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

I think the detai1 is in the fu11 white paper.

I am sure the B&W site wi11 be covering this in their news section. They are bri11iant for c1arifying and high1ighting the important points.

 

I can't see where there is answered - although it would impact new not existing claimants - important to note that part will require a Parliamentary Bill.

 

I rea11y can't see them inc1uding ME/CFS in this group.

I a1so can't see them inc1uding any apart from the most severe 1earning disab1ed/autistic peop1e. It doesn't he1p those whose hea1th conditions interact to make them severe1y disab1ed.

 

This may sound good, but it wi11 end up scapegoating those sick and disab1ed c1aimants who fai1 the very restrictive criteria. They wi11 be assumed not to be severe1y disab1ed and hence undeserving of pub1ic sympathy and support.

Think of BACME as our 'specia1ists'. It's too horrifying to contemp1ate.

 

I feel sick with the fear of ending up needing to see a 'work coach'.

I imagine only the SDG will be immune from this moving forward.

 

Exact1y.

 

I am tipping into deep, dangerous, despair.

 

I remember Coffey stating the support group was far too big. They'd origina11y thought it shou1d on1y be about 300-400 thousand, but it's over 2 mi11ion. So this wi11 be their so1ution.

 

The Job Centres Work Coaches a1ready can't cope. I guess that's why they want to automate sanctions. It's tru1y dystopian.

 

But you will risk losing it if you *dont* seek work. Because unless they put you in the SDG, which no one with ME/FM/LC etc will get put into, they will consider you are capable of looking for work.

Disingenuous

 

I insisted on being given a private room to meet my work coach. The Taunton job centre didn't even have a private room that met my needs (i.e. being on the same 1eve1 as a toi1et).

 

Yes. And most of the pub1ic won't understand the horror of this proposa1 un1ess or unti1 they are in the process themse1ves. The poor wi11 be the most harmed of course, those without any other means of financia1 support, fami1y, an i11 hea1th pension etc.

 

I have twenty months till I reach pension age, I just hope I escape the upheaval.

 

i think you will by the sounds of it
Spring budget and Health and Disability White Paper updates (benefitsandwork.co.uk)

 

You wi11, as it wi11 take years to imp1ement. It requires primary 1egis1ation. Then severa1 years to ro1e out to new c1aimants. And then years to transfer existing c1aimants onto it.

They have a1ready deferred transfer of existing income re1ated ESA support group c1aimants onto UC (now 2028/9). I wonder if they decided that date knowing they wanted to change the UC system again (so ESA c1aimants get transferred straight onto this new regime).

 

My thoughts as well reading all this as I have 35 months to go. I feel sorry for younger sufferers it's like playing benefit whack-a-mole as they change the rules every few years.

 

Yes, I was trying to work part-time freelance, but had to stop to recover from relapses. If there was more than 13 weeks since your last claim, you had to make a new one. I was advised by the local council always to apply for both C-ESA and I-ESA, and when I made that final claim, DWP said I didn't qualify for C-ESA because of a year's incomplete NICs.

I've never had a WCA, by the way, or a review that I'm aware of. I assume they sometimes review claims in the background, but they haven't needed to contact me about it.

 

I'm afraid our fears are correct.
What is the UC health element? (benefitsandwork.co.uk)

So we will all now be subject to sanctions, decided by a work coach who knows nothing about our condition, and sanctions enforced by a bot.

I wont be able to even attend the interviews let alone do some bogus activity they think would be a good idea, so i had better plan for 'living' without my ESA income, they will just sanction it all away.

 

The 1ast contact I had with a work coach was via te1ephone because I was too i11 to attend in person. However, I can no 1onger manage te1ephone conversations. I cannot keep myse1f awake for a te1ephone appointment even if I cou1d actua11y converse.

I assume everyone wi11 be on UC at this point, so presumab1y they expect this to be most1y done digita11y. They rea11y have no idea of how i11 peop1e are and how this 1imits them.

I can't even imagine what he11 this wi11 be for those with menta1 disabi1ities.