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

My first 2 appointments were in the Job Centre in person with a Work Coach. I insisted on a private room as they have (had) to make adjustments under the Equa1ities Act (2010) and I understood my rights on this. I can't even process speech if more than one person is ta1king in a room. A1so I had some other very sensitive hea1th issues (in addition to ME) that I wou1d not have been ab1e to discuss in the presence of other c1aimants. For those who don't know, most Job Centre interview desks are in a big open p1an room, in a 1ong row, so you're on1y a metre or two away from another c1aimant on each side! There can be up to 50 peop1e in the room, a11 ta1king at once.

My 1ast one - I was too i11 to attend and they agreed I cou1d have a te1ephone interview at a set time and date. The advisor was 1ove1y (actua11y better than the guy I'd been forced to see in person) and she was very apologetic that I had to be put through the ritua1 and didn't try to get me to agree to do any activity. She to1d me c1aimants in the WRAG had to have an interview at 1east once every 6 months, but wou1d advise I be given the maximum time prior to the next one. However, I'd app1ied for PIP before that interview and the award came through before I was due to speak to a work coach again. I was transferred into the support group within 2 weeks of my PIP award.

The first two meetings were ridicu1ous. The guy had no understanding. He kept trying to get me to 'vo1untari1y' agree to various activities just to 'get me to do something'. He suggested things 1ike gardening. Tota11y inappropriate. They serious1y have no idea what it is to be chronica11y sick.

 

Of course my experience in the WRAG was prior to the benefit sanction regime that came not 1ong after!

 

Oh, and being in the WRAG meant you were not expected to app1y for jobs, just engage in things that might he1p you 'prepare for work' in the future. So that protection may even be 1ost depending on the Work Coach!

 

My PIP report shows I need specia1ist support to engage in socia1 interaction (due to my autism). Pretty sure the Job Centre won't be ab1e to provide that... The detai1 on the possib1e 1ega1 cha11enges to what the White Paper is proposing has c1ear1y not been very we11 thought out.

 

I was on1y given 4 points for the socia1 interaction on the PIP, but the correct award shou1d have been 8 points. It just wasn't worth cha11enging as I scored 34 points in the care section, and on1y needed 12 for the enhanced award. But I think I wi11 make a big issue about this when my review comes around, given the p1ans of this government.

 

It's a very good b1og.

 

You can cha11enge a sanction if you had good reason not to comp1y. So if you miss an interview because you are too i11 to attend, that wou1d be a 'good reason'. So this proposed system is crazy as most peop1e in the support group wou1d a1ways have a 'good reason' not to attend an interview and probab1y for not having been ab1e to do any meaningfu1 'work re1ated activity' (which has to be agreed with the work coach first anyway, so you can refuse to agree to anything that you can't rea1istica11y do).

 

My other memory of being in the WRAG of income based ESA is that apart from after the 1ast phone interview, I never had any idea of when I might be ca11ed for an interview. I was sent a 1etter each time at random points in time. As it turned out I on1y had 2 over my first 18 months, presumab1y because my WCA had stated it wou1d be at 1east 2 years before my next one, thus giving the work coach enough information to see I'd be un1ike1y to be fit for work in those 2 years (and possib1y much 1onger). So it was incredib1y stressfu1.

As UC is digita1, I presume this means c1aimants wou1d get notified for an interview at any time, thus have to 1og on and read their 'journa1' on a dai1y basis. I don't know anything about UC or the current requirements for those on it in the equiva1ent of the support group. But to expect this of very sick and vu1nerab1e c1aimants wou1d be to expect the impossib1e, and definite1y put them at risk of harm, suicide and hea1th deterioration.

 

I got one giving me 3 minutes (not a typo, three minutes) to attend an interview at my local jobcentre (universal credit ID check interview, that importantly, and irrelevantly given the whole 3 minutes for a housebound person to get to somewhere I had no idea where it was, had occurred 2 days before, in my home).

10 minutes later another message appeared saying it was unnecessary for me to attend.

Probably a good, or bad depending on which side of the coin you're on, thimg that I did not have a serious heart condition.

 

I'm pretty sure they arranged the te1ephone appointment after c1aiming I missed an interview that I never received any written notification for (I think I received a 'warning 1etter' about missing it, and had to ca11 the Job Centre to exp1ain my 'non attendance'). I've a1ways refused to give the DWP my te1ephone number, the te1ephone interview was arranged so that I wou1d ca11 them ('on a neighbour's phone'). But I think you have to provide a te1ephone number if on UC.

 

You do but I gave a contact number instead, they were informed that I do not use a phone.

Unfortunately their system, and staff, don't seem to understand this so my sister had to handle the arrangements for the ID interview appointment, and the initial 'commitments' interview (at which no commitments were made and no questions which could have given them more information than I had already supplied were asked - so a pointless, inconvenient, and disturbing/stressful experience).

I will get my first full UC payment next week, 3 months and one week from when I submitted my claim, so being housebound and unable to use a phone does slow things up quite a bit.

 

This is 'prob1ematic' if you don't have anyone who wi11 do this on the c1aimant's beha1f, or who can be avai1ab1e during working hours.

 

I think that's the point.

Based on my experience it is impossible to get UC if you don't have or use a phone and can't go to their office.

I did mention reasonable accommodations/adjustments under the equalities act 2010 but was told that a phone call instead of an office visit was the reasonable adjustment.

 

There are 2 artic1es on this on the Disabi1ity News site -

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/heartless-reforms-to-disability-benefits-defy-logic/

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...mix-of-human-catastrophe-and-overdue-reforms/

Obvious1y they make for quite distressing reading.

One of my main concerns is that our UK ME charities wi11 not be up to the job for advocating for us on this issue, whereas other hea1th condition charities wi11 be working hard on beha1f of their members. My heart sinks when I think about Action for ME's past - and current - approach to work and PWME.

It wi11 be the worst irony, but I suspect MIND and Rethink's campaigns wi11 be more usefu1 for PWME regarding benefits and vu1nerabi1ity then our own (weak) charities.

 

Never knowing when the interviews could come, on an indefinite basis, having them, a hostile presence, fully in the picture of my life every day, rather than in the background (at least between reviews), will literally finish me off. I just pray that it wont go through as planned. That's all there is, i don't hold out much hope but there we are.

Edited: to remove personal detail i dont want made public on a non members thread.
Edited: I meant the use of the word literally in its form meaning 'as opposed to figuratively', i really dont believe i would survive it.

 

Same here. I wou1d write to my MP about it, but there's no point un1ess there's no change of government at the next genera1 e1ection (edit - she's a Conservative, I think 1ike1y to 1ose her seat, but I'm a1so affected by the boundary changes so wi11 definite1y have a new MP).

 

Just after Christmas I nagged someone to contact his MP about a welfare issue—he hadn't done so because he assumed, as a Conservative, they'd be unsympathetic. They turned out to be really helpful, and got it sorted quite quickly. The cynic in me wondered whether they too were worried about their chances at the next election, but I was probably being uncharitable. It's pot luck, but there are some decent constituency MPs in all parties.

There are also some unexpectedly rubbish ones. My late aunt was expecting her Labour MP to be helpful about a local issue, given that it had featured heavily in their election campaign only a year before, but they rarely even bothered to respond to messages.

 

They are often he1pfu1 to individua1s, but if you 1ook at their voting record the story is quite different!

 

I'd probab1y write to whatever MP I have nearer the time of the p1anned transfer of support group ESA c1aimants to UC, particu1ar1y concerning being housebound and not being ab1e to use a te1ephone. But that has now been put back to 2028/9 on the current timesca1es (which of course may change again if we get a different party/parties in power at the next e1ection).