ESA / WCA

Hi, I hope somebody can help me as I don't know where to turn now. I applied for esa in april this year, I am still in the assessment phase.

I am severely disabled and in receipt or hcr & hmr of dla.

I have contacted my mp twice now and we have both been misled by the dwp.

I have been sending in sick notes every 3 months yet have not had a wca assessment done. my gp has written a letter stating that my assessment should be in my home but I have not sent it in to the wca yet as I have not yet received an appointment letter for examination.

I received a letter from my mp today which contained information he was given by dwp which stated that they have no influence on when my appointment will be for a medical assessment and they have sent 2 previous emails to wca asking them to fast track my claim.

Now I know this is a lie as I contacted the wca a month ago and they have had no correspondence from esa regarding my claim and an esa manager told me on the phone that they had been in touch with wca in april and july, who do I believe, what do I do??

Still getting nowhere even with my mp involved.

Please help, I need to be in the support group, I am incapable of work due to various conditions that prevent me from working, both physically and mentally.

Don't know what to do!!

Suzi wrote: Hi, I hope somebody can help me as I don't know where to turn now. I applied for esa in april this year, I am still in the assessment phase.

I am severely disabled and in receipt or hcr & hmr of dla.

I have contacted my mp twice now and we have both been misled by the dwp.

I have been sending in sick notes every 3 months yet have not had a wca assessment done. my gp has written a letter stating that my assessment should be in my home but I have not sent it in to the wca yet as I have not yet received an appointment letter for examination.

I received a letter from my mp today which contained information he was given by dwp which stated that they have no influence on when my appointment will be for a medical assessment and they have sent 2 previous emails to wca asking them to fast track my claim.

Now I know this is a lie as I contacted the wca a month ago and they have had no correspondence from esa regarding my claim and an esa manager told me on the phone that they had been in touch with wca in april and july, who do I believe, what do I do??

Still getting nowhere even with my mp involved.

Please help, I need to be in the support group, I am incapable of work due to various conditions that prevent me from working, both physically and mentally.

Don't know what to do!!

Hi S,

Even though it is guidance that an ESA WCA should take place within the first 13 weeks of an ESA Claim, I am afraid that there is nothing in Legislation that makes this compulsory.

Therefore, unfortunately, they can take as long as they wish to carry out a WCA.

I will assume that you have already filled in and returned an ESA 50 Questionnaire to : The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) (Maximus) who took over the ESA WCA Contract from ATOS on 02/03/15.

Even though CHDA provide medical services for the DWP in the ESA WCA, it is The DWP who contract them to do so.

It looks like they are "playing ping pong" with you, which would not be that unusual !

The DWP should be able to contact CHDA telling them to fast track your WCA, especially if you are suffering financial difficulty.

If you have provided enough evidence, it is not a pre-requite that you have to go through a face to face assessment, they can and do carry out paper based assessments.

Maybe you could put this to The DWP/CHDA ?

If you have proof that DWP have misled your M.P., you should get back on to your M.P. and tell them to chase this up for you !!

Contacting your MP

You are not alone, we have heard from members where they have been kept in The ESA Assessment Phase without undergoing the WCA for well in excess of 12 months.

If/when you do go through The WCA, any resulting award, WRAG or SG should be back dated to the start of week 14 of your claim.

This is totally unfair, and is simply not good enough !

Good luck and please keep us updated !

bro58