Activity 16: coping with social engagement
Take note if you experience: anxiety; low mood; agoraphobia; panic attacks; psychosis. See here for more mental health symptoms that might be relevant. This activity is about difficulties ‘coping with social engagement due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder’. Your social engagement must be restricted due to ‘difficulty relating to others or significant distress’. Guidance suggests that relevant conditions might include anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, personality disorder and psychosis, but you do not need a diagnosis for your symptoms to be considered.1WCA Handbook para 3.5.7 The same guidance is clear that being able to engage socially some of the time or in some specific contexts will not necessarily stop you from scoring points, and that social situations where you need to be accompanied by another person should be disregarded completely. ‘Always’ in the descriptor does not mean 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are only able rarely to engage in social contact, with extreme difficulty, and because you have little or no choice, then a decision maker should find that you are ‘always precluded’ from doing so. 2LM v SSWP (ESA) [2013] UKUT 552 (AAC); WCA Handbook para 3.5.7 This activity is ultimately supposed to be a test of your ability to engage with others in a working environment, so the quality of your social contact is as important as the frequency. A decision maker should consider things like conversational give and take, initiation and response.3JC v SSWP (ESA) [2014] UKUT 352 (AAC), reported as [2015] AACR 6 The decision maker is not limited to looking at face-to-face contact: phone and online social contact are also considered.
If you attend an assessment, the assessor might make ‘informal observations’ about you – eg, your ability to make eye contact and respond to questions, your expression, and any visible symptoms like shaking or sweating. The observations are very limited evidence of your ability to engage in social contact. If it has taken preparation, reassurance or extra medication for you to be able to cope at an assessment, the start or end of the assessment might be a good opportunity to say so. If possible, vocalise ‘invisible’ responses like suicidal thoughts or self-harm urges.
Descriptors | Points |
|---|
(a) Engagement in social contact is always precluded due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the claimant. | 15 points* |
(b) Engagement in social contact with someone unfamiliar to the claimant is always precluded due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the claimant. | 9 points |
(c) Engagement in social contact with someone unfamiliar to the claimant is not possible for the majority of the time due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the claimant. | 6 points |
(d) None of the above applies. | 0 points |
If you satisfy the 15-point descriptor (a*), you qualify as having LCWRA.
What the form asks
Can you meet people you know without feeling too anxious or scared? No/Yes/It varies
The question asks about ‘meeting people’ but the legal test is about engaging with them. If you can be face-to-face with somebody familiar, or, for example, begin a video call with them, but cannot have a give-and-take conversation, say so. Likewise, the question asks about feeling ‘anxious or scared’, but these are not the only feelings that are relevant for the legal test. Explain your own feelings in detail. Answer ‘no’ to this question if you can only engage with familiar people rarely, with extreme difficulty, and because you have little or no choice.
Can you meet people you do not know without feeling too anxious or scared? No/Yes/It varies
All of the points above apply. Mention whether you need to be accompanied by another person to do this, some or all of the time. If you can engage with unfamiliar people only in very specific contexts, explain this too.