I wasn't told I could claim LCWRA. Is there any way I could speed the process up?

nicolefrenzy

Hi I don’t know if I’m posting in the right place and it’s kind of a long story. Right ?
january 2020 
applied for universal credit as I left work due to ill health. From the start I’ve handed in sick notes constantly, no breaks right up till now. I constantly asked “am I on the right thing because I can’t work” to be told yes. It wasn’t until a few month ago my friend told me about LWCA. I got into with UC and asked for the medical form to be sent out and complained that for over a year and a half nobody told me about this. So form was sent off, my gp and surgeon replied to their letters and now I’m in a queue waiting for an assessment date,which I could be for months. Can I do anything to speed this up? My mp is getting in touch with them tomorrow. 

nicolefrenzy

Message	Added by
5 Nov 2021 at 3:29pm	We spoke today and I have passed your details to your Case Manager, Sarah. One of our Case Managers will ensure your case is actioned in time for your payment, which is due on 24 Nov. If any further information is required they will contact you via your Journal

poppy123456

Hi,
When you report a health condition they are supposed to refer you for the work capability assessment after 29 days. Unfortunately sometimes this doesn’t happen and people wait longer.
 

I’m not trying to make excuses up for them but the pandemic has caused delays with a lot of things. There were many many thousands of people claiming UC over the past 18 months.

The assessment process is nothing to do with DWP. You can ring the Health Assessment Advisory Service yourself to ask what’s happening with your work capability assessment. If an assessment is needed they may be able to give you a timeframe of how much longer you’ll need to wait. Contact details in link. Although it says ESA it’s exactly the same for UC.
https://www.chdauk.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance-esa
Other than that all you can do is wait.

nicolefrenzy

I totally understand this covid has caused absolute nightmares for them. My issue is I have asked them so many times if I was on the right thing, wrote on my journal the lot. I did ring the health assessment people up today and she just told me it’s in a q and I just have to wait but to contact the dwp and tell them to contact them and class it as urgent otherwise I have to wait. It’s been over a year and a half already. I don’t understand my last journal message neither. Thank you for replying ?

Tori_Scope

I don’t understand my last journal message neither.

Is there anything specifically in the message that you're unsure about @nicolefrenzy?

poppy123456

You will need to contact your work coach about that message because we can only guess what it's about. Paper based assessments are possible but they are rare. The majority of people have either telephone or face to face assessments.

nicolefrenzy

I don’t understand if that means I will have a decision by the date she says or some sort of update. 

“One of our case managers will ensure your case is actioned in time for your next payment” 
move raised complaints and spoke to some sort of manager who’s putting my case forward for compensation. I’m not bothered about the money, at the time they were hounding me to look for a job even though I was handing in lengthily sick notes. I’m more annoyed that I constantly asked “am I on the right thing because I can’t work” 
I’ve worked since I left school I’d love nothing more than to work but until I’ve had an operation, which has A 60% chance of working it’s not possible they make you feel like like rubbish hounding you for jobs when you can’t, I’m not a bum