ESA assessment advice needed

Hi, I've been asked to attend a face-to-face assessment for ESA but I'm unable to attend because I'm too unwell to go. Is it possible to change the assessment type to a telephone or zoom assessment? How would I go about doing that? Many thanks.

Thank you! They were happy with my explanation and changed it to a telephone assessment, no problem.

The appointment time I've been given is a 3 hour window on the day. They said they could call anytime between 1pm-4pm. If they don't ring the guide recommends phoning them every 10 mins after the appointment time to chase up the missing call. If that does happen should I start ringing them 10mins after the window ends?

My worry is they could say they tried to call at 1pm and won't hear from me until 4.10pm and by that time it'll be too late and I'll be marked as a no-show.

Thanks Gordon, appreciate it! I'll make a note to ring the DWP too should that happen.

Hi, I just wanted to post an update:

I waited for 3hrs for the assessor to ring - no calls came.

I phoned the appointments line at the end of my 3hr appointment slot. They said they would email the health centre to find out what happened.

I phoned ESA to let them know what was going on - they said it was strange because usually when a call is attempted it's marked on the account and nothing had been noted on mine, and said they would note down that I had phoned to let them know I hadn't received the call.

I phoned the appointments line again to see if they'd received a reply from the health centre - the line was closed (according to their opening times they should've been open).

In the morning I got through to the appointments line - they told me I'd missed the assessment and gave me the number of the health centre dealing with it.

I phoned the health centre and was told three call attempts had been made. I have no record of any missed calls. I was very anxious about receiving the call. I sat by my phone for the entire timeslot, and I kept checking my phone every few minutes to ensure I had signal.

They suggested that I had blocks on my phone. I don't have any blocks on my phone. I regularly receive calls from withheld and private numbers from my doctors etc. I even got a friend to call me from a withheld number ahead of the appointment to put my mind at rest.

They told me that my file had been marked as a missed assessment and returned to ESA and that I'd have to phone them to get referred back to the health centre to get another appointment.

I phoned ESA. Initially they said that I would have to wait for a letter in the post that would say I didn't attend the assessment and I would then have to follow the procedure outlined in the letter. They said I would need to submit evidence proving why I wasn't there. That evidence would then go to a decision maker to decide what happened next.

Then they put me on hold for ages. When they came back they said they'd noted down all of the information from medical services and everything I'd said and that they'd put it straight through to the decision maker instead. They said I would receive a call in 3 days time between 8am-5pm from the decision maker to let me know whether I'd get a new assessment appointment or something else. They didn't say what the something else could be, I assume that my benefit would be stopped?

I've collected as much evidence as I can (screenshots, notes of call times and what was said etc.) and I've contacted my phone provider to try and get proof that there aren't any blocks on my phone.