what happens if you repeatedly miss an unscheduled call from DWP

Thanks BIS

BIS wrote:

remind them they already have this information on your form. BIS

The thing is they dont have it all already.

This has gotten a little confusing...

I am usually too ill to answer the phone so people have to leave msgs & i get back to them when i'm well enough (which is unpredictable).
I have a carer but she is only part time, otherwise i'm alone.

When i am well enough to answer, i dont answer calls from numbers i dont know, & even if i saw it was from them i'd never be able to cope with speaking to them if i was on my own, so wouldn't be able to pick up anyway.

If they wont give me a face to face home visit & i have to have a telephone assessment, my carer will (hopefully)be here & so if i'm not able to, she will pick up, so that's not so much of a concern.

The only thing i put on the form was that i am usually too ill to answer so if they wanted further information to ring my carer & gave her number.


So I'm thinking to say that

Further to the information given on form, I want to clarify...

that due to my ME/CFS i am usually too ill to answer the phone, & even when i am physically well enough, due to my mental health problems (name condition - explanation in form) i never answer calls from numbers i dont recognise, or from people i dont know/feel safe with. I need social support to speak to people i dont feel safe with & would find it much too distressing to take an unscheduled call from DWP. Or indeed a scheduled call if i were alone.

And ask them that if they need further details (outside a scheduled assessment), then to please contact my carer (include her name & number & that i give my permission for her to speak on my behalf), or write to me giving a date and time they will call, so i can arrange for support to be here when we speak, and rest in advance of the call, in order to maximise chances of my being well enough to talk when they ring.

Obviously that needs tidying up a bit but does that sound ok to you? I'd love to ask them to never contact me by phone, but i dont want their inability to contact me by phone to be a negative factor in any decision they might make.