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Advice needed on UC Medical Assessment via phone

Luchia

Hello everyone.
hope everyone is doing well.

I was recently awarded PIP Care & Mobility as some will already know from my other posts.
was having quite a rough time with the phone assessment as I suffer badly with anxiety so struggling all over again now as I have a Universal Credit Medical Assessment by phone on Friday.
I was diagnosed with Lumbar Spinal Stenosis in 2018 which is why I was awarded PIP.

getting quite panicky about the UC Medical Assessment on Friday as I have no idea what sort of thing they want to know, I had a rough idea with PIP as I did a lot of googling which helped calm my nerves a little but the UC one is causing be quite a bit of distress as I have no idea what to expect.

I struggled quite badly before the PIP call as I read all the horror stories online about assessors lying or avoiding vital information on the reports and now I am freaking out that UC are the same.

would be very grateful if anyone could explain to me the kinda thing they will ask or if they are known for lying on reports etc
just want to be clear I’m in no way asking for tips on what to say to them as I believe that if I am entitled to the UC payment then I’ll get it if not then it should go to someone else.
Just want to know what I should expect to be asked etc so I may prepare myself so I don’t panic as much.
And if they are as bad as some of the PIP assessors for missing info on reports.

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Comments

poppy123456

Hi,

No one can tell you what questions they will ask because that will depend on how your conditions affect your ability to do any type of work because they is what they will assess you on. They will want to know what a typical day is like for you.

The process is very much like the PIP assessment but the criteria is different.

Just like PIP you will only ever read the bad stories because if someone's had a decision they're happy with they have no questions to ask so we don't hear their story.

I've had quite 4 work capability assessments since 2012/13, 2 have been paper based and 2 face to face and never had any problems. All reports have been very truthful and have always been in the Support Group, which is LCWRA for UC.

Good luck.

Luchia

poppy123456 said:

Hi,

No one can tell you what questions they will ask because that will depend on how your conditions affect your ability to do any type of work because they is what they will assess you on. They will want to know what a typical day is like for you.

The process is very much like the PIP assessment but the criteria is different.

Just like PIP you will only ever read the bad stories because if someone's had a decision they're happy with they have no questions to ask so we don't hear their story.

I've had quite 4 work capability assessments since 2012/13, 2 have been paper based and 2 face to face and never had any problems. All reports have been very truthful and have always been in the Support Group, which is LCWRA for UC.

Good luck.

I took your advice from before and avoided reading anything about them online in case I found horror stories

poppy123456

That's good to hear because i'll gaurantee you'll only read the bad stories.

Once the assessment has taken place wait a week and then ring DWP for a copy of the assessment report (just like PIP) once you receive this take note of the LCW and LCWRA recommendations at the back of the report. They usually go with it, it's rare to go against it.

If you don't understand what it means then post back here and i'm sure someone will help you further. The work capability assessment reports aren't easy to understand.

You will still need to wait for the decision of course and once it's made the decision letter will be uploaded onto your journal.

janer1967

Hi there as Poppy has advised the process is the same as PIP but just different criteria.

Have a look through the form you filled in before the call so you are prepared and a good look through the areas they are assessing

Good luck and keep us updated

Luchia

poppy123456 said:

That's good to hear because i'll gaurantee you'll only read the bad stories.

Once the assessment has taken place wait a week and then ring DWP for a copy of the assessment report (just like PIP) once you receive this take note of the LCW and LCWRA recommendations at the back of the report. They usually go with it, it's rare to go against it.

If you don't understand what it means then post back here and i'm sure someone will help you further. The work capability assessment reports aren't easy to understand.

You will still need to wait for the decision of course and once it's made the decision letter will be uploaded onto your journal.

Do you happen to know what the phone number is to request the report?
Not holding much hope for this one as the assessor barely asked any of the questions on the form

poppy123456

You need to wait at least a weekl before requesting the report, when you ring the number is here. https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/contact-universal-credit

It's not unusual for them not to ask any of the questions that were in the form because you should have answered all those questions when filling out the form. The work capability assessment is about the work you can do and not the work you can't do and this is what they assess you on. They would have wanted to know what a typical day is like for you.

Ross_Alumni

If you are claiming UC, you could either use your online account to contact them or give them a call, the number to contact them is 0800 328 5644.

You can find more information about contacting Universal Credit here.

Hope this helps you @Luchia.

poppy123456

If you put a note on your journal then it may go unanswered, which happens alot so for this reason i'd advise you to ring them.

Luchia

poppy123456 said:

If you put a note on your journal then it may go unanswered, which happens alot so for this reason i'd advise you to ring them.

Shall give them a ring next Friday and ask for the report.
Not holding much hope for anything as she didn't really seem interested at all.
Have to say the lady I spoke to from PIP was much nicer and really seemed to care.
The UC lady barely asked anything about my daily life or how I did things.

poppy123456

Try not to speculate anything at this point, you maybe very surprised when you receive the report. As always with decisions, there's no timescale but once it's made the letter will be uploaded onto your journal.

Good luck and do let us know the outcome.

Luchia

poppy123456 said:

Try not to speculate anything at this point, you maybe very surprised when you receive the report. As always with decisions, there's no timescale but once it's made the letter will be uploaded onto your journal.

Good luck and do let us know the outcome.

Will do

Was told it would take a few weeks for the decision to be made.
Not sure if it was accurate or not but she said unlike PIP they don't put you down as unable to work until a Face to Face has been done and the phone assessment was only Stage 1 of this.
Not sure if that's accurate as she also said that face to face was supposed to open back up in a few weeks but they have suspended it again with no timescale on when they will open.
But the person I spoke to a week ago who made the appointment for phone assessment said the phone assessment replaces the Face to Face as they can't do them because of virus

poppy123456

PIp isn't about not being able to work though. PIP and the work capability assessment are 2 completely different benefits with totally different criteria and one doesn't affect the other.

No idea what they meant by " the phone assessmenrt was stage one" telephone assessments have replaced face to face assessments until further notice. Once the decision's been made on this assessment you'll either be given LCWRA, LCW or be found fit for work. There's no face to face assessment now.

Decision timescales? there isn't any. Backlogs are just part of the reason a decision can be delayed.

Luchia

That's the bit that confused me also as I thought Phone Assessments replaced Face 2 Face until things get back to normal

poppy123456

They have. The person that told you otherwise, clearly had no idea.

Luchia

I thought it was very odd.
I know PIP is completely different but I assumed with the virus that UC would be using same system as PIP and doing phone assessments instead of Face 2 Face

poppy123456

Although it has been known that sometimes they can't get enough of information during the telephone assessment and they will request a face to face assessment but of course this will be at a later date when they start back up again. If this happens then a decision won't be made on your claim until you've had the face to face assessment. I've only heard of 2 people that this has happened to. Maybe that's what they meant, if it was then all you can do is wait to see what happens next.

Luchia

Might be just a line they have to read to everyone just incase that happens

poppy123456

I have no idea and i actually forgot that this can happen because i've only read 2 cases of where this has happened. Telephone assessments have only been in process since lockdown.

Ross_Alumni

That certainly is a strange comment for them to make given that phone assessments have replaced face to face ones since the pandemic began, but as you say @Luchiait may be a line they have to say just in case, I'm not sure.

Best of luck, do let us know how you get on!

Luchia

Just phoned to ask for a copy of my report and the lady on phone said they don’t give copies of the report, she wasn’t overly helpful so gonna try calling again and hope for someone else