Your Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) telephone Work Capability Assessment (WCA)

Some of our customers can complete their ESA consultation by telephone. If this is possible, you will receive a telephone call or a letter to invite you to attend a telephone appointment and to provide you with further details of the assessment.

Before your assessment
During your assessment
After your assessment

Before your assessment

If you're applying for ESA you may be sent a capability for work questionnaire, also known as an ESA50. Please complete the form as fully as possible, answering all the questions. It’s important you return the form by the date on the letter you are sent.

You may also download the ESA50 to your computer. If you use the online form, fill it out, print it, sign it and then send it to DfC.

If you need help filling in the form, you can now speak to a dedicated advisor on our helpline by calling 0800 072 0398.

You can also go to your local benefits office and speak to your work coach.

Interpreters

Please let us know at least two days before your consultation if you need an interpreter for your consultation. This will help to make sure that we can have an interpreter available for you.

Appointment arrangements

We’ll call you to arrange a date and time to suit you and follow up with a confirmation letter of the details of your appointment. Your appointment letter will have a contact number and information about the assessment.

Appointment letters are available in a range of accessible formats. If you would like your appointment letter in a different format, please contact Capita.

If you would prefer to be assessed by a healthcare professional of a particular gender, please contact Capita as soon as possible and we will do our best to arrange this.

If you need help before your assessment, contact Capita. The Customer Enquiry line is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm.

Further evidence

You will need to send any medical evidence or other information you might already have. Remember - only send us copies if you already have them, not original documents, and write your National Insurance number on each piece.

Things Capita would like to see, if you already have them:	Things Capita doesn’t need to see include general information about your medical conditions that are not about you personally such as:
your current prescription list your statement of special educational needs epilepsy seizure diary your certificate of visual impairment Hospital Passports. This is a written record kept by people with learning disabilities to provide hospital staff with important information about them and their health when they are admitted to hospital. Education Health Plans a diary of your symptoms if your disability, illness or health condition varies from day to day. long-stay hospital information including date of admission, length of stay and the hospital name and address. medical test results including: scans audiology results of x-rays, but not the x-rays themselves	photographs letters about other benefits fact sheets about your medication internet printouts statement of Fitness for Work, otherwise known as fit notes medical certificates doctor’s statements or sick notes appointment letters

Things Capita would like to see, if you already have them:

Things Capita doesn’t need to see include general information about your medical conditions that are not about you personally such as:

your current prescription list

your statement of special educational needs

epilepsy seizure diary

your certificate of visual impairment

Hospital Passports. This is a written record kept by people with learning disabilities to provide hospital staff with important information about them and their health when they are admitted to hospital.

Education Health Plans

a diary of your symptoms if your disability, illness or health condition varies from day to day.

long-stay hospital information including date of admission, length of stay and the hospital name and address.

medical test results including:
- scans
- audiology
- results of x-rays, but not the x-rays themselves

photographs

letters about other benefits

fact sheets about your medication

internet printouts

statement of Fitness for Work, otherwise known as fit notes

medical certificates

doctor’s statements or sick notes

appointment letters

You may be asked for details of the professionals or carers who know the most about your health conditions, illnesses and disabilities - expand the list below to see who these may be:

List of professionals and carers

Consultant or Specialist Doctor
Psychiatrist
Specialist Nurse, such as a Community Psychiatric Nurse
Physiotherapist
Occupational Therapist
Social Worker
Support worker or personal assistant
Carer

DfC may not be able to continue to pay you benefits if we don’t receive this form in time.

Audio recording

We will make an audio recording of your assessment unless you tell us you do not want this.

If you do not want us to make an audio recording, contact Capita and tell us before your appointment. You can also tell the health professional at the start of your assessment or at any time during it.

During your consultation

Be ready for the healthcare professional to call you 10 minutes before the time of your telephone appointment. Ensure your phone is fully charged, find a quiet place with good signal and no background noise. It may be an 0800 number or private number.

The healthcare professional will introduce themselves and explain the assessment to you. If you want a companion to join the call, the healthcare professional will ask you for their number and they will need to be ready to answer the phone at the time of your appointment.

If your condition varies, the healthcare professional will ask questions to understand how it changes and how this affects you on both better and worse days. Please tell them if the day of your assessment is not typical for you.

The healthcare professional

Our healthcare professionals are doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics registered with their governing body, including the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the Healthcare Professions Council. They go through a specifically designed training course approved by DfC.

Companion or chaperone during your assessment

You can have someone with you at your telephone assessment. This would usually be the person who knows you best, for example a relative, support worker or friend, but they must be 16 years old or over. If your support worker or friend cannot be with you in person we can add them to the telephone call.

If you have an appointee

An appointee is someone appointed by the Department for Communities (DfC) to act on your behalf if you are not able to manage your own benefit claim. An appointee must be aged 18 or over. They can be a family member, a friend, or an organisation such as a solicitor or a Health and Social Care Trust.

If you have an appointee, they can deal with us about your assessment. They will receive your appointment letter and can contact us on your behalf.

Please ask your appointee to ⁠contact us before your appointment. We can then talk through what will happen at your consultation and make sure the right arrangements are in place for you.

Taking notes

You or your companion are welcome to take notes for your personal use. Your notes will not form part of the medical report that we send to DfC.

After your consultation

Decisions on claims

After your assessment our healthcare professional completes a report using criteria laid out by DfC.

The report is one piece of information DfC uses in deciding your entitlement.

You may request a copy of the full report from the DfC office handling your claim. DfC makes decisions on claims; Capita has no decision-making role and will not know the outcome of your claim.