Published on 12, July, 2020
I am a single parent in receipt of Income Support in my own right. My son turned twenty in January and so was naturally removed from my claim. He has an EHCP, he has attended SEN schools all his life, and now attends an SEN college. Upon his removal from my claim, I have started a claim for Universal Credit on his behalf. I am his appointee for both this claim, and his P.I.P claim. He has only ever had to attend his "Standard Identity" interview, and today I attended his "First Commitments" interview. While there I spoke with both his Work Coach and the Disability Employment Advisor.Now here is where I am stumped. They are insisting I need a Medical Certificate from my son's GP. My son's GP is telling me that they do not provide these for ASD. All they would provide me with is a print out of a synopsis of his medical records. Universal Credit will not accept this, and will not issue me a "Work Capacity Assessment" form unless I provide a fit note, my GP will not ... and so on, and so forth! I have called the main Universal Credit line for advice and they have told me the same as the Job Centre Plus. I have wrote e-mail after e-mail to his Social Worker who does not know how to tell me and advised me to call the Citizens Advice Benefits Advice line. I spoke to these before I made the UC claim. They told me the same as the JCP and UC line. I need a fit note.So my questions are as follows: 1. How do I proceed to the point where I can trigger the UC system to allow me to fill in a WCA form without a fit note being provided? 2. How do I go about securing the elusive fit note in order to progress his claim?I have even e-mailed my local councillor (bcc. in my M.P just for good measure) but to no avail. My next appointment with his Work Coach is on 29th March, however this issue needs resolving ideally before 11th March. Any and all advice from anyone who has been in the same, or a similar, situation will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
The only help I can give you is my sympathy and understanding. Universal credit can be a nightmare. So persevere and keep complaining.
Many years ago I had a big problem getting free prescriptions. I was one of the first people on UC in a trial region. With UC my only income I was told by the job centre I could get free prescriptions, but there wasn't a box to tick for UC, I was advised to tick the box for job seekers allowance. I did that and I was threatened later with prosecution for making a false claim because I wasn't on job seekers. The job centre refused to help saying that they couldn't confirm that I was on UC because of the data protection act.
UC is not designed for SEN folk. It is barely designed for non ND people. I am honestly refusing to see why the overhaul to the benefits system was even needed. If it ain't broke don't fix it and it never was broke (well no more than usual DWP things are!) to begin with. The lack of understanding by those whose job it is to protect and support our most vulnerable in society is, sadly, not even surprising, just upsetting. I do appreciate your sympathy and support. I genuinely feel like I am going round the twist, and if a person has never been in this situation, they simply cannot begin to understand.I remind myself that my son has me, and that is a good thing. My heart breaks for those who have MH issues/ND issues and are left to navigate this minefield alone (one of many they will navigate in this life). I know I can say with 100% certainty, my son wouldn't manage to do so.