Across the political Right, the narrative is that disability benefits (primarily Personal Independence Payments; PIPs) are too easy to get & are often paid to the 'undeserving'... however, in reality nearly half of applicants are rejected, rising to over two thirds for endometriosis (a gendered dimension I'll leave you to ponder), but with high rates of rejections over-turned on appeal (often with the same evidence).
@ChrisMayLA6 It says much that the far right think disability payments are "easy" to get. We put in many claims over the years for our son who will need 24x7 care for rest of his life. Once DWP decided to stop his payments while they considered a change in circumstance. That change was leaving school. They thought about this for 5 months leaving son with no money for rent, food, heating, clothing and having to survive on charity. I hate how our society picks on those at the bottom.
@ChrisMayLA6@Research_FTW I got “zeroed” last time I was reassessed, despite getting PIP for years for a lifelong condition. I appealed, and it was restored to its previous level. What a waste of time and money. Also they only gave me a year’s award… I will have bipolar until I die, but they want me to reapply for PIP every year. If they really want to reduce costs, they should end the constant reassessments
I'm sorry to her about this; we have institutionalised inhumanity & callousness & you're paying the price of these choices.... hope the next review goes better
I think performative cruelty is an apt expression.
I am in the lucky position to only have had to rely on the SNHS (other than inoculations) once after a bad fall trail running. They were brilliant and I shudder to think what The Tories and Labour would do to it if they have the chance. I’ll always support a publicly owned health and care 'sector' and am very willing to pay my taxes to do so.
@purplepadma@ChrisMayLA6@Research_FTW I had to take mine to a tribunal, 5 mins and the Dr and the Judge reinstalled it and noted it should never have been rejected in the first place.
This was ATOS who used a physiotherapist to assess a mental health claim with 1 weeks training...
@Thebratdragon@ChrisMayLA6@Research_FTW Oh and they really don’t like it if you try to tell them facts about your condition because they are “trained in mental health” and the assumption that you as the claimant might know more offends them
@Thebratdragon@purplepadma@ChrisMayLA6@Research_FTW It was rumoured that in Brighton if you parked in the car park they recommended in the appointment letter and walked up the hill to the centre you automatically failed as it was 200m uphill. Fortunately we had a blue badge and parked on the double yellow lines outside.
We're pretty sure my wife would qualify for the mental confusion with following a route update but can't face going to another appeal.
@ianturton@Thebratdragon@purplepadma@ChrisMayLA6@Research_FTW that's another thing, they get the applicants to go to centres way out of the area instead of to local ones. Then they ask "How did you get here?" and try as best as they can to mark the applicant down.
@purplepadma Someone I know has a range of disabilities meaning that she’s exceptionally prone to broken bones. She dislocated her hip while laying in bed once. She needs a powered wheelchair to travel much further than about ten metres.
She has to reapply for her PIP every couple of years.
I'm on the standard rate for PIP. I've been assessed 2 points under the boundary for the higher rate (both categories). They simply don't believe me when I explain that I cannot do certain things like cooking and finding my way to places I don't know (satnav or fail).
@ChrisMayLA6 when my father had Parkinson's, he regularly had to fill in a 13-page questionnaire which would then be "lost," requiring him to obtain and fill in another one. The cruelty is the point.
The best punishment for #ToryScum would be for them to live under their own cruel and spiteful regime, but we all know that will never happen.
@ChrisMayLA6 when my mum applied for PIP her first application was rejected, and it was blatantly clear the rejection was written before the assessment even began.
During the appeal the original Dr was shocked at how wrong the assessment was, not a single fact was correct, and absurd extrapolations were everywhere (she can walk down stairs became she can walk 1 mile unassisted).
@ChrisMayLA6 The whole process of application is humiliating, overly intrusive and degrading. To be refused the, on average, pretty meagre payments can, and often does, make the situation of the applicant indescribably worse, not least in mental health terms.
@ChrisMayLA6 it's a deliberately nasty and dehumanising procedure, a lot of applicants, myself included, are asked if we have tried to take our own lives or why we have not tried to take our own lives!
That's only a tiny part of the whole horrible process.
@ItsThatDeafGuy@ChrisMayLA6
This is outsourcing to the extreme - not content with policies and actions that knowingly kill their own citizens, the government now asking citizens to do the job for them by committing suicide.
@sufferforme@ChrisMayLA6 also by outsourcing the government are shielding themselves from direct blame.... "Oh, it was ATOS/Capita doing that and not us"....
yes classic easily systemic distancing that's a much wider 'benefit' of outsourcing.... we see this in supply chains all the time - 'oh we didn't realise the price reduction this supplier offered would involve exploration of workers.... how were we to know, we're so far away'... labour rights workers have been battling this sort of distancing for years (incidentally all predicted by John Ruskin in C19th)
@ChrisMayLA6@sufferforme thank you for the link. The application is also written in a certain way as to mislead, the applicant needs evidence to back up every single issue which the government/ATOS/Capita (or whatever the latter refer themselves as today) know is hard to do. My own background is within law so I know how to put cases together accumulating all specific case law and evidence in the right sequence, cross referencing etc. A person-on-the-street does not have this skill, and the government are counting in that.
Applicants are able to record the assessment as long as it's on tapes, yes, tapes and that two identical recordings are made. Again making it difficult for people to do this as cassettes and recording equipment is hard to come by. I recommend doing this though as it gives the DWP a lot less wiggle room.
Applicants need to ask for the assessor's notes in writing from the DWP immediately after the assessment is over. Also make a note of the assessor's name as well then the applicant can check whether the assessor has the correct medical background/training to correctly makes decisions (Clue: 9 out of 10 don't).
Once the assessor's report is in your hands scrutise it, raise every discrepancy with the DWP and make sure to cross reference them or provide additional evidence and/or case law.
Oh yes, don't make phone calls to the DWP, put everything in writing, send it by Recorded Delivery to ensure a signature, when sending the application in with all the evidence it'd be best going by Special Delivery. Keep a copy of that as well plus all postage receipts and file it all to one side. No phone calls, ever.
All of this, and more, goes into the appeal application.
Add comment