Evidence to show I can’t do a work capability assessment

I’ve just been awarded ESA and placed into the Support Group after a mandatory reconsideration submission. The letter they have sent states that I will be referred for another work capability assessment in 12 months time (12 months from my telephone assessment, so December this year)(I was hoping it would be 2 years as the application process has taken nearly a year for me but I assume they have done just the 1 as they think i will get better by then, even though all my evidence says I won’t)

So, I’m a bit worried about having to do another work capability assessment. My application is based solely around the fact that I am autistic and I struggle a lot with having to interact with people and the lasting effects it has on me. When submitting my application I knew that I would feel unable to do the assessment, whether it was in person or over the phone, and so my sister (who has contacted/dealt with any communication on my behalf) asked Capita what we needed to do to get a paper based assessment. They ran us round in circles with it and kept telling us incorrect information which meant we kept having to push the assessment date back again and again. Eventually they told us we couldn’t push it back anymore and I just had to do it, even though it was their fault we had to keep pushing it back. When I did have my assessment the lady (who was lovely) didn’t ask for any information that I hadn’t already given them which was a little frustrating as it felt a bit pointless and it caused me so much stress and lasting impacts from having to do it, which is why I didn’t, and still don’t, feel I can do one.

I never ended up finding out what I needed to do to convince them to give me a paper based assessment. I know my esa50 form contained enough Information for them to do a paper based, as we put in a formal complaint to Capita and they mentioned in there that it was enough. I assume they needed more medical evidence but I had given them multiple pieces from various medical professionals and there was nothing left I could give them. Even if this was the case, it still doesn’t change the fact that the assessment isn’t something I feel I can do due to the impacts it has on me.

What evidence would I need for them to agree to a paper based assessment for my review? would a gp letter saying it could be impactful to my health be enough? I feel like it wouldn’t be and my gp only writes an actual 2 sentences on letters too (even if you ask them to put a bit more info in- they are busy though so I do understand) but I feel like this wont be enough for them (they knew from all my evidence the first time how much it would have impacted my health and still wouldn’t do a paper based).

Will I also have to get updated letters of all my evidence pieces? One or two will be ok to get but some will require me to do a lot of things I struggle to do, which will impact me more. How much evidence do they want for a review compared to applying for the first time?

I know I am getting a bit ahead of myself as its not coming up yet but i want to have a plan ready so I can put it out of my mind until nearer the time and stop worrying.

Don't know if this will be helpful for you for the future but my son is autistic and got paper based assessments for both pip and wca. He got double enhanced pip and LCWRA group UC.

I really believe the evidence that helped most was his original ADOS report done in 2011. When i got back the forms to see where points were awarded, they had leant heavily on that report, even though it was NINE years old when submitted.

An ADOS is the gold standard autism diagnosis and is always worth submitting. It must have been completed by the full multi disciplinary team, headed up by a CLINICAL psychologist/psychiatrist to carry any weight.

That's the first thing.

GPs aren't great on autism in my experience but support workers are. Especially if you attend a support group specifically for autistic people - that will really help if the assessors have a contact number there of someone that knows you well.

The other thing of course is to make full use of the excellent guides here on B&W.
Because an autism assessment that has been done to the gold standard includes so much information and runs to a few pages, it is often possible to highlight evidence in the report to support each descriptor.


If you do not have a gold standard autism assessment report and have never been assessed to standard by the full team, it probably is worth paying privately if you can possibly afford it.

My son's was done NHS (waiting lists are a good 4 years now though and that is IF anyone agrees for you to join an NHS wait list)

I also have an autistic daughter much less severely affected than my son (not to a disabling degree) and we paid privately for her to have an assessment. It cost £2k!!!

The assessment took exactly the same format as my son's though. It is thorough.

Yes but it was very fast and the wait was because I had specified Wednesdays only. I think it was about 2 months. I'd be very wary of places charging much less than that. You certainly want to be seeing the words "gold standard" and "NICE guidelines" on the websites of any private practice.

A team to properly assess autism must ALWAYS be headed up by a properly registered clinical psychologist/psychiatrist and most often contains a speech and language therapist too.
It is expensive as it takes a few hours and visits.

First an information gathering detailed case history - they like someone who has known you since childhood ideally - parent, sibling, aunt to be present.
For someone still at school, one of the team will go and observe the child at school.
A CAT -Q questionaire for adults to self complete at home and return (camoflaging autistic traits)

Then you go back by yourself to complete the ADOS. This can be administered by speech therapists or clinical psychologists (often both professionals present)

After that, the team gets together to pull all the evidence together.

Then you are invited back for a feedback meeting of about an hour long.

Sometime later, you will receive a report of at least 5 A4 pages - copy to your GP too. There will be a shorter summary sheet which you can show employers if you need reasonable adjustments.

My son's had a handy extra sheet showing strategies to help - simple, short sentences etc.

A full write up of your responses to the testing and - handily on my son's in big bold type words to the effect of "meets the criteria for diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder"

His was done 2011. In 2013, as you know the DSM1V was published which re categorised autism into levels 1, 2 and 3. And did away with Asperger's.

Some assessment reports now include what level of autism you have. My daughter's did not. When i queried it, they said the levels are more widely used in America for insurance purposes but i know some UK practices do give the level.

With the thoroughness of assessment, it is little wonder the waiting lists have got so long or that it is so expensive privately.

Thank you very much for your reply!! It's put my mind at rest!!