ESA & Medical questions

[HappyM]

Hi I'm new here. So Hello

 

I need some advice regarding my one of my nephews.

 

He is under review for the support group of Esa.

He suffers from mental health problems.

Which in certain situations can manifest in physical and verbal aggression.

 

He sent the form back recorded delivery but before they received it an appointment for the medical centre was sent out.

He cancelled this and by return of post was sent another one, again for the medical centre, This was despite clearly stating on the form and cancellation letter he needed a home visit And the reasons why.

 

He does not have a doctor because he cannot go into the surgery for the same reason.

His case is documented with the DWP the last assessments were done at home. Nothing has changed if anything he has become worse.

 

My questions are these :-

 

Do the Medical Assessment people and the DWP not have a code of practice when dealing with someone who may become violent? Where would we find a copy of this?

 

Is it legal for them to send an appointment before they receive the form.

 

Is it legal to expect someone to put themselves or others in danger to fullfill the requirements of continuing a claim.

He absolutely cannot go for this assessment.

What happens if he doesn’t and they stop his benefit?

He cannot claim JSA.

What would he live on?

 

I understand from my research that he can still claim housing benefit while a mandatory reconsideration period is active and during any subsequent appeal, but what happens after this if he loses his appeal and can’t claim JSA?

Can he still be eligible for Housing benefit?

 

He is in a catch 22 situation it would seem.

He can’t fullfill the legal requirements i.e. a medial examination, because of the symptoms of the condition that means he needs to claim benefits in the first place.

 

Thank you very much

 

(confused ) Happy M

Edited January 30, 2019 by dx100uk
spacing / bold removed

[unclebulgaria67]

Phone the assessment centre with your nephew present, so he can confirm that it is ok for you to speak on his behalf.

 

It is for the assessment centre to decide on whether they do the assessment at your nephews home address and not ESA. ESA would purely send the request that an assessment is due and leave it to the assessment company to arrange as appropriate. If your nephew had been violent/aggressive previously, he might have had a marker recorded on his DWP records and DWP/ESA should have informed the assessment company if this was the case.

 

The reason that the assessment company might prefer your nephew to attend the assessment centre, is that it is a controlled environment with security staff on hand. They don't offer a home visit, unless they have received a letter from a health professional stating the reason for a home visit. If you simply state your nephew can be violent and aggressive away from the safety of his own home, then this might put them off. If on the other hand a Doctor who has visited him at his home address writes a letter explaining, this might then lead to a home visit.

[HappyM]

Thanks for you input. Unfortunately he will not allow me to call them. It was all I could do to get him to let me post this to get some advice. He is actually very good at recognising the things which trigger him and literally will not leave the house if he feels vulnerable or fearful. Pretty much most of the time.

 

He cannot provide medical confirmation as he does not have a GP. However several doctors from the previous administration of medical assessments have visited at his home and I assume their reports will be on his file. I also assume this will only be relevant though if he needs to appeal?

 

I think the case is quite complicated. He is basically being asked to put himself in a situation which could make him fearful, anxious and vulnerable to fullfil this request from this company - and ultimately the DWP - as this company is acting as their agent after all. It is this 'controlled' enviroment you speak of which actually is one of the triggers. He absolutely cannot venture in to such a place. There must be provision within the law for eventualities such as this. Surely it is an offence to make people go into a situation which they know may cause them harm? How do I find this out?

 

We are facing the probability of having to go to appeal on this and that perhaps he will lose his benefits all together. He is extremely anxious that he will become homeless. So I need to know what happens if he loses his appeal and can't claim JSA, because again he can't go into the Job Centre to fill in the forms? Can he still claim Housing Benefit at least?

[unclebulgaria67]

It is Universal Credit now and not JSA.

 

The Council Housing benefits will be alerted to ESA claim being closed and if he does not contact them to confirm no income is being received, they are likely to close his Housing Benefit claim.

 

ESA will close a claim at some point, if there is no response to a failure to attend an assessment. As I have said, failure to make any benefit claim or advise the council will lead to HB claim being closed. He would have to claim Universal Credit, if he wanted to claim for JSA equivalent and Universal Credit would also include Housing.

 

You really need to seek professional help, as this situation has serious consequences. If you were an assessment company would you arrange for a member of your staff to visit a home, where someone is described as violent and aggressive, with no current Doctors letter saying that his current behaviour would be OK for a home visit, but an assessment centre would be a trigger.

 

Suggest that you seek advice from Council social services or mental health charity.

[HappyM]

It is very unfortunate but my poor nephew is unlikely to seek legal help and my hands are tied. He just can't deal with people so going into an office of any sort is off the cards

 

We are trying to look at other ways the family could support him if he loses his benefit. Hence my need to know if he would qualify for Housing Benefit if he has absolutely no income. Or if there are any alternatives?

 

One question, his last Doctor (who has since moved abroad) and was a wonderful man, wrote to the DWP on his behalf stating he needed a home visit, can this be taken into account as proof?

[unclebulgaria67]

He can claim housing benefit due to low/no income, but must contact the council and complete their form.

 

If he tried to claim Universal Credit, then the Council would not do the housing as it comes under UC now, so don't start a UC claim, if it is purely going to be HB, as he is not claiming any DWP benefit.

 

You can try sending the old Doctors letter to the assessment centre, asking for a home visit instead. It might work. If the assessment company do refuse a home visit, DWP will not intervene, as it is up to the assessment company.

[d_p]

From my own experiences, DWP will not care about your nephew being put into a worse position. They required me to go to job centres after i failed their work capability assessments, they were told I could not do this, they even had video evidence from one job centre showing the difficulties i endured when attempting to. Yet they ignore. They ignore despite complaints, ignore equality act, they also ignore rulings from other peoples tribunals, = basically, they will ignore whatever complaint you have and just try to wriggle their way out of it.

 

If you can persuade your nephew to accept your help and then be active documenting complaints each time with DWP (i did this via email), then perhaps in a few years time you may get some success.

 

Sorry i can not give you a rosey reply... just cynical reply from my experience - and i do not wish others to have to have some experiences as i have had.