Nearly a year waiting for work capability assessment?

kirik

Hi

I'm new to the site but would be grateful for any information or advice you can provide.
My partner moved in with me in October 2019 following a deterioration in his health due to an accident.  We put in a joint Universal Credit claim reporting with continuous sicknotes from April 2019 to the present. He was employed for 20 years in the same job but they dismissed him on capability grounds February 2021. He hadnt received any income either from work or benefits prior to Oct 19 as his statutory sick pay ran out a year before. He was granted high rate PIP on a face to face assessment.
We returned all the work capability forms back in March as soon as they sent them and were told he would get a telephone assessment. We are still waiting. I've chased and chased and been told it may not even be this year.

He is unable to work. Gp and consultants agree. Pip agrees. He is housebound and requires a lot of care. But we can't get the assessment to qualify for the disabled element of Universal Credit which would help pay towards his care. When I queried the delay they said there is nothing they can do it's due to Covid. I said I wanted to complain and they simply advised me to write in.  I can't see how it can be right that disabled people are left in limbo waiting for assessments?  It's 10 months since we first applied for UC.

We get work review calls from the job centre every couple of weeks asking why he hasn't had his work capability assessment yet?!   

I'd be really grateful if anyone could suggest anything.  Many thanks 

calcotti

Not much you can do about the WCA unfortunately.
The thing that seems to have gone badly wrong is the UC50 forms only being issued in March this year. If he reported his health condition in October 2019 the forms should have been issued in November 2019 if he had no earnings at that time.
Just to check - are you getting the carer element included in the UC?

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

I am sorry you are both in this situation unfortunately you are not alone and there is huge backlogs 

It's just a waiting game 

I'm a bit confused as you say it is 10 months since you applied for uc but at start you said you claimed from April 2019 ? 

Sometimes your local mp may get involved but it doesn't do much 

You will see on here the difference in waiting time some are done quickly others have been waiting over a year