Esa and non-cooperation?

Hi all. This is my first post and sorry if it turns out to be a long one. I don't even know if theres any solution to this but I really don't know what to do in this situation. My mother is 58 and lives with me as my lodger. We both receive income support because of incapacity as we both have physical disabilities. My mother also has a mental health record although she doesn't believe she is mentally ill.
Well today its happened, the dreaded brown envelope of doom arrived baring my mums name. She is to be reassessed for transfer to esa.

Several years ago my mum was sectioned twice under the mental health act. They couldn't seem to decide on a diagnosis but eventually settled on bipolar disorder. To be honest I'm not convinced this is accurate as she does not have the variability of bipolar. She is always depressed, anxious, upset and angry and has outbursts under very little or even no obvious stress. I hate to use the word paranoid but she is convinced that people are watching or 'making secret reports' on her. She has no friends and I am the only person she trusts, even then she has sometimes accused me of working alongside the government behind her back. Despite all this she has always maintained that there is nothing mentally wrong with her, says she does not hear voices etc. She thinks she was sectioned as part of a secret medical experiment. To be fair I can't really blame her, she was badly mistreated in the hospital and the drugs they gave her worsened her physical disabilities. As a result she now has an intense phobia of doctors and authority in general.

As you can imagine this means getting any cooperation from her in regards to forms and appointments is close to impossible. Before she lived with me she slept rough on the streets for 3 years because she was too scared to fill in a housing form. On one occasion she was in a homeless shelter but they called in a mental health worker to talk to her and she immediately left, and slept back on the streets on 6 inches of snow in january! This also took a toll on her already deteriorated physical health and I am quite sure she would not survive being homeless again.

The last time she received a pca form it was like pulling teeth trying to get her to fill it in. aside from the fact we both have physical difficulty writing she was terrified of the mental health section. Because this used to be a simple yes/no tick box question she just ticked 'no' and we just filled out the physical descriptors. She was asked to attend a medical and we got my gp to write a request for a home visit and after this she received a letter telling her they had decided she would not need a medical and her benefit would continue.

But now under the wca I'm guessing it will not be as simple. When she sees the section asking specific questions about mental health problems I have no idea how I could convince her to fill the form in at all. And as for attending a medical when she knows she will be asked these specific questions?! She doesn't even believe there is anything wrong with her mentally so how on earth would atos and the dwp be convinced? She is not under a phychiatrist or any medications. In fact I don't think she is even fully registered at our local surgery, only as temporary. They wanted all this proof of address that she doesn't have to register and besides she got scared off when she started thinking about the gp seeing her mental health record.

I suppose the old line from the dwp would be oh if she has a problem then she will be receiving support otherwise she must be fine! But thats just it: the 'support’ is what CAUSES the problem to begin with! I have been trying to convince her to go see the gp for ages as shes been getting a severe sharp pain in her abdomen for a few months and also we did one of those home testing kits which shows she may be diabetic. Still she refuses to go as she says it will be the end of her if they ever touch her again. She would never trust me again if she knew I was telling this but she has said that if the mental health ever come near her again she would sooner kill herself. She is not exagerating.

I don't know what I am to do, if theres anything I can do. If she won't do the form, if she won't face the medical or cooperate for it, if she gets called for work focused interviews and doesn't cooperate with those. It seems like there is no solution for those who cannot explain themselves. We are all expected to jump through hoops just to get the benefit we need to survive. And if we can’t fulfil their unrealistic expectations? No more benefit and we must fight tooth and nail to get it through appeal. And this is all assuming the claimant understands the full situation to begin with. My mother seems to think the reason she is being reassessed is because she went to the shops wearing a different pair of leggings and the staff must have seen that she'd changed her clothes and made a report saying she was able to work! I tried to explain that everyone is being reassessed but its no good, she doesn't understand, just thinks it is another part of the major conspiracy against her.

And I really wish I knew what to do.

Thank you for that link. I know that there isn't going to be an obvious fix-all solution here. Just hoping that maybe someone else might have been through something similar or know how the dwp operate in these situations.

I truly feel for you, whilst I have no answers for you, perhaps it would be best to see your mothers temporary doctor in the first instance, maybe the GP can give you some indication of what you could do, either way, I think you'll need some expert advice from CAB or similar. I hope someone on here can steer you in the right direction.
Good luck, and look after yourself

It is very difficult for me to give advise. If your mother cannot function it may be advisable to seek advice from a Solicitor. Sorry that is as far I know.

Person

You are in a very difficult situation, but you are not alone. The problems we had were very mild compared to the ones you are facing, and did not involve claiming benefits.

However, there were some similarities in that we had to get a way of managing my father-in-law's affairs when he was incapable of doing it himself. He had delusions about how he was managing his life and lots of other things were going wrong. He had also become paranoid, though not as badly as your mother.

We eventually got a Power of Attorney over his affairs, and got permission to put it into effect without him knowing, because he would have been very distressed to be classed with "the incompletes" (his phrase). He might also have extended his paranoia to us as well as to other family members.

The law about "Mental Capacity" has changed since then, so any advice I could give you would be out of date - as well as inappropriate since I am not a legal professional. You do need some more specific advice. However, you do not need to start out with a solicitor.

As well as the MIND link you have been given, you could try going to the NHS site, "Carers Direct". You are obviously now your mother's carer, and entitled to help as such. Carers Direct has a free, confidential helpline - 0808 802 0202 "Lines are open 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 11am to 4pm at weekends. Calls are free from UK landlines and mobiles or you can request a free call back." You can find more about that at the website

Carers Direct Home Page

If you can't phone from home, then maybe a friend would let you use their phone, given that the call is free. It's even free from mobiles.

If you can't talk on the phone, then it is possible for you to email them - though you will have to be able to receive emails to get any help back.

They also have a section on the website on money and legal affairs. They may not be able to tell you what you can do, but they should be able to point you to more sources of help.

It is possible that, even under the new laws, your mother's affairs could be put into your hands - possibly without her knowing about it.

Although your position is particularly difficult, there are others trying to deal with people who are frightened of all authority figures, who are paranoid about everyday events. There are people out there with training and experience with this sort of situation.

You CAN get help.