ESA

I attended a medical assessment on 31 January and telephoned this morning to ask for a copy of the medical report. The lady spoke so quickly (with a foreign accent)and all I could understand was:

"this has been worded very badly but you have been deemed unfit to work at the moment but have been put into the group which will require you to attend the Jobcentre and attend interviews with a view to getting you back into work. You will also get more money".

I do not understand this and am very upset. I have agoraphobia, anxiety, depression, my wrists and thumbs are shot to pieces through being a secretary for 40 odd years and have a very bad back. Also my savings are dwindling and I cannot manage on the money I am getting at the moment.

The man carrying out the assessment said "it is very obvious that you are not at all well".

Can anyone throw some light on this for me please as I seem to be very dense about it all. Thank you.

Hi... I joined this group few weeks ago & have found it very helpful...just want to say hello to you because the forum closes for the weekend & you may not get a reply today, although you can still look loads up...can't help you much right now as i'm still learning myself but hold on you will get good advice & replies...may be worth posting your question again monday morning... be kind to yourself for now & i will check back how you are doing... best wishes...

Hi Bendog.

Just a quick reply as the forum is closing for the weekend.

It sounds like you have been put in the work related group of ESA rather than the support group. There is a lot of information and discussions about all this on the site.

If you feel you should be in the support group you can appeal and the decision will be looked at again to see if it can be changed without you ending up in the appeal queue.

No time to write more.

Best wishes

Dear Catherine, Feeling Desperate and Gordon

First of all I want to say that I was not being in any way disrespectful when I mentioned a foreign accent, I was just trying to stress that I could not understand her very well.

Thank you all for your kind replies. Gordon you have really helped put my mind at rest with your information. Thank you. I have done some reading on here over the weekend and understand quite a lot more about what is going on. I am very grateful.

I telephoned to report a change in circumstances as my savings have gone right down from when I first claimed and this morning I received a form (tome!). I could not believe the size of it, its at least twice as thick as the original form I filled in to claim. Oh well, four more hours of reading and filling in

Once again, thank you all.