Work Capability Assessment - How Often?

Gordon: Hello and thanks for that kind reply. One more related question (perhaps abstruse): sis had a home visit ESA assessment from a dr on 05/09. No outcome letter yet received. Her regular fortnightly ESA payment, at the usual amount (she's in the Support Gp), was made today (17th). Can anything about the ESA assessment outcome be read into this (ie, if withdrawing ESA, is it likely to have happened by now and be reflected in the payment?)

I understand if you haven't a clue!

Best wishes,

Marcus

Thanks, Gordon. I see your newsletter stats today advise 75% of ESA reassessments either maintain, or place in, the SG - so the chance is she's been maintained...

I agree that if the figure remains, say, over c 70% over a year or more, it raises why so many reassessments are done. I can certainly attest to the stress it caused my sis and me as her appointee and accompanier to the assessment, largely in completing the paperwork.

One would think (and perhaps this happens, though to an insufficient degree) that 'intelligent' reassessment would be done, whereby those that scored comfortably over thresholds for the WRAG and SG are maintained for, say, five years, unless a potential change 'up' or 'down' is evidenced or relevant functional impairment was expected to reduce. Borderline scorers could be reassessed more frequently.

In my sis's case, I think the reassessment was at c the three-yr point, but she's objectively more disabled now than when placed in the SG at that first assessment, so I can't see the justification for a face-to-face assessment, at least, rather, say, than a light-touch reconsideration on paperwork. I expect the cost of a dr's home visit must come to a couple of hundred pounds...