15. Going Out (New ESA Descriptors)

Hi there,

I’ve just completed an ESA50 with a client, and I’m extremely annoyed by the wording of Acrtivity 15, ‘Going Out’.

The form asks whether the client can go out on their own, and asks the client to go straight to question 16 if they ‘can’.

The form then asks about going to places you know, and places you don’t.

However the client who can go out on their own (but only with another person if going to an unfamiliar place) and follows the strict instruction to go to question 16 will miss the opportunity to answer the question on whether they can go to places he or she doesn’t know (for which, again wrongly, the claimant is only given the choices ‘usually’, ‘not very often’ or ‘it varies’).

Therefore, the claimant who can never leave home on their own and go to places they don’t know without having someone with them, is put at a distinct disadvantage here as they have no opportunity to award themselves the 6 points on offer…..

Lee

The deficiencies of the ESA50 are made worse when JCP and tribunals refer to clients not scoring themselves any points,for particular areas when the options do not reflect the actual descriptors