ESA Support Group F2F Assessment Cancelled

Update:

Further to this, I'll add here what I experienced after the above - as it may well help others.

A day after the cancelled F2F appointment I attended, I did indeed receive a letter from the DWP and a form BF223(ESA) 02/15, asking me to give details of why I had not attended the assessment...

This was just as I was typing up a letter to send to my DWP office explaining the situation and giving evidence that I had indeed attended the f2f assessment appointment - as you recommended above.

My first action in response to this was to call the DWP number given on the form and speak with a staff member there. They contacted Medical services to check. Medical services then confirmed that I had in fact attended the assessment, and that they had marked me as
’did not attend’ in error. The DWP worker then entered this a note on their system.

I was told to still send back the completed form BF223(ESA) 02/15, giving as reason the situation above - and that I did in fact attend.

They said no 'evidence' (train tickets/ receipts etc) was needed as they had confirmed my atttendance with Medical services (Maximus). (* If you are comfortable with sending them 'evidence' though, I would say send it anyway as Gordon advises above).

Hence it seems worth calling to deal with this issue if you encounter it.

I returned both the form and the letter I had composed (Headed: To the Decision Maker) via recorded delivery that day.

No further issues resulted.

* One further piece of advice I would give others - due to the possibility of the above happening - would be:

* Whenever you travel to a F2F assessment always gather evidence that you have attended / travelled to the assessment location.

* If you can get some form of evidence actually from the assessment place - do this: maybe a signing in record? Also note the badge names of people working there, or ask for them.

* Keep any train tickets and any debit/ credit card receipts for such.

* When near the assessment centre: use a bank cash machine and get a receipt from it, and buy something from a shop (Tesco/ Sainsbury/ chain coffee shop etc) and pay with debit card, so you get a receipt with the location on it.

I hope this helps anyone who encounters the same issues.