ESA reassesment issues

I see what you are saying re guidance v legislation - but it doesn't help women if because of this guidance' we then have to go through the stress and ill health of an appeal - where as a man wouldnt - that to me is direct discrimination and I cannot get my head around how they can get away with it - Well my assessment is the end of the week so I will see what happens.

Thanks

My message appeared to get lost when I hit send - Maximus have already taken over ( 1st March) I only found out because I was trying to send emails to ATOS for information they had asked for and kept getting delivery failure.

There is a link to their website on the ATOS contact page.

They havent introduced any new criteria have they? looks like I will be in the first batch of assessments with them.

rococo wrote: My message appeared to get lost when I hit send - Maximus have already taken over ( 1st March) I only found out because I was trying to send emails to ATOS for information they had asked for and kept getting delivery failure.

There is a link to their website on the ATOS contact page.

They havent introduced any new criteria have they? looks like I will be in the first batch of assessments with them.

Hi r,

Yes, Maximus took over from ATOS yesterday.

See : Here.

No, there has been no change to the ESA legislation.

There was an update to guidance given to ESA Assessors in February in The WCA Handbook, but Steve has updated our : ESA Claims Guides to reflect his.

Same criteria, different assessors (Even though most of the ATOS HCP's have been taken on by Maximus) !!!

bro58

Hi - just seen your additional information on the MAXIMUS deferals:

'As a result, existing ESA claimants are not currently being reassessed unless they, or someone else, reports a change in their circumstances. Instead, if your reassessment date comes up you are likely to just have it deferred for another year.'

I think you may need to double check this - its just not correct in my case

- I was coming here anyway to update as my reassessment was supposed to happen on 6th March - instead with less that 24 hours to go they postponed saying they now wanted to look at the ESA50 that previously hadn't been sent then was when I pushed, the very next day ( the day of the assessment that was cancelled) they contacted me AGAIN to now say they were calling me in for my reassessment at the end of March.

No one has given them information about a change in circumstances including my GP as far as I know who hasn't been contacted since 2013 - yet im being called in only 18 months after winning my appeal and having gone through this reassessment process twice with constant cancellations then being ignored for several months.

Its a mess and im concerned you have not been told the truth by Maximus atall I im proof of that. If there is a way to challenge this if they have officially said NO reassesments please advise, im just exhausted with it all.

Thanks

rococo wrote: Hi - just seen your additional information on the MAXIMUS deferals:

'As a result, existing ESA claimants are not currently being reassessed unless they, or someone else, reports a change in their circumstances. Instead, if your reassessment date comes up you are likely to just have it deferred for another year.'

I think you may need to double check this - its just not correct in my case

- I was coming here anyway to update as my reassessment was supposed to happen on 6th March - instead with less that 24 hours to go they postponed saying they now wanted to look at the ESA50 that previously hadn't been sent then was when I pushed, the very next day ( the day of the assessment that was cancelled) they contacted me AGAIN to now say they were calling me in for my reassessment at the end of March.

No one has given them information about a change in circumstances including my GP as far as I know who hasn't been contacted since 2013 - yet im being called in only 18 months after winning my appeal and having gone through this reassessment process twice with constant cancellations then being ignored for several months.

Its a mess and im concerned you have not been told the truth by Maximus atall I im proof of that. If there is a way to challenge this if they have officially said NO reassesments please advise, im just exhausted with it all.

Thanks

Hi r,

See : This Post.

Even if they reassessed someone when they had stated that all reassessments were being deferred, there would be little that you could do legally.

Legislation states that they can reassess a claimant once 3 months or more have elapsed since the time of their ESA award.

Even, when a claimant receives a 3 year prognosis on an ESA award, this is only a recommendation, and they can be reassessed after 3 months.

The deferrals of re-assessments was a change to Operational Procedures (OP) and not Legislation, therefore they can alter their OP at any time, they do not even have to make an announcement.

Even though you could not challenge it legal, you could still complain :

Complaining to The DWP

Contacting your MP

bro58