Jobless and disabled people could be stripped of their benefits this Christmas under a strict new sanctions regime for the festive period, it has been claimed.

In an apparent hardening of the Government’s attitude to welfare, those who miss a job centre appointment, interview or work capability assessment in the immediate run-up to the holidays could now be told the news on Christmas Eve itself.

The Independent had previously reported the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would be running a “business as usual” approach to Christmas this year, and was accused of taking a “Scrooge-like approach” to the season.

In new claims denied by the DWP, the SNP say this will be only the second year the approach has been taken, after a series of unwritten “special operations” were scrapped that previously protected claimants from having their Christmases ruined.

The party said concerns were raised by DWP staff themselves, who told the SNP they were made to call people up with bad news on Christmas Eve for the first time last year, and were unhappy they had to implement the alleged change in policy.
‘Scrooge-like approach’

Hannah Bardell, an SNP member who raised the issue in Parliament last week, has now written to the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith urging him to “show compassion and reinstate the special arrangements previously in place”.

In a letter seen by the Independent, she expressed concern that DWP staff “will be forced to sanction claimants up to and over the festive period, including for example on Christmas Eve”.

Ms Bardell wrote that the previous grace period was in place because “it can be a very difficult time for some people, with sanctions having an adverse effect on both staff and claimants”.

“I have been advised that last year it caused considerable distress to both staff who were forced to implement sanctions at this time of year and indeed claimants, who received the news.”
The number of people facing sanctions in the coming days is difficult to predict, as the DWP does not provide a daily breakdown of its figures.

But numbers on the department’s own website show that last December, sanctions were issued to 34,958 people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and 3,274 seeking ESA – disability benefits.

Mencap, a key member of the 60-charity Disability Benefits Consortium, said it was contacted last year for the first time by someone with a learning disability who was told his benefits would be stopped on Christmas Day.

Dan Scorer, Head of Policy at the learning disability charity, told the Independent that if the SNP’s claims were true, “taking away the Christmas grace period for sanctions risks pushing people with a learning disability into financial and emotional crisis at a time when the normal networks of support are not easily accessible”.
He said: “The Government should be creating a benefits system that gives people financial support to lead independent lives and move towards and into work. As it stands they risk having the opposite effect.”

A spokeswoman for the DWP denied that the department had ever implemented special measures or a “grace period” where claimants were spared bad news over the Christmas.

Confirming there was a possibility people would be told they were being sanctioned on Christmas Eve this year, she said the department had no figures on the number of people who might be affected.

In a statement, the DWP said: “Any suggestion that jobcentre staff are forced to sanction claimants is completely false.

“Jobcentres are open at select times over the holidays to give people the opportunity to seek employment and careers advice; there are no ‘signing on’ appointments over this period.

“The number of sanctions are falling and they are only ever imposed as a last resort if someone fails to demonstrate reasonable action to find work.”
‘Flaws in the sanctioning process’

The SNP’s claims came as an influential Commons committee released a report exposing a number of flaws with state benefit delivery.

The Work and Pensions Committee found that, on average, 30 per cent of Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions were successfully appealed, rising to more than 60 per cent for Employment and Support Allowance.

In today’s report, it ordered the Government to deal with “flaws in the sanctioning process”. “DWP must address the quality of original decisions in order to maintain a downward trend in the number that are overturned,” it said.

Previous findings from the committee have seen Mr Duncan Smith pledge a system where those being sanctioned are warned two weeks beforehand and given a change to appeal – but such reforms will be trialled in 2016, too late for those who face having this Christmas ruined.
Other charities have repeatedly expressed concerns over how benefit sanctions impact the poorest in society – and said this was never more evident than during the Christmas period.

Alan Markey, the chair of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers, told the Independent his organisation was “opposed in principle to the sanctions regime”.

“The experience from our advisers nationally is that sanctions disproportionally affect vulnerable groups, such as people with mental health issues and other health problems, and that they do not achieve their intended aims. All they do is increase hardship and poverty.”

Alison Garnham, the chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said it was “high time the [sanctions] system was overhauled”.

She said: “Whether it’s over Christmas or at other times, families are being left destitute by an overly harsh regime that can leave them with a choice between eating from a food bank or not eating at all.”

And Kirsty McHugh, chief executive of the ERSA trade association representing welfare to work providers, said: “Employment support works best when there is a positive relationship between advisor and jobseeker. Sanctions should only ever be used as a last resort. It therefore seems highly unlikely that sanctions at Christmas will be in the best interests of anyone.”
‘Financially and emotionally ruining Christmas’
James Smith, 38, is one of many people across the country who will be required to attend a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) this Christmas Eve.

He suffers from a very severe form of ulcerative colitis, an illness which forced him to give up a career in youth work which, in 2010, saw him meet Prince Charles as an ambassador for the Princes Trust.

Mr Smith will be accompanied by his father during his WCA, after a series of bad experiences with the DWP’s chosen contractor “Maximus Health and Human Services”.

Speaking to The Independent, he said changes to government support for the disabled in 2014 had set the country back 40 years.

“How would it make you feel, to have a chronic, incurable condition with 21 years of medical notes and be treated as though you are lying by a company that would rather lie than educate themselves on disability.

“To not be allowed to enjoy Christmas because you have to attend an assessment which will most likely dominate the whole of Christmas Eve.”

Mr Smith said he was lucky to have a strong support network behind him, and requires the WCA sign-off in order to have his state pension approved rather than to receive immediate benefits.

But he said he imagined the threat of sanctions to others in a similar position would “financially and emotionally ruin Christmas for people who have no way to hold the DWP accountable”.

“They have to show more compassion,” he said. “Even in the First World War, a truce was called to stop the killing at Christmas. I am angry and saddened that those with disabilities and chronic illness mean so little now to the rest of society.”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/78210566600/permalink/10153103867046601/

But after the Department of Work and Pensions ruled that he was ineligible, Mr Smith and his partner Lucy Stewart, who was also on benefits relating to a learning disability, saw their weekly total cut by £137.55, and left the 50-year-old in depair over his financial situation.

However, a follow-up call from the DWP explaining its decision did not take place, prompting Mr Smith to send a formal letter to reconsider the assessment in November with the help of the Disability Advice Centre..

A second error at the DWP in December resulted in Mr Smith’s details being updated, before his appeal was mistakenly closed down before it had been labelled for reconsideration. The DWP in its statement said it admitted that errors had been made.

At the inquest in IP-City Centre Ipswich yesterday, Miss Stewart’s father David said the ensuing anxiety and reduced payments were the triggers for Mr Smith’s suicide.

The inquest also heard that Mr Smith had begun mental health treatment in 2000 after the death of his mother, but had been stable in recent years before anxiety over his benefits caused his symptoms to become worse.

Assistant coroner Nigel Parsley said: “I do find it a truly tragic case. Lucy was a real positive factor in his life and that kept him on an even keel for a considerable part of the time, but I cannot ignore the fact that he suffered from mental illness and had admitted suicidal thoughts.”

A conclusion was recorded that Mr Smith had taken his own life.

Mr Parsley added that while the DWP had admitted to errors, they were mistakes in procedure and were not a breach of its legal duty.

At the inquest, Mr Stewart said that Mr Smith’s anxiety and reaction to change meant he was unable to cope with the changes.

“For Stephen in his condition he could not understand there were savings he could make, things were very distressing,” he said.

The DWP confirmed that the follow-up calls no longer take place, and a retrospective review after Mr Smith’s death revealed no change in its decision.

An important feature, spotted here.

• Mental health sufferers assessed by physiotherapists
• Assessors forced to retrain if they pass too many people
• “Rude” assessors ignoring government guidelines
• Over half of all initial ‘fit-for-work’ decisions appealed against are being overturned

“My doctor knows my situation. My bones are crumbling, like arthritis. That only started when I began to lift the heavy things at M&S.”

Barbara Johnson, 52, lives alone on Colehill Road, Fulham. Her medical problems began after a botched operation on her right foot in 2006. She can now barely walk, due to numbness that has spread up her calf.

This has caused her to collapse in the street several times. “They’ve had to take me straight to hospital,” she says.

Incredibly, Barbara was declared “fit-for-work” by an independent assessor in 2011, despite sending doctors’ certificates to the Department for Work and Pensions. Her Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was cut, leaving her with no income, without notice.

The DWP forced her to take a work placement at M&S: “I was carrying heavy trays that didn’t have handles — I had to bear the weight on my hands. My right side is so weak, yet they just wanted to put me in the workplace”, she says.

As well as aggravating her feet problems, the placement caused permanent damage to her wrists, for which she now requires steroids.

Her problems did not end there. When I met her in late October, her ESA had just been stopped once again.

How was Barbara declared fit-for-work, when her doctor and GP observed that she was not? How could she receive ESA one month, then be “fit-for-work” another?

Moreover, why are society’s most vulnerable still at the mercy of what has been criticised as an unpredictable and erratic assessment process?

Critics argue that this deceives claimants into thinking that they stand a chance without including medical information. Tom Kenny finds this particularly misleading: “We would never send off an ESA50 without medical evidence, and we also do a covering letter. We have a high success rate with them but that’s only because of the time we put into them.”

After the ESA50, most claimants attend a face-to-face “Work Capability Assessment” (except in extreme circumstances, such as terminal illness — although in 2012, a man with terminal brain cancer was deemed “fit-for-work”). The assessor sorts claimants into “fit-for-work”; “fit for work-related activity”; or fit for neither (the “Support Group”).

The face-to-face assessment is the most controversial part of the process. French firm Atos held the contract for the assessments from 2008, but walked away in 2014 after “negotiations” with the DWP. They had become one of the most hated companies in Britain; employees received death threats.

American firm Maximus took over from Atos in March 2015. They refused to acknowledge my request for comment.

There have been plenty of shocking stories about the face-to-face examinations, and one case that Kenny dealt with springs to mind:

“We had a young man who was examined at home because they accepted that he was too ill to travel to the assessment centre. He had a commode, and was in a wheelchair. Yet they turned up at his house and failed him.”

The face-to-face assessment is supposed to test 17 areas of physical and mental capability. For each question, the claimant earns zero, six, nine, 12, or 15 points — the fewer the points, the “fitter-for-work” the claimant is.

Given that the face-to-face test is supposed to test actions performed in the workplace, its format is alarmingly basic.

One of the questions asks if the claimant “Cannot raise either arm as if to put something in the top pocket of a coat”, for 15 points. Kenny explains: “Even the most severely disabled person can do that. What they don’t take into account is, can they do it repeatedly, all day long.”

A doctor, nurse, or physiotherapist will conduct the test. However, Kenny informs me that it is not uncommon for someone with a mental health problem to be assessed by a physiotherapist:

The lack of understanding of mental health has recently come into focus. In November, Oxford academics found evidence to suggest that every 10,000 Work Capability Assessments leads to about six suicides. The tests were also declared responsible for 279,000 extra cases of mental ill-health.

Francois Greeff, 56, suffers from bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, and autism. After spending four years on the streets of Hammersmith and Fulham, he now runs a charity, “Good4You”, devoted to helping disabled homeless people.

He recalls his 2011 assessment: “The guy said: ‘Do this [raise your arms], stand up, read the wall chart. You’re fit-to-work.’ I explained that I am bipolar, which he should have known if he read my medical records.

Firstly, the rudeness that Francois experienced is not uncommon. Barbara Johnson recalls being told that if she didn’t answer correctly, “you’re going to regret it.”

Secondly, mental illness simply should have been considered in the questions that Francois was asked.

A 2011 Statutory Instrument defines the prescribed structure of the test. For instance, section 12 states that having a “Reduced awareness of everyday hazards” which “leads to a significant risk of injury to self or others”, should earn the claimant 15 points.

How does this culture manifest itself? “There’s no way that the DWP can say that they’ve got quotas of how many people they can pass. What we do know happens is that if an assessor is passing too many people, they go through a retraining period.”

Has this culture changed at all since Maximus took over from Atos? Although the DWP is publishes figures on the assessments, there is a nine-month backlog of information due to “processing of data”; the latest numbers are for ESA claims between January-March 2015. This means that there is no new data that enables us to compare Maximus’s pass rates to Atos’s.

The existing figures do reveal a sharp rise in successful tribunal appeals. Since 2008, 37% of all fit-for-work decisions have been appealed against. In January-March 2015, 54% of fit-for-work decisions that were appealed were overturned, compared with 37% in April-June 2013 — equating to an enormous number of wrong decisions.

Even at the tribunal, though, assessors have no accountability for their incorrect decisions. To Tom Kenny, changing this would present something of a solution.

“If doctors, nurses and physiotherapists could be brought before a judge to explain and justify their decisions, it would change the system radically.

“As far as I know, though, there are no plans to do this.”

What’s more, the benefits department of Kenny’s charity — Action on Disability – is in danger of closing before January, having not received funding from Hammersmith and Fulham council in six years. Residents will likely lose one of the few sources of support to guide them through the ESA process.

When I went back to see Barbara in November, she explained that her ESA had been resumed again, but now they were refusing to reimburse her for her month without benefits.

Reflecting on her perpetual difficulties with medical assessors, she insists: “I don’t keep having these problems because I’m particularly spiteful. I’m just angry that they’ve taken no responsibility. No care. No concern. Nothing.

“I thought they were meant to be doctors”, she says.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The proportion of personal independence (PIP) appeals that are won by the claimant has risen to 60% according to the latest official figures. The number of PIP appeals is also increasing rapidly.

The appeal statistics for July to September 2015 show that PIP appeals now account for 38% of all social security appeals. The number of PIP appeals has been steadily increasing – from 2,145 in July to September 2014 to 13,568 in the most recent quarter.

Employment Support Allowance (ESA) accounted for 36% of the total social security appeals lodged in July to September 2015 and saw a 26% increase from 10,357 in the same period in 2014 to 13,020 in the current quarter.

The success rate for social security appeals varies widely depending on the benefit.

58% of ESA cases are won by the claimant, 55% of DLA cases, 40% of Job Seekers Allowance cases and 24% of Housing/Council Tax benefit cases.

PIP claimants won in 60% of cases from July to September 2015, up from 56% in the previous quarter.

The proportion of successful PIP appeals has increased with every quarter since the benefit was introduced.

You can download the latest PIP appeal statistics from this link.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The DWP has today launched a consultation aimed at slashing the number of people eligible for the daily living component of personal independence payment (PIP) by up to 35%. The cuts will be aimed at claimants who qualify for PIP because of their use of aids and appliances and may include replacing awards with discretionary voucher payments.

The press release and consultation document published today claim that 35% of all daily living allowance awards are based solely on the claimant’s need to use aids and appliances.

In addition, the DWP points out that recent upper tribunal decisions have found that a bed, for example, can count as an aid or appliance if a claimant needs to sit on it in order to get dressed.

The DWP argues that the use of readily available or low cost items as aids or appliances isn’t a reliable guide as to whether a person has to meet additional costs because of their disability. As a result the department has launched a brief consultation, ending on 29 January 2016, to decide whether and how to change the system.

The five possible options
Five possible options for change are listed in the document:

1 A lump sum paid to claimants who score all their daily living points from aids and appliances. This could be discretionary and its use limited through the use of vouchers. The awards could be periodic, in order to cover the cost of replacing aids or appliances. It would not passport to other benefits or premiums and would not exempt claimants from the benefits cap. Claimants scoring at least some points from other descriptors would be paid at the relevant weekly rate, as now.

2 A lower monthly payment for claimants who score all their daily living points from aids and appliances. It would not passport to other benefits or premiums and would not exempt claimants from the benefits cap. Claimants scoring at least some points from other descriptors would be paid at the relevant weekly rate, as now.

3 A new condition of entitlement that claimants must score some points from a descriptor that

does not relate to aids and appliances. Claimants scoring at least some points from other descriptors would be paid at the relevant weekly rate, as now.

4 A change to the definition of aids and appliances to exclude any that the DWP does not consider are a good indicator of additional cost and need. Claimants who use aids and appliances that are a good indicator of extra costs would be paid at the relevant weekly rate, as now.

5 Halving the number of points that can be scored for the use of aids or appliances from 2 to 1 for some or all daily living activities.

Current claimants
The current PIP eligibility rules will continue to apply until any changes are made.

The consultation document also states that current claimants will not be affected immediately. However, when their award comes up for review or a change of circumstances is reported, then they will be covered by any new rules.

In addition, the DWP have made it clear that they intend to regularly review and cut eligibility to PIP to ensure that it is ‘financially sustainable’ in the future.

How to take part
If you wish to take part in the consultation, you can send your response to:

PIP.consultationfeedback@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

Or write to:

PIP Policy Team
Department for Work and Pensions
Ground floor, Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA

Your response needs to reach the DWP by 5pm on 29 January 2016.

You can read the PIP consultation press release here.

You can download the PIP consultation document here.

Many thanks to a number of members who pointed out this post on the Rightsnet forum:

“This has just come through from operational stakeholders –

“We wanted to update you on a recent decision by DWP to start to refer some people for repeat Work Capability Assessments from 1 December 2015. As you are probably aware, in January 2014 a decision was taken to suspend the referral of routine repeat assessments (apart from people who felt that there had been a change in their condition that might have led to an increase in their benefit).

“Centre for Health and Disability Assessment (CHDA) began delivering the Work Capability Assessments on behalf of the Department in March 2015 and there is now capacity to start to conduct some repeat assessments alongside new claim assessments. The Department is committed to continuously improving the Work Capability Assessment and will monitor the situation closely.

“There are no changes to the Work Capability Assessment process, however, some people will now start to be called in for reassessment to ensure they are receiving the appropriate rate of benefit and support to return to work where appropriate. DWP wanted to make you aware of this operational decision so that you are able to continue to provide the most appropriate support to the people you represent.”

We don’t have any further details as yet, but we’ll keep you posted.

Mike Sivier at Vox Political recounts an experience his wife, Mrs Mike, had last week with the DWP:

Insane as it may seem, the Department for Work and Pensions is actively pursuing people with long-term illnesses, apparently in order to make them increasingly anxious and thereby worsen their health.

This will not be news to anybody who is familiar with the benefit system for the sick and disabled. All you others, take note.

On Monday, Mrs Mike received a letter from the DWP. It said:

“Notification of Customer Compliance Visit

“We will be calling at your home.

“A customer compliance officer … will be visiting you at your home on Thursday 3rd December 2015… It is essential that you are available for this visit and provide the documents requested in this letter. This interview has been arranged because your circumstances may have changed and we need to ensure your payments are correct.

“When you claimed benefit you agreed to tell us immediately if the circumstances relating to your benefit entitlement changed.

“What will happen if we do not hear from you?

“If you fail to be available for this visit and do not contact me, your entitlement to benefit may be in doubt and your payments will be stopped.

“If there has been an unreported change in your circumstances then any overpayment will have to be paid back. Further, you may be liable for financial penalties.”

In this case, Mr and Mrs Mike were lucky. They found helpful resources at DPAC, another site Same Difference deeply respects. You can find these resources through the link above, if you are in a similar situation to Mrs Mike.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The DWP has been ordered to apologise to the sister of a vulnerable claimant who committed suicide after his benefits were cut, according to the Guardian. The case bears a striking resemblance to others in which the DWP have failed to follow their own guidelines and also ignored coroner’s prevention of future death reports.

Physiotherapist assessment for mental health
When Linda Cooksey found the body of her brother Tim Salter in his home in September 2013, there was no food in the house, no money in his bank account and a letter from his housing association threatening him with eviction.

Salter had been left partially sighted following a previous suicide attempt and had mental health conditions including agoraphobia. In spite of this, and references to suicide in his claim for ESA, he was found fit for work and had his benefits drastically cut nine months before his death.

Linda Cooksey told the Guardian in January 2015:

“The chap who assessed my brother was a physiotherapist. He didn’t know anything about mental health. They should have taken notice of the first paragraph of his statement, that he had attempted suicide, that he had low moods. You’d think they would say, ‘We better tread carefully here.’ The system does not cater for mental health problems.”

Complaints
Salter’s case was one of the 60 secret DWP reviews into the deaths of claimants which are the subject of a current Benefits and Work freedom of information request.

However, the review found no fault with the way that the case had been handled.

Cooksey then complained to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE).

Bizarrely, ICE did not uphold the complaint because Salter had “told Atos Healthcare professionals that he sometimes felt suicidal”, but he had failed to make a “declaration of an intention to attempt suicide (for which the DWP has detailed guidance for staff)”.

Following this decision Cooksey took her case to her MP who passed the case to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman found that the DWP had failed to follow proper procedure because they had not requested further medical evidence after Salter disclosed a previous suicide attempt.

The Ombudsman said that such a request might not have altered the final decision on Salter’s fitness for work, as he was not seeing any health professionals about his mental health, but would have reassured relatives that the DWP had done the best it could.

Coroners warnings
Tim Salter’s case is far from unique. In fact, the DWP have ignored two prevention of future death warnings over the issue of failure to collect further medical evidence in mental health cases.

Stephen Carre took his own life in January 2010 after being found capable of work following an Atos work capability assessment (WCA).

A coroner found that the DWP failed to seek further medical evidence even though Carre had a psychiatrist and a community mental health nurse.

The coroner issued a prevention of future death warning because of the failure to chase up further evidence. The DWP has a statutory duty to respond to such notices explaining what they are going to do to prevent similar situations occurring.

The DWP never did so.

Michael O’Sullivan, who suffered from anxiety and depression, committed suicide in September 2013 after being found capable of work.

In January 2014 a coroner issued a prevention of future death warning because Atos and the DWP had failed to request further medical evidence from his GP, his psychiatrist or his clinical psychologist.

The DWP responded on this occasion and gave an undertaking to “issue a reminder to staff about the guidance related to suicidal ideation”.

They never did so.

No apology
The Ombudsman in Tim Salter’s case gave both the DWP and ICE one month from 16 November to make their apology to Cooksey.

ICE has now done so.

The DWP remain silent.

You can read the full story in the Guardian

Same Difference recieved this letter last night, from a reader who has asked to remain anonymous. It is an open letter to IDS. We thank the reader for sharing their thoughts with us, and for asking us to publish the letter.

Dear Iain Duncan Smith

I want to tell you about me and how you changed my life.

I worked since the age of 14. I started off as a part time waitress in a friend’s pub on weekends serving roast dinners. I always remember the thrill of being tipped £1 when I collected empty dishes. Back then that was a good tip. This taught me to save for things I wanted and instilled a working ethic into my soul. I moved on to serving in a corner shop as I got older and then serving in the pub when I was legally allowed to. All the while I remained in school. I studied hard for my GCSE’s and A Levels until one day I walked into the recruitment office in Newport to apply for the Army.

This started a 13 year journey for me. It was fascinating and I loved it. I took pride in my work because I knew it would save lives. I travelled and learned languages in my spare time due to working constantly with military from other countries. In what spare time I had I volunteered helping people with learning disabilities. My life was busy and hectic but I loved every minute. I got so much enjoyment and I felt fulfilled.

Then in a blink of an eye (literally) it all vanished. I sustained injuries, catastrophic injuries that changed my life. It is not important what happened or where as I do not want to distract from the point I am wanting to make here. But I went completely blind overnight. I had to deal with this on top of other injuries. While in Intensive care I suffered a major heart attack brought on by my injuries and my lungs were badly damaged where they will never fully recover. My whole life was wiped out but I stayed optimistic. I was still alive.

Over the next 3 years I worked harder than I ever had in my life. Learning to walk again. Learning to live without sight. From dressing myself to making a humble cup of tea. I had to learn to read and write again using Braille yet not once did it ever cross my mind this was it for me. As soon as I got the basics covered I started to think about returning to work. What jobs I could now do etc. The DWP offered no help and treated me as someone incapable of ever working again but I never stopped.

To cut a long story short I rebuilt my life and eventually became self employed working from home. To start earning my own money again felt fantastic. I felt whole again and nothing meant more to me than restoring my dignity. All went swimmingly until one day I am sat in my GPs office and my world fell apart. I had been feeling unwell for some time and now I was listening to my doctor talk to me about what lay ahead and listen to her arrange emergency appointments at the hospital. I had struck a triple whammy. One day I am going to the bowel cancer clinic, next I am going to the breast cancer clinic and then the skin cancer clinic. I sometimes wonder if all my injures were to blame but I faced it head on. After all I had been through worse. What followed was 18 months of hell.

Now I know you are assuming I am referring to how ill I was. The hospital and nurses etc were great even if the treatments and procedures were not. Even my housing officer offered to come with me sometimes so I would not have to face everything alone. But this was not the hell I am referring to.

The hell I am talking about is what you and your department did to me. The time I needed some help financially I was treated less than human. Once I had to get my local MP to intervene due to your staff laughing at me down the phone when I was requesting letters etc in Braille. I was made to feel humiliated on numerous occasions as I was literally begging for help to fill out forms as I could not see due to only printed formats available. I would have my benefits delayed, not weeks but months to be processed and in the mean time I had nothing to live on. I ran up debts for my utility bills and council tax etc and this confounded bedroom tax for a box room smaller than my toilet. When they were finally sorted I was sanctioned. Why? For spending too much time at the cancer units and not enough time looking for a job. Sanction after sanction after sanction. It felt as if I had become an easy target for your staff to make up their numbers. I had to start selling my furniture and belongings to keep a roof over my head. My friends were buying me food to help me eat. My GP was lecturing me for going for prolonged periods without food. I am not talking about the odd day but 7 days at a time. My recovery was seriously hampered by how ill I was becoming due to stress and starvation. By now I was sleeping on the floor as most of my belongings had been sold.. My gas had been disconnected so no heating or hot water. For several months I lived like this but it was spring then summer so it didn’t seem that bad.

Then winter followed Autumn and the temperatures plummeted. Whilst I had made a full recovery with everything else I was now in the cycle of becoming ill with chest infections due to the cold and low immune system from not eating. Then the cold came. I would wear 3 or 4 layers of clothes to try and keep warm. Sleeping on a freezing floor and the only hot meal I had was cuppa soups. My main meals were cuppa soups while you spend £40 of tax payers’ money on breakfasts.

After everything I had gone through and kept fighting, this was my lowest point. So low that just a few weeks ago I took an overdose. The one thing I swore I would never do, I did. I did not want to feel this painful cold anymore. Cold that hurt you to your bones. I did not want my stomach cramping anymore from not eating for days or feel the humiliation of having to use a food bank. I just felt humiliation and shame for what I had been reduced to.

I am glad to say I am now self employed again earning my own money. I am slowly rebuilding my home, replacing the furniture I had to sell to keep a roof over my head and having my boiler reconnected next week. None of this turnaround is down to you though. This is who I have always been. A worker. Someone who wants to be a part of society and wants to provide for themselves and I know I will be a success.

Life has thrown everything at me and not once did it break me or make me want to give up. But you did.

You made me feel life was not worth living anymore.
You and your policies.
You and your department.
YOU!

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

When there was an enormous backlog for personal independence payment (PIP) assessments, claimants were often given an appointment at a distant assessment centre, even though there was one much closer to them.

The explanation given was that it was necessary to book claimants in wherever there were available appointments, rather than keeping them waiting for the closest centre to have a vacancy.

But those enormous waiting lists have vanished now, with waiting times generally down to weeks rather than months.

Yet we’re still hearing from members who are being asked to travel almost 90 minutes for a face-to-face assessment, even when there is a centre in their own town.

Very often this means that the claimant cancels the first appointment. But then they must attend the next appointment they are given, no matter how problematic, or risk being refused PIP for failure to attend an assessment.

We would like to find out how common and how widespread this issue is. So, please let us know by commenting below or dropping us an email to office@benefitsandwork.co.uk and telling us how far you were asked to travel to a medical, when this happened and whether there was another centre closer to you.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised up its estimate of the proportion of employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants who will be placed in the support group.

A brief note in the OBR’s ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’ document, written to accompany the chancellor’s Autumn statement, states:

“We have also revised up spending on incapacity benefits, assuming that 38 per cent of claims will be in the more expensive support group of employment and support allowance (ESA) in steady state (up from 30 per cent in our July forecast).”

There is no explanation for why the numbers have risen so suddenly and are expected to stay remain so high. However, it is known that Maximus are having considerable difficulty recruiting sufficient health professionals, meaning that there is still a huge backlog of work capability reassessments.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

With many thanks to Disability Rights UK.

With many thanks to Disability Rights UK.

An important tip from Fightback.

Fightback appeal note

If you win an appeal for PIP or ESA do not expect the backpay and payments to increase quickly. It takes on average 4-8 weeks for DWP to sort it out and they will often delay as much as they can.

Remember they also have the right to challenge the decision,as do you, and your case it is often passed to the legal team for scrutiny, especially if the value is over a certain amount. This seems to be particularly applicable in the case of PIP where backpay often exceeds £5000.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The authors of a report which found that the work capability assessment (WCA) is linked to almost 600 additional suicide have called on the DWP to release any data it holds on claimant mortality.

The peer reviewed report, written by respected academics from Oxford and Liverpool universities, found that in areas where incapacity benefit claimants were being reassessed for employment and support allowance, suicide rates, mental health conditions and antidepressant prescribing all increased.

The DWP have dismissed the report out-of-hand, claiming that it is ‘wholly misleading’. The department also argued that:

“In addition, it is concerning that they provide no evidence that the people with mental health problems highlighted in the report even underwent a Work Capability Assessment.”

However, the report’s authors have now responded in a letter to the Guardian, saying:

“Suicides and other mental health problems continue to increase in the UK. It is crucial that we understand why this has occurred and take action to reverse this situation. In order to facilitate this the DWP should make any relevant data they hold available to researchers, to allow further analysis of the health impact of the WCA.”

However, it seems extremely unlikely at this stage that the DWP will release any data whatsoever which might prove that their policies are harming sick and disabled people.

You can read the full letter in the Guardian

From the Guardian:

David*, a father of two from Stroud, Gloucestershire, has watched his teenage son struggle with anxiety and increasing mental health problems after the WCA process found him fit for work. His son’s benefits were stopped six months ago, when he refused to attend a jobcentre. He does not blame the test for his son’s worsening mental health, but believes he was unfairly assessed, which did not help his situation.

The 19-year-old has severe irritable bowel syndrome and associated incontinence, for which he is receiving treatment, as well as mental health problems that were undiagnosed until recently. He was receiving employment support allowance (ESA), a lifeline that allowed him a degree of independence from his parents, who live in a semi-rural community.

“People are complex, people are different, that’s why the system is cruel,” David said. “Sometimes my son can take the dog for a walk, but other times he has to go to the toilet every 20 minutes. He often has to wear nappies.

“His GP had signed him off sick, but on ESA you can only get signed off for so long. You get to a point where no matter what a health professional says, it doesn’t make any difference. If Atos or Maximus, who are doing the tests now, say it doesn’t qualify, it makes no difference what the consultants are saying.”

David said since his son’s mental health has deteriorated since he was found fit for work and his benefits were stopped.

“For the last six months, he hasn’t had any money coming in. He’s isolated, he can’t see his friends, who have money. He couldn’t face the prospect of attending the jobcentre every two to three days with his difficulties and when he is hearing voices.”

“He’s now at the point where his mental health has deteriorated so much he has had a psychotic episode. We had a psychiatrist from the early intervention team come around last week. I can now prove, because of this letter from the psychiatrist, that he is mentally ill.”

* Name has been changed to protect his anonymity

Tougher “fit for work” tests introduced to assess eligibility for disability benefit have caused relapses in patients with serious mental health conditions, according to a consultant with the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Dr Jed Boardman, a consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS trust, said the work capability assessment (WCA) discriminates against those with mental health issues and called for an overhaul of the process.

Boardman, who treats patients with serious and long-term mental health problems, told the Guardian: “People with severe long-term problems get very distressed about being assessed, probably because mistakes are made, because the process isn’t perfect, because they don’t feel they are being listened to in their interviews.

“You do see people relapsing as a consequence of getting distressed.”

His comments follow a study, published last week, that linked the WCA tests with an additional 590 suicides, increased mental health problems and hundreds of thousands of antidepressant prescriptions. The study, published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, showed a correlation between worsening mental health and assessments under the WCA, but did not say definitively that it was the cause. The Department for Work and Pensions described the study as “misleading” because researchers had no evidence that those with increased mental health issues had undergone a WCA.

In a letter to the Guardian, the study’s main author, Benjamin Barr, said it was crucial the DWP takes seriously concerns that WCAs are “severely damaging” mental health. He called on the department to release data it holds to researchers to allow further analysis of the health impact of the controversial test.

“Their primary criticism of our study is that we don’t have data specifically on people going through the WCA and consequent mental health problems,” said Barr, from the University of Liverpool. “They have data on who has died following the WCA and they could facilitate linkage of that data with health causes.”

Thousands of claimants have died after being found fit for work, according to statistics released in August by the DWP, following a freedom of information request. Ministers insisted that the figures they have released could not be used to link claimant deaths to welfare reforms, but the government has refused to release figures that would make it possible to assess whether the death rate for people found fit for work would be higher than normal.

One million recipients of disability benefit in England went through the test between 2010 and 2013, researchers found, while another million were expected to be assessed this year.

Boardman’s concerns are echoed by psychologists and benefit advisers working with claimants, who say they have anecdotal evidence that WCAs cause additional distress for those with mental health issues.

Toby Chelms, a cognitive behavioural therapist for the NHS in Leeds, said he has had to alter treatment plans for patients after “dips” in their conditions following WCA tests. Others have cancelled appointments with him after having their benefits stopped, because they can no longer afford the bus fare, he said.

“I have seen clients who can barely leave their homes due to anxiety, depression, PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] or obsessive compulsive disorder be deemed fit for work and therefore have their benefits cut or removed,” Chelms said.

“I’ve certainly seen people who have started treatment and have spikes in anxiety or depression following the outcome of the tests. People with mental health issues are very self-critical and ashamed of themselves and we’re trying to reevaluate that critical self thinking. But if someone in authority says: ‘You’re fine to work’, it can set them back.”

Boardman said the WCA failed to take account of “the fluctuating nature of the symptoms of the real-life person being assessed”.

“Quite often you can see in front of you someone who is trying hard to appear normal,” he said. “People very rarely play up their symptoms; they play them down.”

Numerous reviews of the WCA, including a select committee review in 2014, have expressed concern over the assessment’s applicability to mental health. According to the most recent independent review, almost 50% of those assessed under the WCA have a mental health problem as a primary condition.

Psychotherapists, advisers and a number of claimants who contacted the Guardian this week after a callout suggested those with mild or moderate mental health problems are also being impacted by their experience of the tests.

Markus Greenwood, the chief executive of Mind in Salford, said the charity’s benefit advisers have a high success rate – 65% – for those they help appeal WCA decisions via tribunals.

He said clients tend to play down their conditions when dealing with the WCA assessors and often benefit advisers have to step in to clarify what they are actually suffering from. “Because of the stigma that is still associated with mental health, people don’t want others to know that they are suffering,” Greenwood said. “If they are in front of an official, they might not disclose the extent to which they are incapacitated.”

A DWP statement said: “The health professionals who carry out work capability assessments are highly trained to assess people with mental health conditions.

“We have worked closely with medical experts and charities to make significant improvements to the WCA process and the percentage of people with mental health conditions who get the highest level of support has more than tripled since 2010.”