In WRAG and advisor wants a fitnote??
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello everyone, first time poster here. 
I suffer from BPD, depression and anxiety and have been on ESA in the WRAG for just over a year now. I received my second ESA50 booklet back in January and sent it off all fine and dandy by the date they needed it by and am waiting to hear back from them.
Anyway, I went for a work focused interview this week and the lady (not my usual advisor, I've only seen this one once before) is questioning whether I should be claiming ESA at all based mostly on the fact that I'm not CURRENTLY on medication.
She asked me to make a doctors appointment and to report back to her in a couple of weeks with a fit note if my doctor will give me one.
Although before I left I asked her just to clarify "so basically I'm going there to ask for a fit note?" and she said no?
Surely if I don't ask for one I wouldn't get one!
Regardless I'm just really confused by it all.
Does she actually have the authority to ask me to do that?
Surely that’s what the DWP and the whole assessment process is there for. I thought once you were placed in a group no further fit notes were required.
Any advice would be much appreciated, I'm at a bit of a loss with the whole thing.
0 likes, 10 replies
denise15811 WinterKat
Posted
Hi,
I believe you asked the same question on another forum and you were adviced to ring DWP and ask to speak to someone and tell them what your advisor has said to you because i'm sure they don't have the authority to say this to you. Did you do what you've been adviced? There isn't really anything else i can advise you with i'm sorry. Please ring DWP and see what they say, give your advisors name also. If you're in either of the groups you don't need to send in any fit/sick notes.
WinterKat denise15811
Posted
Hi, yeah I have posted on another forum.
I guess it's just the anxious side of me just seeking as much 'validation' as I can, otherwise I start to doubt myself and believe that I'm overreacting.
Some family problems came up last week so I've had to postpone ringing until tomorrow.
Should it be the DWP that I ring though, I would have thought it'd be the Jobcentre?
denise15811 WinterKat
Posted
No i'd ring DWP. I highly doubt you'll need to send any fit notes to be honest. This is the whole point of being in one of the groups in the first place. Good luck and please do let us know how you get on.
WinterKat denise15811
Posted
Ok thanks Denise, I'll give them a call first thing and see what they have to say. Hopefully they'll be able to clarify.
denise15811 WinterKat
Posted
No problem. As you've already been sent another ESA50 form you may need another assessment sometime soon. Hopefully this won't happen and they'll keep you in one of the groups like me last year.
WinterKat denise15811
Posted
Hopefully yeah.
That's what I don't understand about this advisor though, if I'm technically in the process of being reassessed it baffles me why she feels the need to take it upon herself to gain an answer when it's supposedly not even down to her.
I'm really hoping the dwp sees an issue with this too.
denise15811 WinterKat
Posted
One question, did you go to this appointment alone or did someone go with you? The reason i ask is because one of the reaosns you're claiming ESA is for anxiety isusses. Maybe it's because of this if you were alone? It was just a thought but it's no excuse for the advisor to ask you to send fit notes in. Hope you get some answers tomorrow.
WinterKat denise15811
Posted
My mum accompanied me to the jobcentre and stayed in the seated area whilst I went over to speak with her. The seating area and the advisors desk are within perfect eyeshot of each other though so she would have seen that I was sitting with someone when she called me over.
I'm having a friend go with me to the next one and come over to the desk with me just to be sure.
Thanks, me too
I'll let you know how it goes.
WinterKat
Posted
Okay, so I eventually got through to someone at the DWP and asked him to confirm that once you've been assessed and placed in either the support group or the WRAG that you don't need to provide further fitnotes. He said that that's correct.
So I went on to tell him about the situation with my advisor and what she told me to do and he basically said that she shouldn't be doing that, that I don't need to give her one and that she can't stop my claim (it kind of seemed like she was hinting that that's what would happen if I didn't do as she said).
I asked what I could do about it and he said just tell her that you've spoken to someone at the DWP and they've told you otherwise, so I took his name and such.
Hopefully this is enough for her and she'll back down. No idea if she can still sanction me for 'not taking part in work focused interviews' by not doing what she said but I guess I'll find out next Thursday.
denise15811 WinterKat
Posted
I thought she was out of order asking you for those fit notes. She can't sanction you either especially if you turn up for those work focused interviews. If she did sanction you then you'd have grounds for appeal that's for sure! Hopefully you'll see someone else next week. Glad you got it sorted.