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How am I meant to explain to people that I am waiting for a diagnosis ?

SarJakittenwizard

I am on universal credit and meant to be looking for retail work but I don't believe that I have the capacity to work in a role like that, or most roles tbh. Problem is that for almost a year I've been waiting for an autism (ASD) diagnosis and I don't know what/who to turn to. If I tell Jobcentre about my diagnosis process they might take my off UC since I'd then be claiming I'm unable to look for work for the designated time a week. I've been told I might get an answer by February 2026 at the earlier but I'm struggling to keep up with what I'm constantly being asked to do by the jobcentre. Is there anything I can do for the time being or do I just need to suck it up for now? The only people who currently know about my diagnosis journey is me and my dad.

  • Get a three month sick (fit) note from your doctor, upload to your journal and ask them to refer you for a limited capability for work assessment.  That's what I did.  An autism diagnosis is not relevant.

  • in reply to LavenderPiano

    Sorry I forgot to mention that I did this when waiting for results for something so you don’t have to be actually diagnosed, but maybe talk to your job coach about it if you feel comfortable

  • SarJakittenwizard said:
    Problem is that for almost a year I've been waiting for an autism (ASD) diagnosis and I don't know what/who to turn to.

    The wait list if many years on the NHS at the moment in most places from what people have reported on here.

    You do have the option of asking your GP to use the "Right To Choose" path which means they will pay to send you to a private assessment.

    This only applies to England I believe - I know Scotland does not allow this.

    It should reduce the wait time to months instead of years - but waiting lists are constantly growing and it varies region to region.

    That would be how I would do it in your situation.

  • If you declare a health condition, they should put you on hold so you don’t have to look for work but you can if you want to. They then assign you to a health person? (I don’t know what they’re called) at the job centre, who basically check in on your health every now and then but should be a lot less frequent than your usual meetings. They might also ask you to get a fit note from your doctor which should be fairly easy to get. So, you should still be on UC and you might even get more pay in some instances. This all comes from experience and I hope things go well for you :)