'Tens of thousands of people claiming the main benefit for long-term sickness will no longer face repeated medical assessments to keep their payments.
Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green said it was pointless to re-test recipients of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) with severe conditions and no prospect of getting better.
More than two million people receive ESA, which is worth up to £109 a week.'
That's good news! Thanks for posting it.
I'll believe it when I see that brown envelope land on my floor to tell me I don't need anymore f2f interviews. they can recite till the cows come home how many millions are claiming esa, how many do THEY define as "chronic illness"? 50, 000 100 000 150 000?.all a token offering in my eyes. designed to shut you up. all I'm saying is seen it before. watch this space.
As I stated else where I helped a friend yesterday make an initial claim for PIP. I answered the questions for him after the data protections had been passed.
I was shocked when they asked if he suffered with a number of chronic conditions including both mental health and physical illness.
No idea if this is linked to the above but it did seem strange.
What about pip ?and what is deemed as long term conditions the list is endless
And I Bet DWP will fight to get people to have a F2F
I got my reassessment appointment letter this morning for 28th October. I am wondering does Fibromyalgia for ten years and recovering from two falls on the head plus shoulder surgery qualify. I rang the appointments contact centre this am and they had no idea this had happened the ESA reassessments beibg scrapped . Does anyone know what conditions qualify as Fibromyalgia is a chronic life long condition. At the moment I am in the ESA support group.Really worried what to do if they decide to stop my benefits as I am a single mother with noone else to look after my sons if I got a job working early and late hours if they decided I was fit for work!!
That doesn't surprise me, they don't seem to have a clue in their left hand of what their right hand is doing. Hopefully the whole lot is falling apart and will go back to as it was.
Having been sent to a reassessment on the 15th August by taxi to Salisbury an hour away,, after the poor taxi driver was sent to the wrong address having driven fron Bournemouth 60 miles away. I was sent home again for the second time as they did not have a doctor on site. On return home I ,was promised I would not have to go back but would be seen at home as my GP had requested. To then get this letter saying I had to return to Salisbury. I rang the call centre thinking I was calling Croydon. I explained that obviously a mistake had been made and mentioned the member of staff I had been talking to back in August. She had never heard of this person. So I asked where I was calling, mystified, Newcastle. Why do they not let you know this at the start!!!!!! I fought the DWP twice for PIP AND ESA and was reinstated with an apology . It has been a nightmare from start to finish over a year now. They are completely incompetent!!!!!????
I had a call from the DWP the other day. They wanted ME to write to the court tribunial to tell them what had happened to cancel the hearing. I was also asked for my personal details to ensure that I was who they wanted. I replied that I had been awarded PIP before any hearing and that I don't give personal details out to anonymous callers. I wonder where on earth they are employing these people from?
Which physical conditions did they ask about? They've asked about health conditions for a while but in relation to finding out if the claimant is vulnerable and likely to have problem returning the form so it mainly covered mental health problems, memory problems, learning difficulties etc. I'm just interested which physical conditions they consider worth making a note of at the first stage and wondering why.
Hi Sukes
One of my problems is short term memory. I can remember them asking about MH conditions such as Parkinsons and Clinical Depression but I can't remember what the physical conditions were.
Hi so does this mean people with mental health issues won't have to go to a f2f? Sorry it's just I got pip awarded a couple months back and I didn't have to go to a f2f assessment but also I was due a payment this week and for some bizzare reason it didn't go in? I rang ESA and they said they don't know why my ESA payment didn't go in??
My state pension was a day late this week. I called DWP who said there was no reason, sometimes the system just slows down.
Okay thanks.
I made comment about this subject earlier today on another thread.
The statement made said that serious chronic conditions only. They gave examples of Parkinsons and Cystic Fibrosis.
I made a comment tongue in cheek that this 'offer' may well find it's way to PIP.
If so, I could see a whole host of claims being made with people trying to argue that their condition is in the same category of those two examples. This will do nothing but spoil the situation for those poor souls that have to live with these types of disabilities. If the DWP see a flood of claims that everyone wants their conditions treated as serious chronic conditions then I forsee the DWP closing the gates and going back to regular re-assessments for all. This is what caused the demise of DLA - far too many people trying to stretch the rules and regulations via Tribunal awards into something that was never intended to be the case when the legislation was enacted in 1992.
Does this mean that only these two 'chronic' conditions will qualify. Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition, life long
They've not decided which conditions will qualify yet. They've said the criteria will be drawn up with health professionals. I doubt they'll include fibromyalgia. I'm just guessing but I think they'll probably include conditions that are better understood and that are currently diagnosed with tests or are more obvious to an observer. I think fibromyalgia would be a controversial diagnosis to include because of the lack of testing currently.
It will be interesting to see the list when they come up with it and how it's going to work. They made the point that some people with MS are able to work but that it's a degenerative condition so there may come a point when a person can't work and retesting after this will not be necessary. This point will still have to be decided by an assessor unless the criteria is included when the list is drawn up.
Fibromyalgia is also very debilitating.
My feeling is that the list will be relatively short. It would and should be restricted to those conditions that are at the top end of spectrum only. The likes of ME, arthritis, depression, anxiety are not in the same league as Parkinsons, Cystic Fibrosis or MS. I suffer from many conditions - really too many to list, but two are PTSD and Chronic Pancreatitis. I know that people say that these two are at the top end, but when I compare myself to say a person who has Parkinsons I feel humble
and ashamed that I should ever consider myself equal as those with Parkinsons etc.
At least I have all of my faculties and can work, albeit voluntary.
Incidentally at one time there was a similar list drawn up for DLA where if you fitted into the top sector you were not to be called for an assessment. One of those was if you were prescribed Morphine Sulphate. Ridiculous in my opinion - I am on 100mg of MST twice a day + as much Oramorph as I want. It's because of those and other painkilling drugs that I am able to function and give my time voluntarilly to the Community that I serve.