

Thats terrible . Indicates a completely useless , random, system.

The problem is they have no consistency and no shame, and an awful lot of people who don't know what they are doing. The first thing to point out is that your condition hasn't changed on line one of the appeal form. Let them argue with themselves. If you can get both reports, they should kill their own points argument.

They also seem to waste an inordinate amount of time that could be spent getting better results. . I have a pension thats disregarded as I qualified for incapacity benefit before the date pensions were counted. Last year they wasted my time asking for how much it was - so they could disregard it. This year there's someone asking when it started - presumably so that they can fill in a record of what they have disregarded over the years . I am wondering if I am dealing with total incompetents , or there's some other rule I and their other people have missed, and I ma about to get an enormous bill - and if I quote their manual at them , they might draw the logic I could do their job better than them, and ignore any medical details.

Oh no, that's awful.

Ring them up and request a mandatory reconsideration (you have to do that before you can appeal) and make an appt with CAB or similar so they can help you with the appeal.

That's just crazy.

The money from that was used for things that my partner and son could throw together(both cannot cook to save their lives) something edible. Due to shoulders, and bad side effects of the medication I am unable to cook.
This means now the cooking is back to me, and I can't cook safely.
The three of us are down to half our food bill so I can't even afford to but things like pasta sauce to help me cook safer, it will all need to be done from scratch. That in itself is fine if I was safe to cook, which I am not.
I tried to get a GP appointment this morning (we have a call in a 8am and fight the rest of the area for appointments system) but at 8.10 they had all gone. I was trying to get them to take me off the ibuprofen and gabapentin. I can't afford now to eat 3 times a day for the ibuprofen (need to eat food for that) and the gabapentins side effects means I am unsafe to work.
So if they could change my medication I could get a job to help feed us and then I can afford the easier foods again.
God knows what job I can do though when on a good day I can just about manage to lift 3/400mls of liquid safely. That is about the weight of a cup of tea/coffee for people who are not knowledgeable on such things.
Dwp sucks

I'd also suggest getting a referral to your nearest food bank because that's what they're there to do and there is a link here: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/

Just sent off for PIP forms yesterday, had text today saying they have been sent out,

I'm on DLA LR care and mobility,

This is to keep people in the loop as to how long this will take and if I get any points,

Will update when I can.

Why have you sent off for a form, if your DLA is due to run out they will send you a new claim form for PIP

Received my letter today. You have to telephone if you wish to make a PIP claim. After that they send out a personalised form. If you don't wish to claim PIP, then you have to call a different number.