I can't attend my ESA assessment

farrah

I'm on esa at moment been waiting 8 years for mental health help I have not been able to go into Manchester City Centre for 8 years due to high anxiety and people phobia but dwp want me to attend one of those health assessment in town centre how do I do that as medical information from doctor not enough to exempt me from going and it making me feel panicky if I don't go payment will stop how is that helping last time I was able to go before it got too bad they lied on their report. No trust in people either.

steve51

Hi @farrah

”Welcome”

It’s great to meet you today.

We have got some info on esa.

https://search.scope.org.uk/s/redirect?collection=scope-meta&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scope.org.uk%2Fsupport%2Fdisabled-people%2Fbenefits%2Fesa&index_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scope.org.uk%2Fsupport%2Fdisabled-people%2Fbenefits%2Fesa&auth=v06jdjhJPug%2BjwqXi7IYeg&profile=_default&rank=2&query=Esa

Please please let me know if I can help you further with this????

Pippa_Scope

Hi @farrah, welcome to the community!

Sorry to hear you're in this position, I really hope we can help. Our benefits advisors recently offered guidance on a similar situation which you can read here:

If the assessment provider and the DWP have letters about medical conditions and the effects, they can do a paper based assessment. It is up to them whether they feel they have enough evidence to do a paper based assessment though. If your GP has provided a letter stating that he cannot travel and needs a home appointment that really should be enough for him to have one. I would phone the assessments provider and ask to speak to a manager or make an official complaint about the way he is being treated. You may even want to get the MP involved and I'm sure something would be done then. It appears to me to be quite clear from what you have said that he cannot possibly attend a clinic to be assessed so I really don't know what the problem is.
I assume the assessment provider is Capita, all their website says about this situation is:
It may be possible to have a home appointment dependent on the available Medical Evidence you have provided to support your claim. You may also need to send a letter from your GP supporting your request. For more information please contact Capita's Enquiry Centre on 0808 1788 114.
I would advise you to call them again, ask to speak to a manager and/or threaten them with MP involvement and, if you still don't get anywhere, contact the MP. Good luck!
Lee

Do you think it might be worth contacting your MP or perhaps Capita's Enquiry Centre, as mentioned above?

Sam_Scope

Does this help @farrah ?