Scandal of disabled and ill people denied benefits

I thank Hereford Times for Peter John’s special investigation ‘Scandal of disabled and ill people denied benefits’ (December 12 print edition, p4).

I believe it will be helpful for me to add from my experience as a successful disability benefit tribunal appellant, former Green Party spokesperson on such matters, and former activist with Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group (KUWG) before moving to Hereford, and regular reader of specialist Disability News Service.

A vital issue regarding assessments for eligibility for the disability benefits Employment & Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment is captured in the golden motto of KUWG: “Never attend anywhere official alone.” The presence of a ‘McKenzie Friend’ at the face-to-face assessments provides the claimant with a potential witness as well as moral support. Unpaid case workers from KUWG had an excellent record of supporting claimants all the way, and attending with case worker often stopped the need for tribunal in the first place.

It is also essential with regard to the ‘Work Capability Assessment’ (WCA) for Employment & Support Allowance eligibility, that the claimant and/or their form filler understands the ‘descriptors’ of both the ‘Work Capability Assessment’ itself and the related ‘Low Capacity for Work Related Activity’ (lcwra) and how these relate to the claimant’s condition. Descriptors for the latter define whether the claimant enter the sanctions-free-zone of ‘Support Group’ entitlement that also comes with more income. KUWG subscribed to specialist guide papers regarding ESA and PIP assessments.

The matter of claimants being routinely re-tested as Disability United spokesperson points out is inappropriate. My ESA tribunal in December 2009 put me into the Support Group; the £1200 back money was not processed into my a/c till end of February 2010, and the issue of re-assessment papers that August left me bent double with shock after being a decades long disabled jobseeker. I eventually managed to make my 2012 WCA my last bout of ‘Russian Roulette’ procedures before 2018 retirement via appeal to DWP copying in my MP.

In closing I add that Tory Government’s response to the cost of the tribunal system [and appellant’s DWP-shaming success rate] has not been to reduce the pressures on the assessor companies to rule claimants ineligible,(1) but to attempt to remove the tribunal panel’s live access to the claimant. Specialist lawyer Steve Donnison has said of making the assessment entirely on the basis of ‘the papers presented’: “Appeal panels have to make a decision about the honesty and credibility of an appellant. It’s far easier for them to make this judgement if the claimant is in front of them answering their questions.”

This disadvantage is exacerbated by the fact, which advocates stress, that many claimants appealing a decision aren’t actually aware of the criteria for being eligible for benefits. “And when the appeal is by paper, the tribunal has no way of filling in the gaps in the evidence,” Donnison adds. “So they can’t make an award.”(2)

Alan Wheatley

Notes

    1. https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/wca-death-doctor-dwp-put-immense-pressure-on-atos-to-find-claimants-fit-for-work/
    2. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/12/online-benefits-appeals-tribunals-disabled