UK: Disability benefits (UC, ESA and PIP) - news and updates 2024 (including PIP consultation)

Yeah, I have one for swimming to help get from the changing room to the pool hoist, I feel unsteady on a wet floor. Bought it secondhand from a locally based eBay seller for £20, but they can be silly expensive new—this one would have been over £100, and some of them are two or three times that.

We got my late mum's from a car boot sale (£12) and my neighbour recently got one from a Gumtree listing (about £30). They come up secondhand because they're often used for injuries/post surgery recovery, or by elderly people who don't get on with the first one they buy, go on to need a wheelchair instead, or pass away. And they don't really wear out.

Mine's okay because it folds up and I can carry it into the leisure centre with the weight on the footplate of the chair.

https://www.countrywidehealthmobility.co.uk/drive-x-fold-rollator

 

It’s a number of catch 22s there for me. I’m rarely able to leave bed nevermind house but have medical appointments I have to attend a lot

reducing walking with these seems sensible but not if I have to lift something out of the car or wait standing feeling fuzzy whilst someone else does

saving up for wheelchair comes at expense if other things that make eg bed more comfy or other things easier but the combo might reduce PEM

I’d love to think I could imagine a life where getting out into the garden wasn’t hard but I could enjoy a trip out so it would need to recline - I still don’t know until I tried it whether tgat would just make me more ill (mine definitely catches up with me with a deterioration months later so it’s v hard indeed to know at the time and your heart just says I must try, it’s like a horrific ratchet of life like this vs can get worse)

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...y-reconsiderations-and-appeals-september-2024

ESA: Work Capability Assessments, Mandatory Reconsiderations and Appeals: September 2024

 

DWP taking aim at long-term sick and unemployed with new task force

DWP taking aim at long-term sick and unemployed with new task force (msn.com)

 

from the article

So nobody who has any actual lived experience of being long term sick then? No one who could explain what the barriers to work actually are?

Of course not, better to have a bunch of healthy people & academics giving their 'wisdom' about what they have observed about 'such people' from their ivory towers.

Which will create yet another set of reforms that likely only put people further away from work, but which sound really good to the judgy people who think its mainly laziness & daytime tv.

I feel sick with fear of what's coming, I'd give almost anything to be able to

 

Some information & tips on claiming the UK disability payment, PIP, for ME/CFS

Designed for people in the UK but may also include some suggestions people elsewhere could use
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PIP health conditions
Claim PIP for ME and CFS
In 2024, there were 28,121 PIP claimants with CFS listed as their main disabling condition by the DWP. (ME is not used in the DWP's classification). This makes it 25th most common condition to get an award of PIP for, out of over 500 conditions listed by the DWP.

So, if you have ME/CFS and it affects your daily living activities, such as cooking, washing, dressing or mixing with other people or your ability to get around, you should definitely consider making a claim.

Continues at:
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/p...ip-health-conditions/claim-pip-for-me-and-cfs

 

Thanks for framing some clear questions. I may send something along these lines to my Labour MP, saying that if they really want to know, they need to do proper research with individuals. Research that is not conducted by or on behalf of DWP.

I've taken part in quite a lot of market research done by specialised companies for consumer-facing businesses. They're really skilled at getting into nuance, and they might be neutral enough—specially if they explain that they usually work with customers like Next or Barclaycard or Sainsbury's, to understand what ordinary people think of their adverts or security warnings or new range of bathroom products—that people might be willing to talk to them anonymously.

 

Ps when we think about what clinics could actually be doing instead of all the pseudo anti psych stuff they’ve padded their documents out with … there is much much when you scratch the surface on living with this illness that needs people who are interested to learn to understand. It is so heartbreaking we don’t have this resource

 

Tweet by 'Ben Claimant Join a Union':


'Asda chair Lord Rose disparages sick and disabled people in his comments about reforming benefits.

“We can’t just become a state now where people just live on handouts.

‘Oh, I’m not feeling very well. Oh, I’ve got a headache. Oh, it’s a bit cold this morning. Oh, I’m feeling a bit tired. Oh, I’m a bit stressed out.’


From an article in 'Retail Gazette' 15/9/2024

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2024/09/asda-chair-benefits/




https://twitter.com/user/status/1835472065958220282




.
Responders point out that Asda pay is amongst the lowest, if not the lowest, in the retail sector, with the result that a significant number of ASDA employees have to claim Universal Credit (and possibly Housing Benefit) to bring their incomes up to a barely liveable level.

So ASDA relies on Government Funding (Handouts) to create it's significant profits.

.

 

A Hannah Sharland piece in the Canary about the DWP; mentions ME/LC & the particular danger of a programme called "WorkWell" that promotes a BPS intervention model.

https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2024/09/16/dwp-workwell-csj-labour/

 

DWP warns ESA recipients to take immediate action to avoid payment disruption

DWP warns ESA recipients to take immediate action to avoid payment disruption (msn.com)

 

I suppose we'll never know how many people fail to claim because their migration notice was in a batch posted at a Special Letterbox*, so they had no idea their award was due to end.


* A 1970s technology that shreds the contents for hamster bedding†, for anyone not in the UK.

† People here still have hamsters. There are even Hamster Rescue organisations.

 

I read that as a warning that people contacted in the current wave of notices (i.e., September) could have particular difficulties if they don't apply for UC in time, as their ESA payments will stop around Christmas.

As far as I know the migration process is continuing, so people will be contacted every month until all the notices are issued. They've been doing it group by group depending on which benefits people receive, but the next filter might be geographical area.

 

https://www.icontact-archive.com/ar...4b7e81a15d03a3040ca2700682dadb514b7c01a8d57f0

Benefits and Work newsletter

In this edition, we reveal that Labour is adopting the hated Tory bank surveillance and DWP police powers plans.

We learn that there are going to be more personal independence payment (PIP) reviews, but a smaller proportion will be forced to have an assessment.

We also discover that the number of PIP claimants has now reached 3.5 million.

Plus, we share that you can now openly record you WCA on your phone, without having to ask permission or provide a copy to the assessor.

And as the new assessment companies take over, we ask readers to start sharing their experiences of Capita, Ingeus, Maximus and Serco.

Finally, we publish a collection of employment and support allowance (ESA) to universal credit (UC) managed migration FAQs for members, based on queries and concerns posted on the site.

 

This paragraph (which I can't seem to copy and paste) might be of interest to anyone receiving income-related ESA, with or without housing benefit, who's wondering when the migration to UC may start.

 

Also this bit:

ESA to UC migration (benefitsandwork.co.uk)

 

Another salient point is that there's a five-week delay built into UC, but the legacy benefits will run on for two weeks after the claim ends. So effectively there's a three-week gap with no income, rather than a five-week gap.

As everyone on income-related ESA will have to make the move to keep receiving benefits, it might be worth trying to plan for that gap as soon as possible. It'll be especially important for folk who have little or no income other than ESA.

Advance payments are available from DWP, though. They might help people whose notice arrives relatively early in the process, if they haven't had time to save much up. Advances have to paid back within two years.

 

Further notes:

There's an ID check when applying for UC. Possible ID documents are bank debit/credit card, driving licence, passport, payslip, P60, but there may be others.*

You have to set a UC account up before you can claim, and the process includes verifying your email address and mobile number. You have to complete verification within an hour of getting the codes, so save it for a day when you're able to do that.

Once the account's up and running you only have 28 days to make your claim, so again, it'll have to be included in energy management.

I could be wrong, but far as I can see the three-week gap includes receiving no housing benefit/UC rent allowance. That makes it particularly difficult [read: effing outrageous], as it's often quite a bit of money.

As long as people apply for UC before their deadline day, there's transitional protection for those receiving the Severe Disability premium. This should be added to UC automatically, though some people have reported issues. It will erode with inflation, but at least it ought to be the same at the outset. Probably best to check the award when it arrives, for under- or over-payments.

ESA Support Group and Limited Capacity for Work group status migrates with people, as long as they're still entitled to it. They have different names under UC, but there should be no changes until either a reassessment or a change of circumstances comes up.


* I've done several online ID checks recently, and success seems to depend on EITHER having a computer with a camera so you can hold up the document to be photographed, OR having a phone that can take a photo of them for you to upload. It partly depends on the website you're using, only some of them allow you to take a photo using the computer camera. I find it useful to check what documents are acceptable beforehand, and sort out the photos so I've got them ready—I name the files Driving Licence, Council Tax Bill, etc, so I can easily find them.