"The Department for Work and Pensions has also announced that, from Tuesday, face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability welfare payments will be suspended for three months in an effort to protect vulnerable claimants."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51901818
Last edited by noisynoodle; 16-03-20 at 13:50.
Thank you for the information. I had my F2F next Monday, was about to phone and ask for a telephone assessment (I know they can do these but just don't).
If people are currently applying for ESA or UC for the first time, will they get back dated? Not everyone can survive for three months waiting for money due to sickness and ill health.
Government/DWP announcement:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/f...virus-outbreak
I suspect that they will simply suspend reassessments altogether for ESA/UC, apart from maybe those already booked.Anyone who has a face-to-face assessment appointment scheduled from Tuesday 17 March onwards does not need to attend and will be contacted to discuss next steps and alternative arrangements, which could involve either telephone or paper-based assessments. We expect this measure will be in effect for the next 3 months but we will be regularly reviewing the position in line with Public Health advice.
No further action is required by any claimant as a result of this change. They will be contacted with advice on next steps.
New applications should get ESA assessment rate or standard UC anyway, just the same as already happens.
They may have to wait a bit longer for the SG/LCWRA addition if they qualify but the current backdating rules will still apply.
PIP payments may be more of an issue as new claims aren't paid until after the decision, and what about existing short term PIP awards that are coming to their end date?
Claim UC I guess.
Last edited by nukecad; 16-03-20 at 15:28.
I don't know everything. - But I'm good at searching for, and finding, stuff.
Migration from ESA to Universal Credit- Click here for information.
This is a relief for those of us that at expecting a reassessment. Mine was due February and heard nothing . At least I know I’m ok for another 3 months so that hopefully means I’ll hear nothing until
June .
It will be interesting to see how many nrw awards they can make without the need for a f2f.
It will be a while before we see the statistics though.
I don't know everything. - But I'm good at searching for, and finding, stuff.
Migration from ESA to Universal Credit- Click here for information.
Maybe they’ll start some telephone assessments? I would have no probs with one of those.
They may even simply defer all reassment WCAs and when one is due simply change the prognosis date by 2 years?
They did it before between 2014 and 2016 for less of a reason (backlogs).
This time they may have to extend PIP award end dates as well?
Last edited by nukecad; 16-03-20 at 17:35.
I don't know everything. - But I'm good at searching for, and finding, stuff.
Migration from ESA to Universal Credit- Click here for information.
Extending PIP awards would be good for me as my "can be reassessed a year before end of award" starts for me end of April this year
Well that would be great for most of us although I really can’t see this happening. What will they do about new claims though , surely they will have paper based if they have the required evidence or have telephone assessments , it would be unfair for them to wait months and months for the extra element. I mean this is terrible and I like a lot of others never thought this would have such an impact when I heard about it a month ago. Boris has just advised all to have no public contact .
My nephew got an assessment appointment letter today and my sister called them to try and arrange a home visit but they just said they had suspended them for 3 months and cancelled the appointment no paperbased or telephone assessment he just needs to wait for another appointment.
Last edited by Toby123; 16-03-20 at 19:30.
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