UK: Disability benefits (UC, ESA and PIP) - news and updates 2023 (including government plans to scrap the work capability assessment)

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I'm a bit unclear about this too. I'd been on C-ESA, but at the next claim was switched to income-related ESA. This was based on one tax year, the only year out of 38 when I didn't make full NI contributions through full-time work. It's still the basis of my award now.

(I'm not complaining, by the way—it later became clear that I couldn't continue my on/off part time work, so being switched onto income-based ESA was better because of the automatic passporting.)
 
So you made more than one claim @Kitty? with a period of work in between? you're not talking about being switched at a review/reassessment?

I went from full time work since leaving school & then onto Incapacity benefit & then 'transferred' to ESA (CB) support group, in 2012, with a reassessment in 2014 & 2016, but in 2018, 2020 & 2022 it was 'deferred'. I wasnt told of this but at the end of the month the reassessment was due each time, we rang to find out whether the ESA50 form had been sent or not, only to be told the date it was due for assessment had (wonderfully, miraculously seeming) just gone forward by 2 yrs. Hallelujah!
 
JemPD said:
So you made more than one claim @Kitty? with a period of work in between? you're not talking about being switched at a review/reassessment?

I went from full time work since leaving school & then onto Incapacity benefit & then 'transferred' to ESA (CB) support group, in 2012, with a reassessment in 2014 & 2016, but in 2018, 2020 & 2022 it was 'deferred'. I wasnt told of this but at the end of the month the reassessment was due each time, we rang to find out whether the ESA50 form had been sent or not, only to be told the date it was due for assessment had (wonderfully, miraculously seeming) just gone forward by 2 yrs. Hallelujah!
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I've not had a reassessment (ESA50) sent to me since I was given the indefinite (with 10 year 1ight touch review) enhanced PIP award in 2015/16 and short1y after this, transferred from the 1imited capacity for work to the support group (they'd had my comp1eted ESA 50 renewa1for about 8 months at the time). I got transferred without a face to face WCA, so they must have used my PIP outcome for the ESA decision. I'd assume they've been doing paper based '1ight touch' assessments for me since then, but I've never made any enquiries to confirm this.
 
Simbindi said:
I've not had a reassessment (ESA50) sent to me since I was given the indefinite (with 10 year 1ight touch review) enhanced PIP award in 2015/16 and short1y after this, transferred from the 1imited capacity for work to the support group (they'd had my comp1eted ESA 50 renewa1for about 8 months at the time). I got transferred without a face to face WCA, so they must have used my PIP outcome for the ESA decision. I'd assume they've been doing paper based '1ight touch' assessments for me since then, but I've never made any enquiries to confirm this.
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Actua11y, I have mis-remembered this. I got transferred into the support group after my first, time-1imited but enhanced care and mobi1ity award for PIP in 2013. At the time I'd been in the WRA group for about 2 years. I'd app1ied for Disabi1ity 1iving a11owance after my initia1 ESA award and got zero points without any medica1, presumab1y based on the ESA outcome (where I'd scored 30 points, but not the highest 1eve1 in mobi1ity so no 15 points in a sing1e criteria).

At that time the difference in financia1 support between the 2 ESA groups was minima1, about £5 a week. The Job Centre seemed to recognise how i11 I was, I on1y had in person 'work support' reviews about twice over 18 months and then one te1ephone review during which I broke down and was to1d I wou1dn't need to speak to them again for another 6 months. By then I'd been awarded the PIP and transferred to the support group, so have never had any contact with the Job Centre since 2013.

So it's about 10 years since I had an ESA 50 form sent to me. I'd assumed that was because on my first PIP review in 2015/16 I was given the maximum 1ength award, which stated no end date and the 10 year 1ight touch review.

I missed being put in the support group after my initia1 WCA in 2011 because it was deemed I cou1d mobi1ise 100 metres based on the assessor seeing me wa1k (more shuff1e) 10 metres from the waiting area to the assessment room (which was on ground 1eve1). That was in the ear1y days of ESA, before the 're1iab1y and repeated1y' criteria was inserted into the primary 1egis1ation. The assessor's decision about my mobi1ity in the ESA WCA was obvious1y used to deny me disabi1ity 1iving a11owance. I was just too i11 to appea1 the decision at the time.
 
I 1istened to the budget, the white paper doesn't yet appear to have been pub1ished.

It was confirmed the WCA is to be abo1ished.

But JH a1so made a mention that they wanted to separate out of work benefit support from disabi1ity benefit support. He a1so made a statement that because there is 7 mi11ion 'economica11y inactive' working age peop1e (exc1uding students) then that meant there are 7 peop1e avai1ab1e from this group for every vacancy (current1y 1 mi11ion in the UK). So his imp1ication is that every economica11y inactive person (which inc1udes carers, sick and disab1ed, ear1y retirees, parents of young chi1dren etc.) shou1d be avai1ab1e for work. So it does 1ook 1ike they want to abo1ish additiona1 financia1 support for i11 hea1th and disab1ed c1aimaints from their out of work benefit (presumab1y just 1eaving PIP for this). It's very worrying.

It's especia11y worrying because at the same time he has announced the DWP are going to increase the sanctions regime.
 
Simbindi said:
It's hard to avoid being po1itica1, but I have to hope that this won't come to pass because their wi11 be a change of government in 2 years time...
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I get the impression that rationalising the ESA and PIP processes is DWP policy and will happen anyway, although the aggression with which entitlement is assessed is definitely a political choice, and all the smart money says that this choice will be Reeve’s rather than Hunt”s by the time it takes effect.
 
Remove the existing Universal Credit limited capability for work and work-related activity
(LCWRA) element and replace it with a new Universal Credit health element. This means that
there will be no need to be found to have limited capability for work and limited capability to
prepare for work to get additional income-related support for adisability or health condition.
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We know that receiving employment support alongside psychological therapy led to improved mental health for clients who were out of work or off sick when they entered therapy. Based on positive evaluation from large-scale testing of this scheme, we are in the process of extending the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies services (previously known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) to all NHS Talking Therapies services across England. Full roll-out will be achieved by 1 April 2024. Over 200,000 people will start Employment Support in NHS Talking Therapies sites over the Spending Review period, of which 100,000 will start employment support per year from and including 2024/25.9 10
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People-focused Employment and Health Discussions

What you told us
• Professionals carrying out an Employment and Health Discussion (EHD) should receive training covering complex disabilities and support available in the workplace.
• The EHD should not include the use of conditionality.
• The EHD should address the needs of the whole person, with people supported to set their own objectives which could relate directly to their ability to work or something else.
• There should be an agreement between the person and their advisor on how support can be tailored to their needs.
What we are proposing
104. The EHD is not an assessment and does not impact conditionality or gather information for the WCA. It is a discussion with a person about their health situation, any barriers it presents in moving towards work, and how to help overcome these barriers. Because of this, it is not necessary for the healthcare professional carrying out an EHD to be an expert on complex disabilities. However, they will have an understanding of how health conditions impact day to day life.
105. The EHD will be an holistic discussion and take a biopsychosocial approach where health, personal, occupational and societal factors affecting the person will be considered. People will work with the healthcare professional to set objectives, but these will not be imposed on them.
106. We started the EHD test in May 2022 with Leeds Health Model Office. This initial test is small scale. It will assess how well the EHD works and provide insight into people’s experiences. The test will give us an understanding of how best to deliver the policy and what aspects of the support are most useful to people.
107. Dependent on the findings we may then scale up to a wider test which will enable us to carry out a larger scale evaluation including gathering evidence on outcomes associated with the EHD.
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Removing the WCA will reduce the number of assessments people claiming both PIP and UC need to take to access their benefits and enable us to provide more personalised levels of support in a new system. We want to introduce a more tailored approach, to allow Work Coaches to build a relationship with an individual and determine what, if any, work-related activities an individual can participate in.
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So effective1y by removing the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) criteria, they wi11 treat a11 sick and disab1ed c1aimants as if they are in the current WRA group, with the Work Coach determining what the c1aimant has to do to avoid any sanctions. So that's effective1y putting the most sick and vu1nerab1e at the mercy of a non medica11y trained Job Centre Work Coach. I've experienced this when I was in the WRA group back in 20011-13. I am sti11 very traumatised by that experience. There wi11 be no automatic protection from benefit sanctions.

I was constant1y being 'encouraged' to participate in things I cou1dn't do. The work coach cou1dn't accept I was too i11 to 'try some gardening' etc. I had me1tdowns during these meetings (I hadn't had my autism diagnosed at the time). On top of that, the work coach said he cou1dn't take into account my medica1 issues as he wasn't medica11y qua1ified! So in my second in person meeting I took in a massive A4 fo1der of my medica1 records and suggested he read it before stating I shou1d be trying to do any activity. It did effective1y shut him up and made him agree to nothing more than 'possib1y attempt' a minima1 activity.

Are the government rea11y suggesting that they are going to throw over 2 mi11ion very sick and disab1ed peop1e into this process?
 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-budget-2023-factsheet-disability-white-paper
How will the new Universal Credit health element work?
  • The new UC health element will be awarded to people who are receiving the UC standard allowance and any PIP element. In effect PIP will therefore act as a passporting benefit for this new UC health element.
  • We will set the award rate of the new UC health element at the same level as is currently awarded to those people determined to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA).
  • This will abolish the need to be found to have limited capability for work to access additional means-tested support and remove this barrier to work. We will therefore get rid of the categories “limited capability for work and work related activity” and “limited capability for work”.
  • Any LCWRA recipients that move to the new system who do not receive PIP will receive transitional cash protection so no one experiences financial loss at the point at which the reform is enacted.
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https://www.homecare.co.uk/advice/esa-support-group-eligibility-and-rates#:~:text=While your claim is being,if you are over 25

Current levels of weekly payment to those on ESA:

Work-related group rate:
Up to £77 per week

ESA Support Group rate:
Up to £117.60 per week
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Given that the work capability assessment was used to decide whether people were put in the work related or support group, I can't see what happens now to people in the support group. Does it mean they drop to the work related group level of benefit?
 
Trish said:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-budget-2023-factsheet-disability-white-paper

https://www.homecare.co.uk/advice/esa-support-group-eligibility-and-rates#:~:text=While your claim is being,if you are over 25



Given that the work capability assessment was used to decide whether people were put in the work related or support group, I can't see what happens now to people in the support group. Does it mean they drop to the work related group level of benefit?
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If on PIP, they wi11 be given the new monetary additiona1 e1ement. If not, at a minimum they wi11 get 'transitiona1 protection'. However, what is rea11y worrying is that there appears no automatic protection from being subject to Work Coaches and sanctions.
 
Amongst all the new speak, there are a few things that might not be dreadful:

Introducing the Severe Disability Group
What you told us
  • People welcomed the proposal for a Severe Disability Group (SDG) as it addresses concerns about the stress and anxiety experienced by people with severe health conditions and disabilities going through the assessment process.
  • More information is needed on the criteria and how this might impact on other groups and awards.
What we are proposing
127. Since the Green Paper we have made progress with our plans to test the SDG, so this group can benefit from a simplified process without ever needing to complete a detailed application form or go through an assessment. We have worked with an expert group of specialist health professionals to draw up a set of draft criteria which focuses on claimants who have conditions which are severely disabling, lifelong and with no realistic prospect of recovery. These criteria were shared with several charities and their feedback was used to further develop our draft criteria, which we are now testing. We will share further details as we go through testing.

128. A test of the SDG began in Autumn 2022. This policy will be tested on a small scale across a range of health conditions. We will then gather insight from service users, DWP staff and organisations to make sure it works as intended to improve the assessment process for claimants with the most severe disabilities and health conditions.
 
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