UC Telephone Assessment

Hello John,

In my experience the pattern of questioning for ESA and PIP is very similar. They start with background and then move on to more general questions. Some of those will be questions obviously linked to the activities listed in the UC/ESA 50 form, but many are fairly general. They will be trying to get a full picture of your life and seeing if what you say is consistent with what you have put on your form. This means that it is important to stress that if tell them about a certain activity you do, you include information about what adaptations or support you need to be able to carry out that activity.

Make sure you refresh yourself the information which is in our guides
UC & ESA resources

And finally remember to present an accurate picture of yourself – don’t be tempted to fall for the human trait of presenting yourself in the best possible light.

If you have any more questions, please do come back to us,
Catherine

Hi John

I would agree with what Catherine has written below.

If you have a look at our PIP guide at the link below you will see that there are 9 pages which include advice on telephone assessments. A lot of the questions are those that would have been asked if you had a face to face assessment.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants

- Write yourself a bullet point list of any particular points you want to get over, so you have it by you during the assessment, tick them as you cover them during the assessment.
- have paper and pens to hand to make any notes such as the assessors name, date, time
- make sure you are seated in a comfortable chair, you are going to be there a while and at table to make notes
- if you can't hear or understand what is being asked then ask them to repeat the question
- don't forget to have a glass of water if needed so you don't get a dry throat and lose your voice!

Once you get a decision don't forget to contact DWP and ask for a copy of the assessors report called UC 85.

Gary

I find that when claimants attend Tribunals they wear their smartest clothing and neatly groomed, this will usually go against them.

Two years ago I could not attend a Tribunal with a client, the client had mental health issues, we had waited over one year for a listing, I went to see her a week before the Tribunal to go over proceedings as we did not want to postpone the Tribunal.

I told her not to go dressed up but to go as normal, which she did, she attended the Tribunal in her onesie, needless to say she went from zero points to scoring 60 points and placed in the support group.

Gary