New claim for UC after ESA was stopped - advice for meeting my work coach tomorrow?

lainey123

Last Thursday I got a call from DWP telling my my ESA had been stopped as i no longer met the criteria after a F2F assessment the previous week. I was advised to apply for UC immediately,and I did,saw an adviser the day after to confirm identity and housing status. Tomorrow I have my first appointment with a work coach, My issue is that I am awaiting a letter from my hospital to be admitted for an operation which once done will leave me unable to work for 8-12 weeks, if I am made to apply for jobs and get interviews,who is going to employ me when I tell them that within a few days or weeks I will be off sick for 8-12 weeks? Surely it would make sense for me to wait till I am fit and well to do a job rather than waste employers time. Any advice on what will happen tomorrow when i tell my work coach this is welcomed. thanks

wilko

@lainey123, not a lot you can do except tell your work coach about your up coming operation and the recovery time of 8 to 12 weeks, have you got the other hospital Apointments letters to back up your expected operations? Good luck you will be fine keep the community posted.

lainey123

Hi,yes I have my consent form I signed for the op and my app letter for the pre op assessment i had a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for commenting and I will update after my meeting with her tomorrow afternoon 

BenefitsTrainingCo

lainey123,

I certainly agree that you should tell your work coach everything & that they should suspend any work-related requirements whilst you're in hospital & it sounds for some time after that as well. Make sure you clarify with your work coach what evidence they need (for example, they might want sick notes from a hospital doctor after your op).

As to what they do before your op, well explain the situation, but I think you may find that they will still expect you to look for work meanwhile. You should explain any other restrictions you have because of your disability, but the question isn't really about whether you are likely to get jobs - it's about what you are expected to do to get UC, and what it's reasonable to expect you to do, given your condition.

I'm also worried about the rest of your situation. Do you agree with the outcome of the work capability assessment? Or do you think you still have limited capability for work? You can take the self-test here. It's not too late to challenge that decision (by asking for a mandatory reconsideration) if you think it is wrong. You might need to appeal, but it could be worth it as it can affect what you are later expected to do in order to get UC.

It also sounds as if there will be a change after your operation, and I don't know if, long term, you think you will be someone with the same issues affecting your capability for work, or not. So even if you don't challenge the decision, you could think about asking for another work capability assessment at some point after the operation, depending on how you think things have gone? Although you have recently failed one, if you have a new condition or have got worse, this is possible.

Even if you successfully challenge the decision about your ESA, you can't go back on that benefit now, as it sounds as if you have made a valid claim for UC & it may be too late to withdraw it. But it can still be worth challenging the ESA decision for other reasons.

Are you on PIP or DLA? Do you know if you got any extra amounts called disability premiums with your ESA? This can be important because these amounts don't exist in UC and so some people can end up worse off.

But for now it sounds as if the main thing is to agree a claimant commitment which is reasonable & which you can keep to until your operation. I really hope that you've managed to do this!

Will