New Style ESA - telephone call to accept claimant commitment

Hi everyone, I recently migrated from ESA and Housing Benefit to Universal Credit. My ESA letters were clear in stating that I was receiving income based ESA but I later found out (via a message in my universal credit account) that I had a contribution based component as well. I phoned ESA and was told that I have a dual claim. I have received my first payments of UC and new style ESA and everything seems to be correct with the payments.

I then had a text from DWP to say that I must take part in a telephone appointment next week to accept my claimant commitment for new style ESA. I thought this seemed ok but then I received a letter saying that this appointment would be conducted by a work coach and during this appointment i would have to explain how my illness/disability affects my ability to work. This seems like more than just accepting a commitment and has caused me a lot of worry. I get very flustered on the phone. I prefer being able to take my time and type out information like with my UC claim. I can check and double check to make sure I have included everything.

I am in the LCWRA for UC and I was in the support group for ESA. I was assessed for ESA and explained in great depth how my conditions affect my daily life in a written form. I don't feel I could do justice to this in a short phone call. Has anyone else had this claimant commitment phone call recently? I feel that if I knew the questions in advance I could then prepare my responses rather than being flustered and stumbling over my words. Is there a way in which I could perhaps type my responses rather than speaking on the phone? I've had a stress related eye condition for the last 10 weeks which has been very challenging and I am concerned that worry over this will exacerbate things. Any advice or reassurance would be very welcome.

Hi David, it was the letter that concerned me more than the text. The text states the date and time of the call and says that it is for me to agree my commitments to get new style esa. The letter says the following:

A work coach from the jobcentre will contact me and explain what i need to do to complete my new style esa claim. They will create a claimant commitment which i must accept to complete my claim. At the appointment they will ask how my illness or disability affects my ability to work and will ask me to agree to tell them if my circumstances change.

So is the part of the letter which says they will ask about my illness or disability not intended for me as I am in the support group? Am I not required to discuss my health conditions at all or do I need to give a summary or a list of my conditions?

You've said that other forum members have related their experiences of this call but I can't find those posts. Could you link me to the post(s) where other people talk about this? It would ease my worries as I have been extremely concerned about this.

I took your advice and contacted the CAB in March. They gave me a lot of help in completing my UC claim. I mentioned this telephone appointment to them and they said that agreeing my ESA commitment and accepting my commitment might be 2 separate calls as UC works this way and apparently ESA is now moving in that direction as well. They encouraged me to ask ESA during my call if I was accepting now or accepting on another day as these might be 2 separate calls. I don't know whether you may have heard of this? I am slightly confused so would appreciate some guidance.

Thanks again for all your help.

Hi David, I am sorry to keep asking you about this but can you confirm for me whether i do or do not need to explain during the phone call how my illness/disability affects my ability to work? I am currently going through a huge amount of stress over this because I don't know what to expect during the call tomorrow. Do I need to prepare as if they will ask me about my illness/disability or not?

I have looked for the posts from other members who found this phone call to be straightforward but cannot find them despite looking extensively. I had hoped that other forum users would comment on this post to let me know their experiences. If I knew what questions were going to be asked I would feel calmer. Do you know what questions will be asked? Is the only question being asked to accept my claimant commitment and no other questions? Thanks again for your help.