UC85A form

anisty · February 2020

Hi i have just received my son's medical report from his work capability assessment and am feeling pretty crushed by it tbh. It makes for very depressing reading. They've even put some comment about his GP reporting he finds his supported voluntary work 'challenging' well, i think that must be made up as the gp doesnt really know him. And i definitely didnt say that as i thought he was getting on great there.

Anyway. That is by the by. Under prognosis it says 'i advise that no significant functional change is anticipated'

Does that mean they are unlikely to call him for review anytime soon?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this

poppy123456 · February 2020

Hi,

What's important is what it recommends for the LCW and LCWRA recommendations at the back of the report. If it's says limited capability for work and work related acitivity (LCWRA) then that's good news.

anisty · February 2020

Hi poppy, yes he was assessed as being LCWRA and i must admit i was gutted about it at the time as I really would hope that he can get into some paid employment at some point. So i knew already he was in the lcwra group.

I just couldnt understand how he had not been given LCW and, as you know, that letter that goes onto the work journal doesnt say much.

So i requested the medical report to find out why he had gone into that low group and, reading it, i just feel like he has been written off. It isnt a good feeling.

Maybe i was a bit naieve in thinking the job centre would help him into work. On the day he got the lcwra letter, his work coach cancelled his forthcoming appt and his file was sent to another centre. We were just getting to know his work coach. We felt dumped!

Initially i thought he might be called back for assessment quite soon as he does do bits of supported work. In a way it is good as it means he can try things out in his own time. The report is just so bleak though.

I wasnt prepared for it. Im more optimistic that we will get him into something paid at some point in the long term future. Its hard to think what, but someone will want him.

poppy123456 · February 2020

I don't know if i'm missing something here or misunderstanding what you're saying because most people are the other way around and it's the LCWRA group that people want to get into and not the LCW group.

Being in the LCWRA group doesn't mean he can't work at all, if he wants to. He'll have a work allowance, which will mean that he can earn a certain amount of money before the deductions apply.

anisty · February 2020

I know what you mean poppy. What happened was that my son and his friend (also autistic) put in for UC at the same time with help from their support worker. The friend got LCW and i just thought my son was a similar level so it's kind of shocked me a bit and caused me to think again.

Now i see my son's friend moving on but my son is sort of 'written off' if that makes sense. So the friend carries on seeing his work coach and stuff but my son's case is now sort of shelved and his work coach no longer replies to us in the journal. Its dealt with by another centre miles away.

And then this report came today stating there is no prospect of functional improvement. It isnt anything we didnt know and my husband is fine with it but i just felt a bit low when i saw that written down.

For me, it seems my son is doing better as he is getting out of the house and my load is much reduced. So i suppose this has shocked me a bit.

It is a good result for him. I know it is. Its just ironic that on my other thread when i said he doesnt have 'severe' autism, i now have a report here that says he is severely disabled!!!!

He definitely is not what i would call severely disabled. Physically, no impairment at all. And he can talk, feed himself, dress himself etc. He should be able to do some low level work im sure.

At least if his pip app fails, i now have this awful medical report as evidence for his appeal! Every cloud . . .

poppy123456 · February 2020

Personally, i think your thoughts on all of this are not correct. Just because your son has been put into the LCWRA group doesn't mean at all that he won't be able to work, quite the opposite in fact. He can't certainly do some work, if he wants to at anytime in the future, it just means he won't be made to work.

For those that are placed into the LCWRA there is no work coach because there's no appointments to attend. You're right about the journal messages, they don't usually answer, especially if you're in this group.

There really is no such thing as severe Autism because it's a spectrum and everyone is affected differently, just like any other condition if you think of it.

I totally understand how you're feeling regarding this because someone has assessed your Son and stated that there's no prospect of functional improvement but it doesn't mean he won't ever be able to work. Of course he can work, at his own pace, with support, if he needs it.

The reason he's doing better is because he's doing something that he likes, he has a routine and he sticks to it. The minute someone breaks that routine is when you start seeing changes, which you don't want.

My daughter sounds so similar to your son but a couple of years younger. She's at a special needs college and has a supported taxi to and from there 4 days a week. There's just 3 other students in her class and she's doing a course with farm animals. She's doing amazingly well and loves it. She's even started work experience 1 day week at a pet shop. She's taken to work from college by a teacher and they collect her and take her back to college for 2.30 and the taxi then brings her home.

She also has a personal assistant at home for 8 hours a week that takes her out to do the things she wants to do. Like your son, she can't count money, needs support to go out and has never been out alone and she's 19. Needs support for bathing/showers and support in the kitchen. Her PA has been amazing in the 2 years that she's had her and has now become a big part of our family and we love her. My daughter can talk to her about anything and it's amazing to see it because she doesn't talk to anyone.

She's doing really well too BUT that's because she has support, she's doing what she likes but if you stop that routine, all he!! will break loose and i can't imagine what her reaction would be like. Her day time routine is set by the "clock" in her head and everything has to be done at exactly the same time, in the same order, 7 days a week.

Please don't be so hard on yourself and think of this as a good thing. If he wants to work in the future then he certainly can.

As for the PIP paper based assessment, that can only be a very good thing and personally. i think you're worrying about it needlessly.

I hope i've put your mind at rest just little and if you ever need someone to talk to i'll only be too happy to be that person. You can message me anytime.

anisty · February 2020

Thanks so much Poppy! Your message is exactly what I needed to hear and you are exactly right. I didnt realise they could do some work in LCWRA group. He has been put in that group because of the 2 personal sequential actions and it is right - he has a problem with initiation of task.

You are spot on about my son only doing well just now due to the support he is getting.

I think it was the way the report is worded that hit me hard. He has had loads of reports done but i suppose this one wasnt written for me. It was for DWP so they havent exactly softened it. I cant imagine any parent being happy at seeing 'no prospect of functional improvement' written about their son/daughter. (Though my husband has taken it in his stride!)

Thanks again for taking the time to reply and put everything in perspective. Im really positive that he will get his pip award and, more importantly, his bus pass!!

Your time and reply are very much appreciated

poppy123456 · February 2020

You're so welcome! I'm glad i could help. It definitely helps to have advice from someone that knows exactly what you're going through and someone that has a daughter very similar to your son.

I agree that seeing something written in a report like that can be very upsetting, i would most likely feel the same if it was my daughter.

If the worst does happen and i'm sure it won't then your son's bus pass can be given without a PIP award.

In fact my daughters PIP award even though it's Enhanced mobility doesn't actually automatically entitle her to a disabled bus pass. This is because she scored 12 points for following and planning a journey.

She gets hers because of her learning disability and i needed a diagnosis letter for this. You may want to double check the criteria for your local council because it could very likely be the same. DLA high rate mobility is different to Enhanced mobility PIP. Check here. https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-disabled-bus-pass

anisty · February 2020

Thanks poppy - we are in Scotland so I think the criteria here is different:

http://www.disabilityscot.org.uk/info-guides/travel-concessions-for-disabled-people/national-entitlement-card/

Any level of award for pip seems to be ok. It doesnt state mobility or anything.

At the moment, because my son has the middle rate care dla, his bus pass allows him AND a companion to travel free. We hardly ever use the companion but it could be good if he ever did agree to try out a different bus.

Im feeling pretty optimistic about pip tbh. Having seen this gloomy UC report, id be surprised if they turned him down for pip now, especially with no f2f. I sent the same evidence for both uc and pip. I know the benefits are totally seperate but UC have obviously got the impression, from those reports, that he has a severe disability. So i would think pip will come to the same conclusion.

He avoided f2f for UC as well but i noticed on the report today that they had called the GP for extra evidence. This must have been the mystery new evidence. The GP doesnt know my son at all but his support worker went there with him initially to get the ball rolling on his UC claim and it looks like she must have given a comprehensive run down of his difficulties.

Ive been chatting this over with my husband as well tonight and he is totally not surprised at the report and seems completely ok with our son just doing these bits of voluntary work.

Considering i really did believe he would never talk at all when he was very small, he has done amazing. And he has a really lovely nature. Very gentle, very young for his age.

I think i will feel better about it all in the morning. You and my husband have both really helped. Its funny, he went to mainstream school and schools always like to say the positives dont they. And i was often battling the opposite, trying to tell them negative things to ensure he kept his supports at school.

This is what my man said. Im never happy! All through school im trying to highlight all the problems. Now, they are written in black and white, i dont like it!!!

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