Work Capability Assessments - Home Visits.

There is some useful information to hand for claimants who request a home visit from Maximus for a work capability assessment.

Under the terms of the Equality Act 2010 pursuant to section 20(7), the Department for Work and Pensions/CDHA Maximus could be in breach of that section of the Act, in stipulating that ESA claimants who request a home visit and are asked to supply medical evidence, should pay for the duty to make such a reasonable adjustment in order for the Department for Work and Pensions/CDHA Maximus to comply with the duty.

This section of the Act would be relevant if a person's GP would be prepared to draft a letter, but would charge for it as private business. Under the terms of the Act, the DWP/CDHA Maximus are not permitted to request that a claimant should pay for such a letter. I put this to the Treasury Solicitor's office and they did not dispute that this section of the Act was irrelevant, when asking claimants to provide medical evidence to facilitate a domiciliary/home visit. In fact, they suggested (wrongly) that it was incumbent upon a GP to provide a letter free of charge!

Furthermore, in conjunction with section 8 paragraph 229 and sub-paragraph 2 of the ESA Guidance for Benefit Delivery Centres, it is not always necessary for an ESA claimant who is undergoing a work capability assessment to provide any medical evidence. If a claimant fails to attend a WCA because of their illness/disability and the question of good cause for non-attendance arises, the guide stipulates:-

If when considering the Good Cause decision the Decision Maker considers the claimant
would benefit from a home visit/domiciliary visit they should request the Assessment Provider
undertakes this. The DM does not have to go down the route of getting GP evidence neither
does the claimant. These cases should be rare and should be treated as exceptions DMG
memo 2/14 applies.

Whilst the Equality Act is statute law, the question of 'good cause' (or 'good reason' for Universal Credit claimants) is discretionary in the form of guidance only. However, both are relevant if a claimant requires a domiciliary/ home visit, particularly if they are unable to afford a fee for a GP's letter.