Silas Loom
Advanced. Forthright. Signifficant.
Has anyone had an Ingeus assessment yet? They are taking over PIP assessments and WCA from Atos in London and the South East at some point in 2024, not quite sure when.
Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support
- Thread starter Zabo
- Start date
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
I guess but unfortunately I can't help my mental health. Is what it is.
This day was inevitable. Sooner or later the claim was going to end. I'm lucky I made it this far
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
Had a chat today with CAB about my rights regarding having an assessment over the phone. They told me that the expected turnaround time for processing the initial form is a couple of months and that doing assessments remotely is now the norm. I've no idea how true this is, or whether it differs per region.
They aso gave me the Health Assessment Office phone number which might be of some use to others: 08002888777. I'm not going to contact them until they get back to me with details of my assessment (assuming there will be one, who knows!).
This number isn't listed on the covering letter as far as I can see bu CAB were happy to privde it
They aso gave me the Health Assessment Office phone number which might be of some use to others: 08002888777. I'm not going to contact them until they get back to me with details of my assessment (assuming there will be one, who knows!).
This number isn't listed on the covering letter as far as I can see bu CAB were happy to privde it
I can't remember when my last ESA reassessment was but this definitely seems to be the case for PIP now (usually being done by phone rather than face-to-face, I mean)
Having said that ^ 
just spent an hour on the phone sorting out why I'd received a reminder text for an in-person WCA about 600 miles away despite having had no previous communication about being reassessed. The appointment was booked there because they still had my previous address even though it'd been updated on my main ESA file (this has happened to me before, kept getting threatened with sanctions for not attending appointments in Edinburgh when I was living in Sussex), and I actually did get sent an ESA50 form which I completed and returned in November 2021. No wonder I'd forgotten I was waiting to hear back about that, more than two fucking years later.
just spent an hour on the phone sorting out why I'd received a reminder text for an in-person WCA about 600 miles away despite having had no previous communication about being reassessed. The appointment was booked there because they still had my previous address even though it'd been updated on my main ESA file (this has happened to me before, kept getting threatened with sanctions for not attending appointments in Edinburgh when I was living in Sussex), and I actually did get sent an ESA50 form which I completed and returned in November 2021. No wonder I'd forgotten I was waiting to hear back about that, more than two fucking years later.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Where do they want you to go, Gourock?Having said that ^
Only half joking...
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
I'm filling in the form, piece by piece. Not really sure what the best way to answer is. For example, question 78 says "can you manage daily tasks without difficulty, y/n?"
It's all binary whereas for most of these the answer is somewhere in between. Do I answer yes? I imagine they woudl interpret that as being severe mental distress. I know all this is bullshit and that the advice is that you should answer in terms of your worst day or most severe symptoms, but I can't help feeling that's dishonest. I don't care about being dishonest in terms of respecting this awful system, but it just feels existentially bad. Part of my issues is taht, imho, I am neurodiverse and navigating situations like this is difficult. Dishonesty makes me viscerally uncomfortable. The answer is that managing tasks can be difficult or easy depending heavily on what's involved. For instance filling in this form is not difficult - when I can manage how I do it, over the course of several weeks. If it's having to fill it in during a working shfit with a boss over my shoulder punching a clock as it were, then no it's not easy.
It's all binary whereas for most of these the answer is somewhere in between. Do I answer yes? I imagine they woudl interpret that as being severe mental distress. I know all this is bullshit and that the advice is that you should answer in terms of your worst day or most severe symptoms, but I can't help feeling that's dishonest. I don't care about being dishonest in terms of respecting this awful system, but it just feels existentially bad. Part of my issues is taht, imho, I am neurodiverse and navigating situations like this is difficult. Dishonesty makes me viscerally uncomfortable. The answer is that managing tasks can be difficult or easy depending heavily on what's involved. For instance filling in this form is not difficult - when I can manage how I do it, over the course of several weeks. If it's having to fill it in during a working shfit with a boss over my shoulder punching a clock as it were, then no it's not easy.
Silas Loom
Advanced. Forthright. Signifficant.
Try answering it as if the question was: could you commit to performing a set number of daily tasks on an arbitrary future date? That’s probably going to be “no” if your condition varies, even if it’s possible that you could perform all those tasks on a particularly good day, or if given much more time than a healthy would need.
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
I don't know that feels like a different question to what they are asking. All the questions are like this, they impose a binary that I suspect for many isn't realistic. Might as well ask "are you ill, yes/no?"
Still no point relitigating the ethics and purpose of all this, we all know it's bullshit
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
You have to imagine yourself on your worst day.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
It's not about being dishonest, if you put on a brave face and try to minimise your challenges, they will say you're fine, you don't need support.
Karl Masks which form is it, ESA50 ?
Lewes!
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
Citizens advice have a helpful section on how to fill the form out here. (Scroll down for links to the pages on how to answer each question)
There should be a pdf attached to this post which is aimed at benefits advisers but also looks useful for anyone having to fill the form in.
Most important point - like it says on the form (unless they've changed that bit), only answer 'yes' if you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, as often as you need to and in a reasonable length of time. Otherwise the answer is always that you can't do it, or that it varies. Then you can give details in the box below. Remember to mention if you need someone to remind, prompt or otherwise support you to do something even if you don't currently receive this support. If doing one thing impacts your ability to do something else after, mention this. Spell out what a bad day would look like and how often you have bad days (then try to plan some way of cheering yourself up a bit because writing pages and pages of that is fucking depressing).
The descriptors (what you can score points for) for each question are written on the CAB pages I linked and it's really helpful to look at these so you can see exactly what you need to tell them about what you can & can't do.
friendofdorothy
Solidarity against neoliberalism!
It's the 'with difficulty' bit that is important. Sounds like there is some difficulty involved for you, so to answer 'no,' is not dishonest.
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
Thanks. Just feels like I'm cheating and as a result...catastrophisation. Even though it's a shit system and the people running it aren't doing it because they're nice people.
I'm sure this makes zero sense
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
You're not cheating. They WANT you to soldier on and say everything is fine, especially when it's really not. It's typical British stuff upper lip attitude that is being weaponised against you.
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
Thanks.
The issue will be proving all this. But i guess that's what the assessment is about. I have been through them before, but this time I'm feeling it's not going to go my way. My nine lives are spent. Hopefully not as I don't fancy applying for UC and being made to wait six months. Fortunately I've been careful with my money. No ps5's or guitars for me!
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
Think I might have fucked up. Was going to post the form out today, but the post office is shut. For the first time ever on the easter saturday. The due date is the 4th. I figured I would get a proof of postage and the few days between now and then would be ok. Tuesday is going to be cutting it fine, but I guess I have no choice? Can these prepaid envelopes be sent using tracked services instead? I should be ok to buy that.
Definitely send it signed for if you can possibly afford to. Maybe even special delivery if the extra cost is worth the peace of mind for you. They can just stick the label over the printed free post bit.
Personally I always tape the envelope shut as well because I don't even trust the glue on the envelope if it's come from the dwp.
If you can photocopy stuff somewhere (library/post office?) and can afford it, it's always a good idea to make a copy of what you wrote on the form before you send it off too, imo/e. Or even just take photos if you have a camera or smartphone or something. Handy to remind yourself exactly what you wrote before an appointment, and for completing reassessment forms in future if nothing much has changed.
Karl Masks
Birds Angel Delight
Thanks. I think I'll do a tracked 48 on tuesday. That will be sufficient. I don't care about a signature, they may even reject it if they have to sign for it. So I'll get the receipt and the service and if that isn't sufficient then DWP are just unreasonable (and they are), and you can't account for that. If that's how they want to be then it won't really matter how/when I post it.
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