ATOS assessment centre

I am on ESA (CB) which will expire on 10th October,but have today received a letter from ATOS telling me that I must attend a medical on 6th October.On the ESA 50 which I completed in July, I stated that, should it be necessary for me to attend a medical, I would prefer to be seen at a centre which used a ground floor facility. The assessment centre I have been allocated is on the 5th floor. According to the ATOS website, two other assessment centres in my region are located on the ground floor,so I really fail to see why either of these could not have been chosen. Is it worth my contacting the DWP about this, or am I just wasting my time?

Not sure if this will be of any help but it's what I was told by ATOS when I was trying to change assessment centre.

I was told the assessment centre was allocated by my postcode. That centre only did assessments on one day a month. I asked if I could change to another centre which was about the same distance from my home (but actually easier to get to!) which did assessments weekly, ATOS said the only way to override the system was to get DWP to request that ATOS 'fast tracked' or 'prioritised' my claim.

It took 3 phone calls to DWP before I actually spoke to someone who agreed it could be done, 6 weeks later ATOS still had no record of any request from DWP but they referred me to head office in Cardiff and a very nice lady there actually changed it for me

ATOS have had my file since beginning of April and I finally have an appointment for tomorrow

Thanks for the advice. I rang ATOS today and got the venue changed. The date is now a later one, by which time my 365 days will have been and gone, so I suppose the exercise is a bit futile as the only positive outcome could be that I am deemed unfit for work and eligible for NI credits.By the way, the person at ATOS said there was no mention on my notes that I had asked for a ground floor centre, but once I stated that I had kept a copy of the form, she immediately assented to my request.

redcat wrote: Thanks for the advice. I rang ATOS today and got the venue changed. The date is now a later one, by which time my 365 days will have been and gone, so I suppose the exercise is a bit futile as the only positive outcome could be that I am deemed unfit for work and eligible for NI credits.By the way, the person at ATOS said there was no mention on my notes that I had asked for a ground floor centre, but once I stated that I had kept a copy of the form, she immediately assented to my request.

Hi rd,

Well done on getting the venue changed.

If you are again placed into The WRAG and your CB ESA has ceased due to exhausting the 365 days of CB ESA, then yes you will only receive NI Credits.

You should then be financially assessed using an ESA3 Form to see whether you qualify for IR ESA. :

24 hour work rule for ESA(IR)

Asset rule for ESA(IR)

If you don't, as long as you maintain a live continuous assessment of Limited Capability for Work, if your conditions change or deteriorate in the future, you could request a review. If as a result of this review you were placed into The SG, payment of CB ESA would be reinstated, and remain in payment for as long as you remain in The SG.

Likewise, if you are placed into The SG as a result of your impending F2F assessment, payment of CB ESA will be reinstated as above.

bro58