Upcoming Face to Face

Hello,

I hope this is ok to ask here - I have a Face to Face appointment on the 31st May. This will be my third "medical" in six years.

I am registered partially sighted and up until 2010 worked part time. My deteriorating sight led to me suffering panic and anxiety. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about four years ago and Type 2 Diabetes two years ago.

I have read through the guides and used them to help complete my ESA50 form (a friend had to complete it for me after they sent me a large print one) but just wondered if anyone else is in a similar situation which a sensory disability which has led to mental health issues and how they got on and manage.

My eye condition is a deteriorating one and my JC advisor had told me that I wouldn't be assessed again until 2017 but here we are.

Look forward to hearing any advice

Jane

Hi MissJinny and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I'm sorry you have been required to attend so many face2face assessments. The assessor does not have any knowledge of your prior history or claims, all they know is what you have sent them, so you have to make your case from scratch each time.

As for the expected date of reassessment, there are two issues. One is that the JobCentre advisors often have little understanding of how the system works outside of their domain. The other is that the reassessment date is only advisory, it does not form part of the decision and it no binding.

It you want to be reminded of what to expect at the face2face appointment, there is a section towards that back of the ESA guide that will explain it.

ESA claims and appeals

You might want to bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future. That will allow you to return with further questions/comments without having to start a new topic each time. It helps us enormously when everything relating to the same claim is kept in one place - and I hope you will find it useful too