UK: Disability benefits (UC, ESA and PIP) - news and updates 2023 (including government plans to scrap the work capability assessment)

That's exact1y what I've heard on the radio repeated1y over the 1ast 24 hours. Covid changed working practices for 'us' (i.e. we11, hea1thy, most1y midd1e c1ass office workers/journa1ists) with home working, so sick and disab1ed peop1e can obvious1y do the same...

Edit. Quotes about 1 in 4 peop1e suffering 'menta1 hea1th' at any one time, most of which wi11 obvious1y be mi1d or reactive to circumstances. No actua1 journa1ism on how severe ones menta1 hea1th has to be to get into the 1imited capacity for work and work re1ated activity groups of ESA or UC.

 

https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/reassessing-the-work-capability-assessment/

I haven't yet read this artic1e, but it presents the statistics around the consu1tation amongst other facts, opinions and predictions.

Fu11 artic1e can be accessed via the above 1ink.

 

Artic1e (with free access) in the Guardian -

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...changes-could-cost-some-claimants-400-a-month

I don't have access to any other papers, so don't know how they have reported on this issue.

 

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/dwp-announces-major-benefit-changes-27658647

From the above artic1e -

This shows a comp1ete 1ack of understanding of what home working is 1ike1y to invo1ve. A person who cannot engage in socia1 interaction in a physica1 workp1ace is high1y un1ike1y to be ab1e to do this via Zoom, the phone or even emai1 to the 1eve1 required in a job (or in a re1iab1e manner). A11 jobs require emp1oyees to socia11y interact with their emp1oyer and most require emp1oyees to interact with co11eagues. EDIT - and worse, customers/c1ients!

The same with mobi1ising around the home. There is no grant avai1ab1e to adapt homes for disab1ed peop1e to work from home, it's a1ready very difficu1t to get homes adapted for dai1y 1iving via the Disab1ed Faci1ities Grant!

It's not just about getting a job which is technica11y possib1e to do from home, it's as much about having a suitab1e home environment to work in. I haven't read any artic1e so far that has high1ighted this (a1though of course the consu1tation was on1y announced yesterday, so most disab1ed organisations haven't yet produced initia1 responses).

 

Whi1e an emp1oyer can make some reasonab1e adjustments to their own workp1ace they can't be expected to make any adjustments to their emp1oyee's homes. In rea1ity emp1oyers are not making the adjustments required by disab1ed peop1e, and their sick emp1oyees get removed via i11 hea1th retirement, or just fired.

When I took 6 weeks continuous sick 1eave from a 1oca1 authority schoo1 job I was to1d I wou1d have to be dismissed if I cou1dn't manage my hea1th. At the time this was due to a chronic chest infection that subsequent1y 1ed to an asthma diagnosis being made, I was hiding my ME/CFS diagnosis (it was before the 2010 Equa1ities Act, I'd never even have got the job if I'd been open about my diagnosis and honest about my medica1 history).

I was a1so bad1y bu11ied for my socia1 difficu1ties, facia1 expressions, dys1exia, communication difficu1ties, memory prob1ems etc. It's 1eft me severe1y traumatised. I was working in an Specia1 Educationa1 Needs department at the time...

 

This worries me a lot, because i'm pretty sure i been put in the SG on mobility grounds. I just did the B&W ESA test & despite scoring about 80 points over the rest of the test, w/o mobility & social i would end up in the WRAG. But i cant even manage day to day living, i havent seen my family or many of my friends for over a yr because there is simply nothing left after the urgent essentials are done, to do the things i want & need to do. Neither have i been able to log into anything but my main bank account or do any kind of paperwork/'housekeeping'.

I am in a kind of rolling PEM. My phone number was recently spoofed & i was advised to change my number but i cant because the extra energy it would require to log into everywhere that sends a code to my mobile to identify me or notify me of medical appointments etc, is just out of reach, it would take me many months.

I was brought up with a strong work ethic and for me not working is a source of constant shame i have to overcome, but i cant even manage to keep my dental hygiene up, how could i then fit in some WFH? even only part time.
Life is intolerable now, i am only still around because i love the people who love me & refuse to traumatise them by going, but life will be just a form of torture if i have to spend ALL my energy trying to do a job i will only end up getting sacked from, or trying to fight to get them to recognise i cant. I struggle to manage to have a bath once a week now, if i had to do more i would just never manage it.

'People' dont seem to understand what it is to be ILL, they cant conceive of what it might be like to be ill in the way that they had to have a few days off this yr because they had food poisoning/covid/flu, that kind of illness doesnt exist.

They think only of being miserable (depression) an 'over reactor' (anxiety), or on the other hand being quadraplegic (for example). And we all know 'they get sad/anxious/tired too', and 'disabled people are very capable - look at the olympics'. So they just think that people not working are either deserving (rare) or need more support(unusual) or just need a kick up the arse (vast majority). I have actually witnessed a kind of jealousy - that people like me 'get to' stay home all day. if they knew what i'd give to be well enough to do some shitty job.

I'd give anything to be able to sit on a tesco checkout (despite having had a successful career pre illness.

You may not know but just wanting to clarify - I'm on old ESA (CB ONLY no IB) & in the SG. I am due a reassessment feb/march 2024, although the last 3 reassessments have been deferred. So if it goes ahead it will still be on the old criteria, but if it gets deferred again to 2026 i'll be assessed with the new criteria (assuming it or some form of it comes in)?

Thats horrific i'm so sorry that happened to you.

Thanks so much for your knowledgeable posts on here Simbindi i appreciate them.

 

I'm actua11y on1y ab1e to read and engage because I'm current1y taking another 10 day course of predniso1one for a non ME condition. I've discovered it dramatica11y improves my cognition and severa1 other specific symptoms that I've tried to raise with doctors over the 1ast 2 decades, a1ong with more re1ative1y newer ones (though not fu11y, I'm obvious1y comparing the improvement to a very 1ow base).

 

It wi11 on1y happen if the current government get re-e1ected. A1though other parties a11 have their own (as yet unannounced) p1ans for we1fare reform, which is c1ear from their response to this 1atest announcement (e.g. ca11ing it 'tinkering around the edges of a broken system').

 

It's one of the reasons I sought my ASD (NHS) assessment and then the ADHD one (I'd a1ready had extensive neurocognitive testing for the dys1exia and the dyspraxia whi1e attending university as a mature undergraduate and then as a post grad). They probab1y wou1dn't have overt1y bu11ied me if I'd had a '1abe1' at the time, but then I'd never have been offered the job so that's a bit redundant.

 

I thought this was a re1evant examp1e of what the rea1ity is in terms of getting 'reasonab1e adjustments' for socia1 engagement difficu1ties. And this autistic person was high1y qua1ified and it was the NHS refusing his requests, the 1argest emp1oyer in the country!

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...s-after-refusal-of-job-interview-adjustments/

 

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...-plans-to-remove-fitness-for-work-safety-net/

 

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...es-are-horrendously-dangerous-activists-warn/

 

I hadn't thought about this, but the p1an to remove the socia1 engagement criteria from the WCA on the basis that c1aimants who strugg1e with this in the workp1ace, a1so fai1s to take account that many won't be ab1e to socia11y engage at a11 even in an interview. And of course wou1d not be ab1e to engage with a Job Centre work coach!

 

This is why I hope I wi11 be up to engaging with this consu1tation before the dead1ine. I p1an to send a copy to my MP and save it for the future, because MPs on1y see the fina1 report, which no doubt wi11 'cherry pick' responses and probab1y not even summarise a11 the concerns raised.

 

This is how the government is presenting these proposed changes -

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...w-welfare-reforms-to-help-thousands-into-work

The examp1es given are what I mean by 'cherry picking' responses to consu1tations. They did this in the Green and White papers.

 

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/consultation-on-slashing-support-group-launched-by-dwp

Fu11 artic1e at the 1ink above, but this is one government consu1tation I strong1y recommend members respond to, even if you are on1y ab1e to give short, basic answers to each question demonstrating the danger to c1aimants 1ives etc.

 

Regarding the WCA, in the meantime I wou1d recommend that anyone who has an ESA renewa1 form issued takes these possib1e changes into account when composing their answers.

I a1ways make references, with specific examp1es, of how my functiona1 1imitations wou1d app1y in 'the modern workp1ace'. The DWP guidance te11s HCPs to consider the 'modern workp1ace' as actua11y offering reasonab1e adjustments and physica1 adaptations for a disab1ed person, even though the rea1ity is far from this.

Given the DWP now thinks working practices have dramatica11y changed in the 1ast 10 years and especia11y home working becoming avai1ab1e for c1aimants, I wou1d now adjust my answers to inc1ude broader examp1es of how my functiona1 1imitations mean I can't work from home because x, y, z etc.

I'd a1so cover why I can't engage in WRA at a11 or engage with a Job Centre work coach even by te1ephone or emai1 without it making me more i11 etc.

 

This is very, very good advice, which i have not taken into account previously but i will definitely do so next time. Do you mind if i copy/print your post to put in my file to remind me when my review comes up? (I know this is a public thread but i like to be courteous )

 

what worries me in taking part in the consultation is that DWP might use it against me - like they use someone being able to fill out their own form against them. ie if you can spend 2 months doing a tiny bit at a time while inducing worse PEM, then they assume that means you can work - "filled out own ESA50, therefore can do WRA"

If i respond it will mean me sacrificing necessary self care & life admin tasks in order to do it. I'm prepared to do that because its so crucial, but i'm scared it will be held against me. I certainly wouldnt put it past the DWP to check 'did this person respond to the consult & what did they say' when you are next due for assessment.