Preparing for your ESA medical assessment

After you submit your capability for work questionnaire (ESA50 form), you'll probably be asked to go for a medical assessment, called a ‘Work Capability Assessment’. The assessments are carried out by the Health Assessment Advisory Service.

The service will send you a letter telling you the date, time and location of your assessment.

Arrange your medical assessment

Check with the Health Assessment Advisory Service that the centre you’re going to has got everything you need. If it hasn’t, you can ask for it.

For example, you can:

• ask for any special type of chair you need to sit on (while you’re waiting for and during your assessment) - make sure they will have one there
• check whether you’ll have to go up stairs, or whether they’ve got a lift you can get your wheelchair into
• ask them how roomy the assessment centre is if you get anxious in enclosed spaces - if the rooms or corridors are small, tell them this could make you anxious and see what they can offer you
• ask for an interpreter or signer if you need one - you need to ask for one at least two days before your assessment so they can make sure that one’s available
• ask for the person carrying out the assessment to be the same gender as you, if that’s important to you

If your illness or disability makes it difficult or impossible for you to travel to an assessment, you can ask for the assessment to be done at home instead. The Health Assessment Advisory Service will ask you to give them information from your doctor, or other medical professional, to explain why you can’t travel.

To ask for any of these things, or anything else you need, call the customer enquiries team.

You can take someone with you to the assessment and into the assessment room with you, if you want to. This could be someone who makes you feel more comfortable and can give you support while the assessment is happening, like a friend, relative or carer.

Travel expenses - what you can get back

You can get travel costs paid back into your bank account. Bring the details with you to the assessment and the receptionist will help you fill in a claim form.

You can also get back the fares of anyone who needs to come with you. If you want to claim expenses for someone else to travel with you, let the Health Assessment Advisory Service know.

Public transport

Make sure you keep any tickets or receipts.

By car

You can claim back your fuel costs. The rate is 25p per mile. You can also get back any parking costs.

By taxi

If you can only travel by taxi, you need to telephone before the assessment to let the Health Assessment Advisory Service know. They’ll then get a healthcare professional to consider your request and will let you know if they’ll cover your taxi fare.

Get ready for your medical assessment

There are a few things you can do before your assessment that might make it feel less stressful on the day.

Think about how your illness or disability affects you - particularly on bad days. You’ll have already mentioned lots of these things when you filled in the capability for work questionnaire, but it will really help if you’re ready to talk about:

• the kind of things you have difficulty with, or can’t do at all - for example, walking up steps without help, or remembering to go to appointments
• what a usual day is like for you - how your condition affects you from day to day
• what a bad day is like for you - eg, ‘On a bad day, I can’t walk at all because my injured leg hurts so much’ or ‘On a bad day, I’m so depressed I can’t concentrate on anything’

What to take with you

You’ll need to take identification with you to your assessment. A passport is usually best. If you don’t have a passport, you need to take along 3 different types of identification. For example:

• your birth certificate
• your full driving licence
• a recent bank statement that shows your name and address
• a gas or electricity bill

You should also have with you:

• any pills or medication you need
• any aids and appliances that you use like glasses, hearing aids or a walking stick

If you made and kept a copy of your capability for work questionnaire, you can take this into the assessment if you want to. This will help you make sure you tell the assessor everything about your condition and don’t miss anything out.

What happens at your medical assessment

An independent medically qualified assessor (sometimes called a healthcare professional) will check how your illness or disability affects your ability to work. They use the information you've given on your questionnaire and also draw opinions and make assumptions from what you do on the day.

For example, they might ask you how you got to the assessment centre. If you say you came on the bus, they’ll make a note that you can travel alone on public transport.

Or, if you say you go shopping in a supermarket they may assume you can walk around the supermarket unless you make it clear that you can't or need help.

Or they could ask how long you’ve been sitting in the waiting room before the assessment. If you say ’half an hour’, they’ll make a note that you can sit on an ordinary chair for at least 30 minutes. In this example, it could be helpful to explain further if relevant, eg that you waited half an hour but had to walk around etc because I couldn't sit for that long.

You might be asked to carry out some physical tasks during the assessment. The assessor might also examine you in a similar way that a doctor would.

They’ll talk to you about the things you’ve said on your questionnaire - you’ll be able to check back to the answers you gave on the form if you’ve taken your copy with you. You can explain these again to the assessor and you can also give other examples of things you find difficult.

Tips for your medical assessment

Do:

• tell the assessor everything you can that’s relevant to your illness, health condition or disability, even if it’s already on your form
• back up what you’ve said on the capability for work questionnaire with any evidence you can, like a doctor’s letter or examples of things that have happened to you
• ask for any help you need - it can make the assessment less stressful

Don’t:

• exaggerate or lie about your condition
• feel you have to do anything you normally wouldn’t be able to do
• expect the assessor to be 'on your side' - they’re there to ask questions, not to make sure you get ESA

The assessor doesn’t make the decision about your ESA - they make a recommendation to the DWP after your assessment. At your assessment, they won’t be able to tell you what they’re going to recommend.

You can get a copy of your assessment report by asking the DWP office that’s looking after your claim. The phone number will be on any letters you’ve had from them about your ESA claim.

After your assessment, a decision maker from the DWP will look at the recommendation made by the assessor and use this to decide if you can get ESA.