Today marks the day when the government's scheme to transfer all existing Incapacity Benefit claimants onto Employment and Support Allowance begins.
One and half million people will get their letters calling them into Atos offices for the Work Capability Assessment - the test designed to assess whether someone is genuinely in need of support or if they are fit for work.
Employment Minister Chris Grayling has said that genuine claimants have nothing to fear, that the only people who need to worry are the fakers who just prefer a life on benefits to one of work.
He's wrong. The fakers have nothing to fear; they have options. They are able to go out and work or comply with the regulations to claim Jobseekers Allowance. It's the genuine who are afraid because they have no options. If they could work they would do. No-one wants to be ill. No-one puts up with the 'scrounger' label or the suspicious looks if they don't have to.
Everyone who claims any of the disability benefits know about the WCA. Those on IB or in the work related activity group of ESA have been terrified of it for months. And rightly so - it's a terrible assessment that even the government's own advisory board as well as the man who designed it, have said is not fit for purpose.
They've heard the stories about those who've been denied benefit despite their illnesses. They've read the story of Paul Reekie, who committed suicide when his benefits were stopped.
Now they wait to see how their own claims will turn out.
I've been through two WCAs myself. The first was when I came down with my symptoms of MS, though I didn't have a formal diagnosis at that point. I was summoned to the Atos centre, waiting for what seemed an interminable amount of time, then was called in to see the doctor.
I was scared to start with and my fears were not allayed by he fact that I couldn't understand a word of what the doctor - from Eastern Europe - was saying. Nor could she understand me. She put me through a series of tests, none of which I could do, then sent me on way. The whole thing took maybe 15 minutes at most.
The following week I received the report she had sent to the DWP. I was shocked at what she had written - it was lies from top to bottom. Every test she had done she'd put me as passed even though I hadn't. She had omitted things I had told her and gone against everything that had happened in that room.
In short, she said there was nothing wrong with me.
This was despite being barely able to walk, being unable to feel my pelvic muscles which led to lots of bathroom visits and being so tired I could barely think straight. I couldn't bend down, I couldn't kneel down, I certainly couldn't touch my toes.
I sent the form, along with detailed rebuttals of everything that was wrong, off to the DWP. The following day I received a letter saying I wasn't entitled to benefits because I was fit for work. I then had to ring them up and tell them I'd appealed at which point they said my benefit would be continued until the appeal was heard. I was on tenterhooks, worrying over what would happen about it, if they would listen to me or uphold the Atos doctor's decision.
The next letter I received was one telling me the appeal had been successful and my benefit would continue. I can't tell you how relieved I was.
Last year I underwent the WCA again when I left hospital following my formal diagnosis with MS.
I received a letter from Atos telling me to call and make an appointment - if I didn't, one would be made for me. So I rang and spoke to a very bored and slightly dismissive man who gave me an appointment who gave me an appointment for a date that they decided.
When I arrived, I was shown into the waiting room by a security guard, and greeted by a receptionist who looked at me like I was something foul on the bottom of her shoe.
I waited for about half an hour, all the while getting more and more uncomfortable as I felt the judging stares coming from the staff. If anything is designed to put you off it's that. So far, it was worse than my previous experience.
When I was finally called in I met a very nice lady doctor who seemed to understand about MS. She didn't attempt to make me do anything she knew I couldn't and was very reassuring. Very different from the first assessment so I had hopes that it would be ok.
Well, she didn't lie. But that's about it. Despite having shown some knowledge of MS she placed me in the work related activity group, meaning that with the right support I could work.
Because of course the right support will mean that I no longer struggle to get dressed in the mornings. Or take a shower. Or cook meals. Or walk anywhere. Or need to rest after putting a load of washing on. Or want to cry when the pain in my head gets too bad. And it will get better because of course MS is curable.
I didn't have the strength or the energy to try and appeal though. Not to mention I was scared that they might stop it completely. So I left it as it was. I see an advisor every few weeks, meaning a taxi journey to the jobcentre where I wince with pain as I struggle with the sensory overload of neon lights and too many people.
And in the summer I get to go through it all over again.
Now then Mr Grayling, are you still going to tell me I have nothing to worry about?
Cross posted at Where's the Benefit?
Source
Showing posts with label ESA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ESA. Show all posts
Monday, 4 April 2011
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Some common sense
Today's news brings with it this little tidbit - Jobless figures rose by 27,000 in the three months to the end of January, bringing the total number of unemployed to 2.53 million people. That's a shocking amount.
The Jobcentre in my home town is open just one day a week. That's despite it having a huge unemployment problem.
Jobcentres aren't just there for people to sign on. They advertise local, and national, vacancies which anyone, employed or not, can view. They serve as places for people to get help and advice. Or at least they are supposed to.
But they're being treated as factories, for pushing people from one end to another as quickly as possible. And now their staff numbers are being cut.
The unemployed are treated as goods on a conveyor belt. Or worse, they are treated like criminals. No-one asks to lose their job, for their firm to go bust, or for them to become ill. So why the criminal treatment?
I honestly don't think this government realises what being unemployed is like. The worthless feeling when you are unable to provide for yourself and your family, that gets worse with every rejection. The humiliation of having to queue in the Jobcentre to sign on for your benefits and prove that you've applied for a certain number of jobs.
And if you have the audacity to become sick then you face the humiliation of claiming ESA. I say humiliation because you're treated as if you're faking your illness from the start. The Work Capability Assessment, carried out by unqualified, non specialist assessors, is designed to prove you can work, not to confirm that you can't.
And because of it's failings, hundreds of thousands of people are about to be pushed onto Jobseekers, to join the rest of the 'goods' on the conveyor belt.
Atos gets paid £300 million for this. That's in addition to the £500 million it's already been paid for it's current services.
And let's not forget the much lauded (by the ConDems) Work Programme. Private companies can bid for government contracts to help the unemployed back to work. At a cost of anywhere up to £2 billion a year, according to the Financial Times
With the number of Jobcentre staff now being cut, the system will get worse. I'm no economist or politician but it seems to me to be crazy to payout millions to private firms whilst cutting the number of Jobcentre staff.
So here's an idea - stop paying the private firms. Stop sacking the JC staff. Recruit more of them and train them properly. Have them take on a case load of certain amount of claimants that they work with - from the initial signing, to the 2 weekly appointment, to jobseeking. Have them get to know their clients. So they can help them better and stop the culture of treating everyone as a commodity to be got through.
Stop paying Atos. Instead of subjecting every claimant to a WCA, work with their consultants.
That way you stop wasting millions, or even billions, you take more off benefits, and you stop vulnerable people from being treated like cattle. When people start being treated as humans again they are more likely to accept help, to trust their advisers and their confidence is boosted. All of this helps them to look for work.
And the disabled and sick stop living in fear. They stop thinking that taking their own lives is the only way out. They gain back that scrap of dignity that it left to them.
All of this is common sense surely?
The Jobcentre in my home town is open just one day a week. That's despite it having a huge unemployment problem.
Jobcentres aren't just there for people to sign on. They advertise local, and national, vacancies which anyone, employed or not, can view. They serve as places for people to get help and advice. Or at least they are supposed to.
But they're being treated as factories, for pushing people from one end to another as quickly as possible. And now their staff numbers are being cut.
The unemployed are treated as goods on a conveyor belt. Or worse, they are treated like criminals. No-one asks to lose their job, for their firm to go bust, or for them to become ill. So why the criminal treatment?
I honestly don't think this government realises what being unemployed is like. The worthless feeling when you are unable to provide for yourself and your family, that gets worse with every rejection. The humiliation of having to queue in the Jobcentre to sign on for your benefits and prove that you've applied for a certain number of jobs.
And if you have the audacity to become sick then you face the humiliation of claiming ESA. I say humiliation because you're treated as if you're faking your illness from the start. The Work Capability Assessment, carried out by unqualified, non specialist assessors, is designed to prove you can work, not to confirm that you can't.
And because of it's failings, hundreds of thousands of people are about to be pushed onto Jobseekers, to join the rest of the 'goods' on the conveyor belt.
Atos gets paid £300 million for this. That's in addition to the £500 million it's already been paid for it's current services.
And let's not forget the much lauded (by the ConDems) Work Programme. Private companies can bid for government contracts to help the unemployed back to work. At a cost of anywhere up to £2 billion a year, according to the Financial Times
With the number of Jobcentre staff now being cut, the system will get worse. I'm no economist or politician but it seems to me to be crazy to payout millions to private firms whilst cutting the number of Jobcentre staff.
So here's an idea - stop paying the private firms. Stop sacking the JC staff. Recruit more of them and train them properly. Have them take on a case load of certain amount of claimants that they work with - from the initial signing, to the 2 weekly appointment, to jobseeking. Have them get to know their clients. So they can help them better and stop the culture of treating everyone as a commodity to be got through.
Stop paying Atos. Instead of subjecting every claimant to a WCA, work with their consultants.
That way you stop wasting millions, or even billions, you take more off benefits, and you stop vulnerable people from being treated like cattle. When people start being treated as humans again they are more likely to accept help, to trust their advisers and their confidence is boosted. All of this helps them to look for work.
And the disabled and sick stop living in fear. They stop thinking that taking their own lives is the only way out. They gain back that scrap of dignity that it left to them.
All of this is common sense surely?
Friday, 22 October 2010
Jobless figures
Osborne's cuts will leave around 750,000 people unemployed. At the same time he is cutting welfare benefits and planning to move around 200,000 people claiming ESA onto Jobseeker's Allowance.
So let's see: jobs down by 750,000. 750,000 plus an additonal 200,000 forced to look for work = 950,000 people looking for jobs.
Is it just me or does this just not add up? Where are these jobs going to come from? The 'coalition' expects the private sector to fill the gap left by the losses in the public sector. 750,000 of them? And we thought they had no sense of humour.
And meanwhile the root of the problem, the bankers, reap their rewards and ignore the rest of us.
Source
So let's see: jobs down by 750,000. 750,000 plus an additonal 200,000 forced to look for work = 950,000 people looking for jobs.
Is it just me or does this just not add up? Where are these jobs going to come from? The 'coalition' expects the private sector to fill the gap left by the losses in the public sector. 750,000 of them? And we thought they had no sense of humour.
And meanwhile the root of the problem, the bankers, reap their rewards and ignore the rest of us.
Source
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Disability Awareness
In response to the proposed new testing for DLA and ESA, I felt compelled to write this post. I wrote it on my facebook account but since this blog has been created it seems perfect as a place to start.
I am a thirty four year old woman who has MS. I was diagnosed in January after being hospitalised because my symptoms were so bad I couldn't cope any longer. I had to suspend my studies at university - in the hope that I would be able to return in September - and claim for Employment and Support Allowance. I also had to claim for Disability Living Allowance.
Anyone who has ever claimed these benefits will know how hard it is.
For ESA I had to go through a 45 minute phone call to a call centre, at the end of which I was stressed, humiliated and exhausted. And that was only the beginning.
I was then told that I wasn't entitled to it because I was still a student. I had a letter from the university which stated that I was no longer considered a student, that I wasn't entitled to use their facilities and I was no longer exempt from Council tax.
This wasn't good enough. So in effect, for one government branch I was a student, for another I was not. How do they figure that one? And why are they allowed to get away with it?
I appealed against the decision. They upheld their original one. I appealed again. By this time it was April.
Then I had another relapse. A bad one. So bad that I could barely get out of bed. I didn't want to eat, I couldn't bear noise or light, I couldn't even talk on the phone. When I did get up I had to go back to bed a few hours later. If I made it past 7 pm that was a victory. My head felt like it was being constantly assaulted and I was in so much pain I spent all day in tears. I wondered every day how much more of it I could take.
And I couldn't even cope with opening the post.
So I missed the medical assessment I was supposed to attend.
Two months later when I had recovered enough to open the post, I rang the Jobcentre and told them what had happened, and asked what I could do. The woman I spoke to was very unhelpful and said I should write a letter and tell them what was wrong with me so it could go on the file for the next time I claimed. And she had the audacity to assume I was suffering from stress or anxiety.
By this time I had had to drop out of uni completely as I couldn't tell them if I would be well enough to return in September. (As it turned out I wasn't)
And I faced the whole battle of applying for benefit all over again.
This time they were satisfied that I was no longer a student and processed my claim, dependent on passing the medical assessment. I don't know if you've ever been to one of these but they are awful experiences.
Even if you can barely walk and never leave the house you still have to go. I had to take my son with me to lean on as support.
The doctors don't know much about MS and I couldn't show them because it's an invisible disease. There are no scars, plaster casts or broken bones to show them.
So I was shaking with fear from the moment I got the appointment till the day the result came through. Why? Because someone who knows nothing about me or the disease was about to decide whether I was fit enough to return to work. I knew I wasn't, my neurologist knew I wasn't and so did my nurse, my GP, my physiotherapist and my occupational therapist. But their opinions mean nothing to the Jobcentre. After all, what do they know? They are only specially trained medical professionals.
I was lucky, I passed and was finally awarded ESA in May. It had only taken 5 months. I was placed in the 'potential to work' category which had me shaking with fear again. Was I going to be forced into jobhunting before I had recovered?
Again I was lucky, my advisor at the Jobcentre knows what the situation and assured me I wouldn't be forced into anything before I was ready.
I still can't help worrying though.
As for DLA, what a minefield. The form is 48 pages long. It took months to fill in. Or rather, it took my friedn months to fill in since I couldn't hold a pen. It's invasive, humiliating, exhausting and emotionally draining. How would you like to specify every single thing that's wrong with you, from your walking ability to your bodily functions? The only thing they don't ask is what your shoe size is.
I half expect that next time I have to claim. Because yes, despite the fact that my condition is progressive, the DLA, once finally awarded, lasts only for 2 years. Then I will have to do it all over again.
But at least it was all over.
Except it's not over. I now live in fear of it all being taken away. Because our 'coalition' government - and I say that in quote marks because it's less a coalition than a takeover of the Lib Dems by the Tories - have decided to cut the welfare bill by focusing on ESA.
There are too many cheats out there they say.
Despite the figures which go against this, and despite all the evidence that these benefits are so hard to claim that there can be very few people who slip through the net, the Government are determined to punish me and others like me.
They announced a new medical test would be necessary to claim DLA. As if it weren't already hard enough. The sheer stress of it is enough to put many genuine claimants off. I would have been one of them if I hadn't had a friend who'd been through the process with her ex husband and was able to help me with it.
People with MS, along with those suffering mental illnesses, will be among those groups who suffer most. Simply because you can't see what is wrong with us. And if you can't see it, it isn't there right?
I now live with the fear that I will end up with my benefits cut and nothing to live on because the Government is insistent on punishing those who are most vulnerable. And then what will I do? If I push myself too hard I make my condition worse. Can you say rock and hard place?
I want everyone to be aware of this, because disabled people are forever overlooked. Their issues are somehow never as important. And the Government continues to punish us. It isn't fair, it isn't right and it shouldn't be allowed to happen. They have to make cuts yes, but not by penalising some of society's most vulnerable people.
I am a thirty four year old woman who has MS. I was diagnosed in January after being hospitalised because my symptoms were so bad I couldn't cope any longer. I had to suspend my studies at university - in the hope that I would be able to return in September - and claim for Employment and Support Allowance. I also had to claim for Disability Living Allowance.
Anyone who has ever claimed these benefits will know how hard it is.
For ESA I had to go through a 45 minute phone call to a call centre, at the end of which I was stressed, humiliated and exhausted. And that was only the beginning.
I was then told that I wasn't entitled to it because I was still a student. I had a letter from the university which stated that I was no longer considered a student, that I wasn't entitled to use their facilities and I was no longer exempt from Council tax.
This wasn't good enough. So in effect, for one government branch I was a student, for another I was not. How do they figure that one? And why are they allowed to get away with it?
I appealed against the decision. They upheld their original one. I appealed again. By this time it was April.
Then I had another relapse. A bad one. So bad that I could barely get out of bed. I didn't want to eat, I couldn't bear noise or light, I couldn't even talk on the phone. When I did get up I had to go back to bed a few hours later. If I made it past 7 pm that was a victory. My head felt like it was being constantly assaulted and I was in so much pain I spent all day in tears. I wondered every day how much more of it I could take.
And I couldn't even cope with opening the post.
So I missed the medical assessment I was supposed to attend.
Two months later when I had recovered enough to open the post, I rang the Jobcentre and told them what had happened, and asked what I could do. The woman I spoke to was very unhelpful and said I should write a letter and tell them what was wrong with me so it could go on the file for the next time I claimed. And she had the audacity to assume I was suffering from stress or anxiety.
By this time I had had to drop out of uni completely as I couldn't tell them if I would be well enough to return in September. (As it turned out I wasn't)
And I faced the whole battle of applying for benefit all over again.
This time they were satisfied that I was no longer a student and processed my claim, dependent on passing the medical assessment. I don't know if you've ever been to one of these but they are awful experiences.
Even if you can barely walk and never leave the house you still have to go. I had to take my son with me to lean on as support.
The doctors don't know much about MS and I couldn't show them because it's an invisible disease. There are no scars, plaster casts or broken bones to show them.
So I was shaking with fear from the moment I got the appointment till the day the result came through. Why? Because someone who knows nothing about me or the disease was about to decide whether I was fit enough to return to work. I knew I wasn't, my neurologist knew I wasn't and so did my nurse, my GP, my physiotherapist and my occupational therapist. But their opinions mean nothing to the Jobcentre. After all, what do they know? They are only specially trained medical professionals.
I was lucky, I passed and was finally awarded ESA in May. It had only taken 5 months. I was placed in the 'potential to work' category which had me shaking with fear again. Was I going to be forced into jobhunting before I had recovered?
Again I was lucky, my advisor at the Jobcentre knows what the situation and assured me I wouldn't be forced into anything before I was ready.
I still can't help worrying though.
As for DLA, what a minefield. The form is 48 pages long. It took months to fill in. Or rather, it took my friedn months to fill in since I couldn't hold a pen. It's invasive, humiliating, exhausting and emotionally draining. How would you like to specify every single thing that's wrong with you, from your walking ability to your bodily functions? The only thing they don't ask is what your shoe size is.
I half expect that next time I have to claim. Because yes, despite the fact that my condition is progressive, the DLA, once finally awarded, lasts only for 2 years. Then I will have to do it all over again.
But at least it was all over.
Except it's not over. I now live in fear of it all being taken away. Because our 'coalition' government - and I say that in quote marks because it's less a coalition than a takeover of the Lib Dems by the Tories - have decided to cut the welfare bill by focusing on ESA.
There are too many cheats out there they say.
Despite the figures which go against this, and despite all the evidence that these benefits are so hard to claim that there can be very few people who slip through the net, the Government are determined to punish me and others like me.
They announced a new medical test would be necessary to claim DLA. As if it weren't already hard enough. The sheer stress of it is enough to put many genuine claimants off. I would have been one of them if I hadn't had a friend who'd been through the process with her ex husband and was able to help me with it.
People with MS, along with those suffering mental illnesses, will be among those groups who suffer most. Simply because you can't see what is wrong with us. And if you can't see it, it isn't there right?
I now live with the fear that I will end up with my benefits cut and nothing to live on because the Government is insistent on punishing those who are most vulnerable. And then what will I do? If I push myself too hard I make my condition worse. Can you say rock and hard place?
I want everyone to be aware of this, because disabled people are forever overlooked. Their issues are somehow never as important. And the Government continues to punish us. It isn't fair, it isn't right and it shouldn't be allowed to happen. They have to make cuts yes, but not by penalising some of society's most vulnerable people.
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