In general having a disability or disabilities means it costs more to live, therefore if the benefits system penalises persons with disabilities, not only do they not have the additional income, but effectively less income.
How can this be equality?
Tag: Employment Support Allowance
DWP has sent 150,000 of the ‘fit for work’ letters that ‘risk patients’ health’
If the DWP was a competent Government department none of these problems would be occurring, but competence is the main word in all this.
For this department has shown over many years how incompetent they are.
Where an appeal is in process or there is the probability of an appeal this letter to GPs should not be sent and a competent and responsible organisation would comply with this.
But we have to look at the agenda and this appears to be to cause as many problems as they can do to people claiming benefits.
Any reasonable, competent and responsible organisation should not have to have it pointed out to them that these letters should not be issued and that GPs still need to send the ‘fit note’.
But that is the point the DWP are not a reasonable, competent and responsible organisation. and wish to cause as much harm as they can to benefit claimants, even to the point of the death of the claimant.
DWP tells GPs not to support benefit claimants with sick notes : Welfare Weekly
Yesterday on Twitter, I posted one of my previous posts – Jobcentre tells GP to stop issuing sick notes to patient assessed as ‘fit for work’ and he died –in which I discuss a letter addressed to a GP regarding a seriously ill patient. It said:
“We have decided your patient is capable of work from and including January 10, 2016.
“This means you do not have to give your patient more medical certificates for employment and support allowance purposes unless they appeal against this decision.”
The patient, James Harrison, had been declared “fit for work” and the letter stated that he should not get further medical certificates.
However, 10 months after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contacted his doctor without telling him, he died, aged 55. James clearly wasn’t fit for work.
Source: DWP tells GPs not to support benefit claimants with sick notes : Welfare Weekly
Severely disabled 64-year old man found starving to death – while billionaires get tax cuts
Yet again another welfare atrocity, this time ESA, but it could have been UC, PIP, etc.
One situation of this nature is one too many, but there are much more than one and it goes on and on.
This, the UK, is supposed to be an affluent country, so how can situations such as these occur.
In many instances it is down to Government policy or policies and you would think that a reasonable Government would respond to everyone of these situations.
The Government do say they care, but how can they, for these situations would not then continue to occur.
They feel punishments, sorry sanctions, will lead to people overcoming any detrimental situations by encouraging the people to obtain employment after an assessment process.
But it is clear to everyone, except the Government that these assessments are not fit for purpose.
But are they, for what purpose is it the Government are intending these rules, regulations and sanctions to bring forth. Is it to benefit the claimants or to make it that benefit claimants can not cope and thereby lead them to suffer horrendously and in many instances suffer to lead to death.
Is death the ultimate end that this Government is wishing for, well the stories that keep occurring certainly lead people to assume this.
So is that the correct assumption, I hope not but according to the evidence it does appear so.
These photographs and this status was posted on Facebook by a law adviser on Christmas Eve:
Please spare a thought for this 64 year old severely disabled client of mine? Please share this post to see if we can garner a response from the Tories although, I doubt we will.
My client was thrown off ESA by ATOS 18 months ago. Since then, he has been expected to sign on. Obviously, he’s been sanctioned and forced to go hungry. so much so he weighs 6 stone. On Friday, not surprisingly he was at death’s door with pneumonia. Fortunately, I was able to get him into hospital.Evidently, his left lung was full of fluid with his right not much better, he’s now on the mend.
He has been unable to heat or look after his home properly because his health has deteriorated which I suggest is obvious from the photographs…
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The decimation of the welfare state
A truly worrying situation and one that could be happening within the UK. The DWP situation with Benefit claims and while the appeal process is reversing many of the wrongful dismissed cases, will this always be so. Not if we implement the American system as we appear to be doing.
It is very worrying and this should be noticed by the DWP, but will it be, I fear not.
Record disability benefit appeal success rates show this ‘cruel’ system is ‘unfit for purpose’ : Welfare Weekly
Record numbers of sick and disabled people are winning appeals against cruel decisions to reduce or axe their vital disability benefits, official figures show.
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reveal that a record 72% of negative Personal Indepence Payment (PIP) decisions are overturned in favour of claimants on appeal.
The same percentage (72%) of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are also successfully overturned at appeal stage, with critics and opponents of the disability benefit assessment system labelling the two benefits as “not fit for purpose”.
MoJ figures show 20,133 people who appealed a decision to change or deny their PIP between July and September 2018, of which 14,581 won their case at tribunal.
Meanwhile, 13,508 people appealed a decision to change or deny their ESA payments, of which 9,684 also won their case on appeal.
Source: Record disability benefit appeal success rates show this ‘cruel’ system is ‘unfit for purpose’ : Welfare Weekly
‘Fit for work’ assessor suspended for describing examination that did not take place | DisabledGo News and Blog
An occupational therapist who carried out a “misleading” benefit assessment has been suspended for a year after regulators found she reported carrying out a physical examination of a disabled man that did not take place.
Paru Vekaria has shown no remorse over the incident, in which she stated in a written report for government contractor Maximus that she had carried out a detailed physical examination of the claimant.
But both the claimant – referred to as Service User A – and his daughter, who attended the work capability assessment (WCA) with him, said no such examination had taken place.
As a result of her “misleading” report, Service User A was found fit for work by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and so ineligible for employment and support allowance (ESA).
DWP later rubber-stamped the decision through the mandatory reconsideration process, and it was only at an appeal tribunal eight months later that the decision was overturned and Service User A was found eligible for ESA.
Atos assessor told gay man he was ‘defective’ and needed to be cured by God
One more mark against ATOS and their assessors, how many more will it take for the DWP to admit the assessments and assessors are ‘not fit for purpose’.
In a wheelchair and want your benefits? You’ll need to take the stairs
This should be unbelievable, but with the DWP it is not. It is not as though they are not aware of the problems they are creating, their whole concept is to make it as difficult as possible for people to attend assessment and then they can sanction for a ‘no show’.
DWP advisor, I take tablets and I can work so you can too. Doctors refusing to issue sicknotes after recieving a letter from the DWP. This weeks blog.
Dear readers, today didn’t start too well. I had been unwell all night so ended up being awake for most of it listening to podcasts, but no fear I arrived at our weekly demo as usual. For anyone disputing my dedication to the cause I’d like to dispute their claims. As well as helping people, we raise awareness and I work very hard on this, its near enough a full time job.
Anyway enough about me, let’s talk about the important stuff, the people that are suffering at the hands of a cruel, uncaring government. For those thinking that the government actually does care, you are sadly mistaken. Years of experience tells me that they don’t have a caring bone in their bodies. It’s simply about persecuting the poor in as many ways as is possible. Below are a few examples.
The first man that I spoke to is a…
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61chrissterry 