Forced to travel miles to attend a DWP mandatory course. Five month wait for Universal Credit payment. The system isn’t working..

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The poor side of life

Good afternoon readers, this weeks demo was busy as usual. Sadly far too many people were walking in and out of the Jobcentre with their heads down, eyes to the ground. To be honest they looked worn out, fed up, depressed and a step away from giving up. it’s a cruel system that cares nothing for those forced to comply with it.

it’s no mistake that I use the words ‘comply’ and ‘forced’ because thats exactly what it is. Claimants have absolutely no choice but to comply with often unreasonable demands made from the DWP. They are forced to attend DWP regulated courses, attend the Jobcentre whenever it is demanded of them , wait more than the official five weeks for their first Universal Credit payment. They are forced into a life of poverty, many for the first time. It really is an inhumane system and it needs to stop…

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Not All Assessors Are Cruel-A Positive Tale

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blueannoyed

We have all heard the horrible accounts of claimants suffering at the hands of the DWP, the endless distress it causes many cannot be minimised or the deaths that have occurred primarily amongst those with Mental Health Conditions. When I had the offer of a claimant to give me access to a assessment that was recorded I jumped at it. I made a promise not to disclose their ID or personal information under DPA. Many will know the dread filled moments of the’ brown envelope syndrome of the dreaded ‘WCA’ assessment coming through the letterbox.

However the questions I felt would be worth documenting  for the many who face this barbaric process and I’m glad I did as for once, this would give an insight into the type of things a claimant was asked, rather than hearsay on social media.The claimant was assessed by a Nurse who gave her name…

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PIP Assessors Get £50 Bonuses For Meeting Targets Says Whistleblower

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Same Difference

And a blind man was told his white stick isn’t an aid:

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PIP And ESA Assessments: Imaginary Dogs And Claimants Catching Downs

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With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The Commons Work and Pensions committee has produced a damning report about PIP and ESA assessments based on evidence they have received from almost 4,000 claimants. The document includes tales of imaginary dogs, claimants catching Down’s syndrome and assessor’s equipped with x-ray vision. The DWP, however, have already dismissed the findings as founded on anonymous evidence.

The committee said that the individual responses were ‘the most ever received by a select committee inquiry, by an order of magnitude.’

The MPs were clearly convinced of the honesty and accuracy of the responses, stating:

“The unprecedented response was also remarkable in the consistency of the themes that emerged through the honest and often distressing accounts from thousands of people navigating the claims process, alongside, of course, managing their disability and mental health issues.”

The report covered a very wide range of issues.

There were examples…

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Huge Fall In PIP Medical Evidence Requested By Capita

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With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Disability News Service is reporting that there has been a huge fall in the number of requests that Capita makes for further medical evidence when assessing claimants for personal independence payment (PIP).

Capita and Atos are expected by the DWP to ask for further medical evidence from GPs, consultants, mental health nurses and other health professionals, where this is needed in order to properly assess a claim.

Additional medical evidence can make a huge difference to whether a claim succeeds or not and is frequently a deciding factor at appeal tribunals.

The expectation by the DWP prior to PIP being launched was that further evidence would be collected in about half of all cases.

However, DNS has obtained DWP documents showing that further evidence was collected by Capita in fewer than 2% of cases in June and July 2016.

The documents show that…

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DWP Spent £100m On Disability Benefit Appeals, Figures Reveal

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Same Difference

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has spent more than £100m in just over two years on administering reviews and appeals against disability benefits, figures show.

Tens of millions of pounds a year are also spent by the Ministry of Justice on the appeals, about two-thirds of which were won by claimants in the past 12 months.

The costs were described as “staggering” and a former Conservative minister said “something is seriously wrong with the system”.

The DWP said a small proportion of decisions were overturned and most employment and support allowance and personal independence payment claimants were happy with their assessments.

But the department is facing questions from the work and pensions select committee over the figures, following claims that it was not given similar information for MPs’ inquiry into PIP and ESA.

Figures obtained through a freedom of information request show the DWP has spent £108.1m…

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DWP Faces Another Potentially Explosive Court Case

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With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

A terminally ill claimant, known as TP, has won the right to a judicial review of the decision to force him to claim universal credit (UC), resulting in a large drop in his income. The case comes after the DWP recently lost a judicial review which will lead to an increase in personal independence payment for hundreds of thousands of claimants.

TP became terminally ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Castleman’s disease in 2016 and was in receipt of Severe Disability Premium (SDP) and Enhanced Disability Premium (EDP).

However, on medical advice he moved back to London to receive treatment.

Because he had moved into a full service area he was obliged to claim UC, which does not include SDP or EDP. As a result he is now £178 a month worse off.

The government have argued that there is transitional protection to ensure…

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Universal Credit And Legacy Benefits

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The very thought of UC gives me the shivers. I feel as we are going back 100 years.

Same Difference

Thanks to Gail Ward.

Universal Credit>>
“People on legacy benefits who don’t have a change of circumstances will remain on those benefits until managed migration, with transitional protection, starts in July 2019. Anyone on legacy benefits who has one of a number of changes of circumstances, including someone on HB moving to another local authority area won’t be able to make a new claim for HB and so will have to claim UC which in turn will mean their ESA will end. This natural migration will mean less money because there’s no transitional protection.
Unfortunately, some DWP staff, some HB staff in other areas and even some independent advisers are telling people to claim UC without checking if they really have to”

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