New government work focused interviews and health checks

[daphne]

Hello everyone I am new here.

I have suffered from severe depression for nearly nine years.  The last two years have been my worst with four attempted suicides.  My husband is my official carer and gives me my medicines and makes sure I eat.

I was with the crisis team earlier this year and now have a social worker who I do not find particularly supportive and also I have a new GP and a new consultant.

I went to Citizen Advice earlier this year about another matter and they suggested I applied for DLA which I was granted even though my social worker said it wouldn't happen.

I filled in another questionairre for Job Centre Plus before Christmas and even though my symptoms have not changed I have been put back just onto Incapacity benefit or what they now call it.

I don't so much mind this as I can manage on the rate I was on before but what is absolutely freaking me out is that they say I have to attend work focussed interviews and also maybe a health check.  I am most of the time agoraphobic and am absolutely terrified even if I go to see my GP or consultant.  In the past my old GP and my old consultant have written so that I do not have to be assessed and my old consultant actually sent me a copy of a letter written to my GP saying that I cannot work again.

I asked my social worker about this and she says I have to go and wouldn't even ask my consultant.  I asked my GP and she said I had to go - I do not find her very suppportive either.  So today I have gone over my soical workers head and rang my consultants secretary to find out if he will write to them for me and I am waiting for his reply.

I am not a malingerer and before this worked for 20 years for the NHS.  I just feel that this is going to make me extremely ill>  Will Job Centre Plus not accept letters from a person's consultant now?  I am not saying I cannot do this at a future date but at the moment it is enough for me just to cope with daily living.

Is anyone else dealing with this at the moment and if so what are you doing?

Daphne x


I
I

[Holykimura]

Hi sorry to hear your story, I'm afraid I have no experience of this other than suggesting emailing CAB? Hope you feel better soon, there are lots of very pleasant people on here and maybe someone may have an answer good luck and take care x

[daphne]

Thank you so much!

Daphne x

[Zaf]

I dont know anything about it but hopefully someone else her will,  I hope you get it sorted out as I suffer from agorophobia from time to time and can appreciate how difficult it can be to get outside sometimes let alone go for all that stuff

Zxx

[Sweetpea]

Sorry I have no experience with this either.  But welcome to the forum.  Everyone here are lovely and very supportive.

Sharon x

[daphne]

Thank you everyone and for your warm welcome

Daphne
x

[Munchroom]

Hi Daphne and welcome  :)

I went through so much with my claim for ESA/Incapacity benefit last year I think I could write a book about it!

I too was - still am, agrophobic and suffer from 'major depression and anxiety'. I put in a claim for ESA in october 2010 - got it, great! The  I had to go for a medical assesment in the November - no way of getting out of it, so my fiance had to take the day off and take me in. I was a nervous wreck, but I got through it. It didn't even cross my mind that they could dispute the fact I was ill, but in February 2011 I had a phonecall out of the blue saying that they could see no reason why I couldn't work full time  I could not leave my house alone so how was I going to manage to work - when it was mostly anxieties about work that had seemingly got me here in the first place?! I (with a lot of support from family and friends) disputed it.... got the paperwork through which stated that because I was wearing clean clothes/wasn't rocking backwards and forward/kept eye contact/'showed no ideals of self harm or suicide' (which I wasn't even asked about. I had a long sleeved top on so there was no way he would have seen the scars on my arm anyway) - I was able to work!  Because I disputed it they carried on paying me a smaller rate of ESA every week - I think it went from £92 to £65. I went to the tribunal in July - easily one of the scariest things I have ever done. Luckily my parents were able to come with me and the desicion was very quickly overturned. I had a rebate of the underpayment and because they had seen me for themselves, I no longer had to produce medical certificates - not that they would really accept them as proof that anyone was ill anyway! If they had, I would never have had to go through all of this! The proviso was that I would attend a 'work-based interview' every few weeks in the local job centre 20 miles away.... That is incredibly nerveracking every single time - but the lady I see is so incredibly friendly! She knows I'm nowhere near ready to go back to work full time and was so angry I was put through all of the above and was ecstatic when the desicion was overturned. I don't think they are in any massive rush to get you back to work in those interviews - they just monitor you a little bit.

I know - through the lady at the job centre - that the whole system in changing in April anyway. I have recently had to do another medical questionare which could result in another medical assesment  But... at least I know what to expect this time! Not sure I could go through the whole thing again though. There has been a fair bit on the news over the last year or so about how the medical assesments are changing because they are basically ridiculous! So I hope they are changing for the better!! As I'm sure you know yourself from the questionaire theres not a lot of consideration given to mental health issues.

I'm sorry I couldn't have given you a more positive account of my experience with it all - but as I say, it is all changing over the next few months anyway. The work based interviews are nothing to worry about (apart from our own issues with agrophobia) in my experience they are not there to force you back into work.

Please feel free to pm me about any of it - its a truly awful thing to put anyone through, nevermind those of us that are struggiling to cope with the most basic of things in daily life.

xx

[daphne]

Thanks Munchroom - does that mean that they will no longer accept a consultant letter ascertaining that someone is not fit?
x

[Munchroom]

I'm sure they will accept it. The only thing I had to go on (which is what they asked for) was a medical certificate/sick note. I thought that would be all that was required but when I got the paperwork through for the tribunal it stated that medical certificates were not sufficient enough to prove that someone is not fit for work.... work that one out!  I would say that sending a letter from your consultant can do no harm, but I don't think they would accept that instead of thier own face to face medical assesment x

[tharidler]

hi everyone
i applied for benefits about ten years ago at the time i was suffering from terrible ibs bought on in part by clinical depression and several anxiety disorders including social anxiety so i had to go for a medical assesment a horrible ordeal i was honest and answered everything as best as i could i was turned down for any benefits whatsoever this made me even worse for a while as i could not believe that they thought i was lying it annoys me that people can lie and get away with it and i was honest and disbelieved anyway my long winded point is why are genuinely unwell people not consulted as it seems so many people have to go through this. and to be honest  as a result i would rather be on the streets than ever ask for a penny of support again

[Munchroom]

I've come to the very skeptical conclusion that they pick out the people who they don't think - due to their medical conditions - will have the stregnth to contest the desicion x

[daphne]

Well hopefully my consultant is goingto write to them and if not I still will not be going - it would finish me off!  I know why they are doing this - but I think it is utterly appalling to bully people in this way which is more than likely to aggravate their illnesses.