ESA 50: Social situations and “tell us why…”

I am working alongside a friend to help her partner’s son complete his ESA50. The claimant is so scared that he cannot bear to look at the form. He is a highly intelligent man in his late twenties, suffering from a range of anxiety disorders with long spells of agoraphobia. He is such a frightened person that I seldom catch sight of him when I visit my friend’s home. The claimant hasn’t seen a psychiatrist or any mental health professional since he completed university, since when he has deteriorated. He has never had a job. He is terrified of most health professional and it is several years since his last appointment with a GP. We have what medical records and reports are available.

There is no way this very vulnerable person could cope in the WRAG. I believe he meets the descriptors for questions 15 (coping with change) and 16 (social situations) though I have heard that the latter is particularly difficult to meet. Moreover, what troubles me about question 16 are the words: “tell us why you find it distressing to meet other people and what makes it difficult.”

The claimant can only offer partial explanations. I doubt that a psychiatrist could present a full explanation! Ought he offer any explanation? Would it be reasonable to answer, “I don’t know”? Am I reading something sinister into the question that isn’t there when I fear that a claimant’s answer could be used to place him the WRAG with the suggestion that a particular treatment or therapy would have him fit for work before long.

Hi MW,

I see that Gordon is in the process of answering your query.

In the mean time, there is an interesting rightsnet thread on "Social Contact" and Schedule 3 SG Descriptor 13, here :

www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/4170/P0/

There is some case law near the end of the thread.

See also :

SG (LCWRA)Schedule 3 Descriptors

bro58

Gordon and Bro58

Thank you for your detailed answers, particular the clarification of Question 16. We have already compiled information, taken from the claimant and family and friends, to be worked into a reply to the “tell us why” issue. I am relieved to know that a detailed answer, even if providing only a partial explanation, if the right way forward. I have read the PDF relating to the recent case. I found it very helpful and have forwarded it to the family. The legal niceties might even serve to draw the claimant into the transfer process.

A further query: Do you think Question 17 regarding propriety of behaviour might be applicable to an exceptionally anxious/phobic claimant? The claimant is not suicidal or in any way a risk to other people but his persistent avoidance of even close family and friends is unusual. He is the Invisible Man at Christmas and other family occasions. This situation causes extreme distress both to himself and people who love him. I don’t think a response to Question 17 would gain the claimant entry to the SG but it would provide an opportunity to explain his problems in greater detail and probably pick up some points that might to considered if there were to be an appeal against a WRAG award.

I won’t be competing the form. My friend and her partner will do most, if not all, the work and determine the final wording.

The claimant is non-aggressive. The word I thought about was “disinhibition”. I’ve just looked it up again and find, “In psychology, disinhibition is a lack of restraint manifested in several ways, including disregard for social conventions.” Could it be argued that the claimant is so fearful of social situations that his avoidance of the society of other people shows disregard for social situations in a way that might be considered unreasonable? Could a workplace contend with somebody hiding in a cloakroom or even just burying his head in his arms so as not to see his social environment?