No delay allowed for ESA questionnaire deadline

My daughter is in reciept of Incapity Benefit and DLA and was recently sent the ESA form.
It's come along at the worst possible time for us as my brother (her uncle) is terminally ill. We're both obviously devastated and spending as much time with him as possible because he doesn't have much of it left.
The letter we had states 'If you will be unable to fill in the questionnaire by 29th July 2013, please contact the Jobcentre Plus ofice that deals with your claim.'
Which I did today. I explained eveything to a woman who seemed symathetic about my brother and I said that I am my daughter's carer and would be helping my daughter to read and fill out the form as I always do. Only after I had finally finished did she tell me that they cannot extend the deadline. Because I'm not my daughter's appointee and because it's my brother, not hers it doesn't count as a reason for delay as she isn't directly affected. The fact that he's her uncle doesn't matter at all!
So what it really should have said in letter was 'If you're unable to fill in the questionnaire by 29th July then ring and tell us if you really want to but it won't change anything'.
The best she could do was to email the relevant people and state what I told her.

Also worth mentioning is that my daughter also had a letter with 10 days left til the deadline that was headed in bold 'We need your questionnaire urgently'. This just felt like harrassment as we still had a full 10 days left and we were working towards it as fast as we could.

Anyway, don't if anyone can offer any advice that was better than the Jobcentre Plus woman on the phone....?

Hi 'NoJustice',

I am sorry that you have come to the site under such difficult circumstances.

I'm afraid that the advice I can give is not positive for you. The time allowed for the receipt of the ESA50 form is laid down in law and there is no way that this can be varied. Failure to return the form can result in the claim being closed and benefit lost. Of course, you could appeal this decision and claim 'good cause' for the delay but there would be no payment until the appeal is decided (which could be some considerable period of time) and no guarantee of the decision going in your favour.

As a result of this, you should make every effort to get the form submitted in time. Any supporting evidence can be sent later if necessary. If it is truly impossible to get the from completed, you should send it in anyway and explain why it is not complete - I cannot predict what response this would bring!

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?