complicated WRAG situation

Hi all. I am new to this forum so I hope this is an appropriate place to raise this query.

I am in the W.R.A.G. for E.S.A. I have been so for over a year, although I believe it was the wrong decision to put me in this group.

Atos completely lied about my circumstances. Above all they wrote utter fibs regarding what I had told them at the WCA. It was not just mis-representation but actual fabrication about what my life is really like.

To describe my disability, I have a condition which is very like Tourette's Syndrome but which was caused by a severe adverse drug reaction meaning that I suffer from nervous tics, physical agitation and muscle spasms particularly at times of stress. This means that social engagement is something I often find very difficult and intimidating.

I am now onto my third Work Provider firm in the WRAG. The first I saw had friendly staff and they conducted a "home visit" at the outset to see how I might get on. From that visit it became immediately obvious to them that face to face meetings were not something I was going to be able to cope with. With this in mind, they opted for fortnightly telephone conversations instead which I was able to deal with quite well.

I was then transferred onto another Work Provider which was run by Serco. They conceded the fact that face to face meetings caused me very extreme stress and anxiety which exacerbated my symptoms. However whilst they acknowledged this they insisted for a long time that I should still attend meetings at their centre every week in an office environment.

It was at this point that I turned to the Equality Advisory and Support Service. They suggested that I should make a complaint to the company under the Equality Act pointing out that the service had been offered by telephone before so they should be able to do the same. In response they gave in and I was able to do telephone appointments every two weeks until very recently.

However Serco has suddenly handed the contract to another company and I have had letters and phone calls stating that I need to go to attend the same sort of office environment which had caused me so much trouble before. I don't understand this since the contracts for both companies were done under Serco so they ought to have enough knowledge about me to know by now that this will subject me to unnecessary stress which I cannot cope with. They are so close they are even in the same town.

In fact I am certain that they know enough about me to know how hard I would find what they are demanding as they told me by phone that they were aware of the story with my previous work provider, plus why I needed to revert to telephone appointments instead of face-to-face. I think though I am not sure that they have my file from my previous work provider in which I have a letter I sent to the DWP explaining the bad reactions the weekly meetings were causing me.

They say it is just for the initial assessment phase and after that they may consider doing work by phone but by now I have had enough of being pushed around by Serco and being forced into situations with which I cannot cope. Having said this I did suggest as a reasonable adjustment that they might do home visits for the assessment phase as their offices are only 20 miles away but they were not interested.

What are my rights and options in this situation? Thanks if you have any ideas.

Thanks for your reply Gordon. I did write a letter to the DWP back in February describing my circumstances. I said almost exactly the same things as I have set out above. I also asked to be put in the support group. Because of this it does appear that my WCA has been brought forward from October. I have just completed the ESA50 form which they said they received at the beginning of April. However I do not know when the WCA will take place. A copy of the letter was put on the file with my last work provider who were also working for Serco. Thus I imagine that my current work provider must have this too and must be aware of the severity of the limitations I face.

If I wrote a letter saying that if they must see me face to face then I would consider a home visit a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act might this do the trick?

Hi Gordon. Apologies for the delay. Someone in my household had thrown away the letter so I had to check with the W.P. on the phone as to if it was mandatory and they said yes it was.

In the mean time , I have sent the W.P. company a letter making clear the circumstances I have explained in my posts above. I suggested either doing telephone calls or a home visit as reasonable adjustments instead of going to their office but they have not got back to me yet.

You've mentioned possible escalation. How does that process work and is it effective?