ESA Assessment cancelled

It’s my first post here even though I have been a member for over a year and just renewed my subscription.

I am receiving ESA (Support Group) for long term depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder. I had a face to face assessment for the first time last year and the decision maker decided that I would remain in the SG.

This last year has been very challenging for my mental health and there are documented letters which talk about contact with various mental health professionals after a referral from my GP. I am on the waiting list for therapy. Most of this contact/documented evidence is around a year old or less.

I received another ESA 50 form just before Christmas which I filled in and returned with the help of a benefits support worker. I informed CHDA that I was due to go in for surgery at the end of January, 2018 and would need time to recover. My doctor had said recovery can take up to 6 weeks. Anyway I was sent a letter ignoring the information around 3 weeks post surgery inviting me for a F2F assessment. I called them up explaining I was unwell and in pain and too many meds so they changed the appointment for me.

The appointment for the F2F was scheduled for today. Now my stress and anxiety has been building up for weeks. I got there prior to my appointment time at 2.45pm. I arranged for a volunteer from a mental health charity to attend with me as I have no family and no friends nearby. After waiting till 4.15pm, I was told that they were sending me home as no one was available to see me and that they were running late and they close at 5pm. They said they could organise a taxi for me next time as I really struggle with travel and social anxiety.

I can’t tell you how upset I feel as I feel I’m in limbo land again. The stress of the looming medical was affecting my recovery from surgery and now after I had psyched myself up with great difficulty to even leave the house, they have let me down. A google search indicates that this sadly happens often to claimants. My question is what are my rights? Can I make a complaint, if so is it even worth my energy due to the undue stress this has caused, I get it’s Friday, and the assessors want to go home but that doesn’t reduce the inconvenience, stress and tears this is causing me.

Secondly when I sent my ESA50 I wasn’t particularly in the best mind frame and got help from a mental health charity (as stated previously) to fill in my form. I didn’t send any evidence at that point, but now looking through my paperwork I have letters from the psychiatrist and psychologist I saw that I feel document my difficult mood states and problems with looking after myself, and coping in general. There’s also a letter from the hospital (on duty) psychiatrist about being seen after I self harmed badly last July, 2017 due to things getting really bad. I was going to present all this paperwork today at my medical (which never happened).

I’m looking for advice about what to do? Should I write to the DWP and ask them to look at the letters from the mental health team or should I just wait for the next F2F date and hand it over to the person doing the medical?

Obviously the cancellation has really thrown me and I apologise if the order of the information presented here is confusing, but I’m extremely upset and frustrated because my condition hasn’t changed, if anything things have got a lot worse. I don’t know what to do and looking for help and advice.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Thank you Gordon,

I appreciate your prompt response. What’s the process of sending the additional reports to Maximus? Which department do I send the information to? I think it might be an idea to send the information over but if it’s very complicated or involved I’m not sure. At the moment I’m very deflated but maybe I can see if anyone can help me draft something to send the information to Maximus.

Do they actually bother reading what’s sent to them? Does this make a difference to the outcome in terms of continuing to keep you in the support group?

If I had been in the right mindset when I sent the ESA50 form over I would have looked at the evidence then and sent it so I am not sure if it’s an afterthought that will be overlooked (just like the dates I was unavailable to attend being ignored).

How should I format the cover letter for the new evidence to be included? Do the date of evidence from medical reports and care plan matter? How recent does everything have to be?

Sorry for the million questions, but I will consider your advice and maybe post it to them early next week with guidance that I can get. I was also told that they will keep my file at the assessment centre so that’s why I’m concerned about sending paperwork only to find it’s been totally overlooked. I guess I’m looking for clarification about what constitutes helpful evidence, and how important is it to send this over prior to my next appointment?

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate the advice.

Thank you for your response Gordon.

So if I understand this correctly, I need to send the additional medical reports to both the DWP (in this case ESA) and my local assessment centre? I’m confused because I’m unsure whether the documents to Maximus would be sent to the address on the appointment letter for the face-to-face assessment or the local assessment centre where the appointment was held (and cancelled)?

Additionally I should keep copies to take with me on the face to face should I require them?

How would you suggest I write the cover letter in this instance? I know you have said to address it to whom it may concern but I’m wondering what I should say in the body of the letter so it’s directed to the right sources. Apologies if this is really basic information but I’m trying to figure out how to do this?

Thank you

SD