Confused

Steve72

Hi all. Me and my partner received a letter to apply for universal credit. My partner claims PIP and Old Style Contribution Based ESA Support Group. I claimed Income Support and Carers allowance. We claimed online and did the id check to which i passed but my partner got a message to go to job centre to confirm. I rang them to say it would be difficult with her mobility issues so agent said i could take it in on her behalf but a second interview would be coming up which she must attend,its called a first commitments interview. She made this appointment while doing the id check,i asked if this could be done by telephone or video appointment to which she replied it was out of the question and proceeded to say well,its a look out for your partner for an hour,i was foaming but didnt want to make waves. My partner is now really upset and its had a knock on effect for health physical and mental health. Ive rang and explined further but they are not interested and told me if my partner does not attend the appointment they will block the claim. My partner now thinks she will be scrutinised at this appointment. So sorry for the long winded post. My first time ever posting. Thanks

poppy123456

They can definitely put a reasonable adjustment in place for your partner to have a telephone appointment if they can attend in person due to health conditions. Or they can make a home visit.

Has your partner put a message onto their journal to tell them they are in the Support Group for ESA? If they haven’t then they should do that.

Then they need to ask for that reasonable adjustment. It is definitely possible to do this because I’ve advised it many times here and it’s been successful.

Rachel_Scope

Hi @Steve72. That doesn't seem right at all. I've found 2 sources that state you can do the appointment over telephone, here and here. People are often given the wrong information over the phone which seems to have happened here. I would contact them again and explain that you need a phone appointment and hopefully the next person will be more helpful.

Steve72

Hi Poppy yes she has. We put a message on the journal several times over the last 4 days. She has just rang literally 5 minutes ago and stated again it must be face to face or the claim blocked. She was quite aggressive in her tone of voice. I stated that i dont have to have this first commitments interview so why my partner ? She said its because i care for her 35 hours plus so no work commitments. My partner is very ill and was deemed unfit for work and placed in the contribution based esa 8 years ago.She also has an ongoing pip award

poppy123456

It’s the standard UC first claim appointment. Even though she’s in the Support Group for ESA that hasn’t yet been confirmed and it often takes a few weeks for ESA to send the details across.

In all honesty I wouldn’t bother ringing the helpline because more often than not they are less than helpful. All they can do is put a message on your journal, which is what you can do.

Hopefully someone will respond to your journal message soon.