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Universal Credit HAAS work capability

sapphic princess

I’m on UC as i’ve been unable to work since may (quit my job in july after being off sick) and got asked to do a work capability assessment for my autism (diagnosed in september) and mental health. I was originally scheduled a face to face appointment, after requesting a phone call because of my autism and anxiety, and the fact i’d have to get the train into london. 

I managed to cancel my HAAS appointment that was on monday and asked for it to be a phone call. It was surprisingly easy and he didn’t even ask why i was cancelling, and assumed i couldn’t travel there. He said they would call back to reschedule it.

They called me on tuesday and said they had availability for the next day in the afternoon (wednesday) and said about between 1 and 4. NOT a specific time. I thought that must be how it works for phone call appointments. 

It got to the next day (Wednesday) and i had waited all day for the call and as time went on i got more and more anxious and ended up having panic attacks and meltdown because it had gone past 4 and they hadn’t called me. Change and unpredictability is something i really struggle with, on top of socialising in the first place. The fact it had gone past 4pm and they hadn’t called, on the dot, really messed with me. 

It was 10 past 4 and they finally called, saying they had had delays with appointments and mentioned my appointment should have been at 4pm. I (upsettedly) said i’d been waiting since 1 for a call and hadn’t been told it was specifically at 4pm. They explained that they had had a lot of issues with delays and a lot of people saying they hadn’t been given a specific appointment time when they should have. She said there was still a delay and could choose to either continue waiting, or book for another day. I booked for another day and decided i couldn’t wait anymore as i was already really distressed and admist a meltdown. 

Im so disappointed in this service and annoyed with myself that i let it bother me so much, but its just one example of a challenge i really face and can easily be affected by a ‘simple’ change. It’s so annoying that i now have to wait even longer for an appointment i had managed to prepare myself for. I’m now even more anxious for it in case something happens again.

I had a meeting with my UC work coach today via phone call and told him about it, but he didn’t seem to care at all. Since i informed him of my autism, everyday he asks if im ‘feeling any better’ or have ‘managed to get outside’. It makes me feel so bad about myself every time as i always say no. He says it as if i’ve gotten a cold or just had a bad day. 

Sorry for the rant, just incredibly upset and distressed by this experience.

  • in reply to Mweekie6852

    No that’s ok it’s good to know that i’m not alone in similar feelings and experiences. Perhaps i might try and ask for a different work coach, but not sure if i want the awkwardness of asking. 

  • Hi Sapphic Princess,

    Sending hugs to you as I can understand how you feel.

    I get really frustrated/anxious when people say they're going to phone at a certain time (like 1pm-4pm) and then don't call until after the later time, same with face-to-face appointments as well.

    If I have an appointment - I need to be there early (by like 15 minutes early). I hate to be late for things - take my work for example - I don't actually need to start until 10am, but I am there for 8am and enjoy a nice quiet coffee, either on my own or with my friend. 

    Your UC work coach sounds like one of my previous ones from a couple of years ago - despite the fact that he was well aware of my health issues (both mental and physical), he kept asking me "am I back to normal yet?!" or things of a similar nature and it got to the point where I wouldn't go without someone I knew (like my Mum or my friend who has now passed away), so they could talk on my behalf because I didn't want the same questions being asked - especially at the time I was on Morphine, Tramadol, and Oxycodone all at the same time so I would barely make sense anyway.

    Do you think it might be worth asking if you could change your work coach - as he seems like he's treating you like a statistic rather than an actual human?

    I must admit, a while ago, I used to just write down what I wanted to say (as sometimes for me it's easier for me to write down how I want things or what I want to say) and hand the note to whoever I was seeing - such as my previous work coach, doctors etc. and sometimes people seemed to take more notice of that.

    Sorry, I've slightly digressed from what your original post was lol - but I hope I have helped.

    Mweekie xx

  • in reply to Pixiefox

    That is so true. I often fail in explaining this to others about why i hate phone calls so much, especially unexpected or delayed ones. Or just any kind of conversation, especially face to face. I can understand it’s hard to know how something will affect someone when you’ve never experienced it, but i wish that a service who is supposed to be dealing with disabled people, would actually keep disabled and neurodivergent people in mind with these things!

  • in reply to sapphic princess

    I think it's because it doesn't matter much to them - people who aren't autistic don't usually focus on things and get highly stressed if things are different to expected - for example I will try to arrange for things like incoming phone calls to happen at times when I don't need to do anything else, so I'm just focussed on that, whereas allistic people seem to be able to deal with important phone calls while at work, or doing other chores at home, or even when travelling on a bus, and so I think it gets put in a little compartment in their brain and left there - Maybe they even forget about it until it happens, while I'm sitting around imagining what the person will say and scripting responses.

    I believe this is one of the core differences between autistic and allistic people.

  • in reply to Pixiefox

    Thank you. I definitely can relate and it’s good to know i’m not alone in this feeling! I just can’t wrap my brain around it - why can’t people do what they say and for when they say it?? I tried to prepare myself for it to be even a few minutes late, but like you said, it already comes distressing

  • I completely understand - I too get incredibly stressed if something doesn't happen when it is supposed to, I just cannot bear uncertainty. I'm afraid I don't know how to manage this as even if I try to tell myself that something might not happen at the time I've been told, my brain still starts heading towards meltdown if I have to wait past the expected time period. If a bus is more than 10 minutes late or I have to wait more than 20 minutes past the appointment time in the doctors or hairdressers I can't deal with it either - once I cancelled a hair appointment and walked out of the salon after waiting over half an hour, and was in tears walking home.

    Sorry I haven't been helpful, but I hope it makes you feel a bit better that it's not just you.