UK Parliament debate - 10 Years of the Work Capability Assesment 24 April 2019

[see thread (with petition) re-amalgamation of testing for both benefits]
https://www.s4me.info/threads/dont-merge-the-assessments-for-pip-and-esa-april-2019.9032/

full debate here:
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2019-04-24a.318.4&s=Myalgic+Encephalomyelitis#g324.0

 

Yes, and it's possible ME might not have appeared on their radar were it not for Carol Monaghan's recent parliamentary debates. Progress feeds progress .

 

To highlight the issue purely by coincidence this is on todays Liverpool Echo website about a man who was refused ESA after attending a WCA by getting a pass out of hospital. He has subsequently died.

Edit: He had to leave hospital to appeal the decision to refuse him ESA.
He won the appeal.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/stephen-smith-warning-doctors-dwp-16185418

 

Very sad.

 

Myself and @It's M.E. Linda have been in touch with our MP about ME since before the debate and were the source of his quote about it in this debate. 10 of the 11 people who turned up at out first ME friendship group meeting last year all reported being turned down for at least one benefit on their initial application. We made sure he knew about this!

 

Excellent! Well done .

 

Stephen Smith, and many other people who have died following ‘fit for work’ decisions, were mentioned by a lot of the MP’s speaking on Wednesday.

Alex Chalk was the only Tory we could see at the Westminster Hall Debate, apart from the Minister.

 

It's not the people that have died as a result of this, they're dead, there is no need to worry about them.

It's those that haven't died, yet, which is controversially many more people. People going through at the very least limbo, if not hellish misery, knowing how unfair the system is, seeing it's getting worse, and even worse, knowing it's deliberate, malicious and deliberate policy that is making them dread the post every morning, for years.

Is it any wonder that a lot don't want to go through it again, having done so several times in the past and knowing exactly what it's like, what it does to them, and are so 'primed' to do whatever is necessary not to have to endure it again.

This IS the intent of the current regime.

To make the whole process so 'unpleasant' that no on, literally no one, will endure it voluntarily.

Any Minister who tells you otherwise is bare faced lying - or is far too stupid and gullible to have the job.

Unfortunately for many, many people getting a job, and rewarding this demonic and sadistic behaviour of the political and media classes, is not an option.

Coz...well they is sick, innit.

 

It's about those still living, both people related to those who have died, and those who are at risk.

Only the living are affected by this.

It is, at least IMO, not about those who have died, as they are no longer subject to the WCA - how the system evolves or is politically abused is of no interest to them.

When you're dead you're dead, unless you're religious in which case things may be different, but even in that eventuality the WCA is unlikely to be high on your agenda.

 

Yes but people die because of austerity etc and the government is potentially (I add for legal reasons) culpable.

 

we wish those deemed culpable were actually prosecuted .never likely to happen which is why this tragedy will carry on . in my own wishes for a better world those responsible would face public trials and found guilty of their wilful choices to attack and do considerable harm to the sick and disabled would rightly face lengthy prison sentences and public vilification of their sociopathic desires to dehumanise and abuse us .

 

I feel roughly the same, apart from the lengthy prison sentences.

 

If only we could get to the WCA! My daughter's claim has been closed three times now because she's 17, even though she meets the eligibility for under 18 claimants. I asked my MP, Steve Brine no less, to intervene after the second time, and he was told by the DWP that she was entitled in her circumstances and to apply again.

The third claim has now been closed on the basis that she's not eligible, and so I've asked Steve to contact Amber Rudd to get this resolved. Each time, my daughter has had to drag herself to the Job centre to provide ID and then the follow up appointment gets cancelled. It's been a complete waste of her time and energy. I can't begin to imagine what the WCA is going to be like, even though we managed to get through the PIP assessment relatively unscathed!

 

Going slightly off topic, I had hoped that Steve Brine would turn into a supporter of ME, once he took his ministerial hat off! He certainly knows a lot about the subject, having sat through the two latter debates. He also proved helpful by catching Darren Jones MP, immediately after the HoC debate, and providing some helpful suggestions. (@EspeMor , please note SB is helping with this case).

Keep him “on side” @chicaguapa, we’ll get him offering his support to CM next!!

Good luck with application #4, you really need a senior caseworker in charge of the application, who actually understands how the UC system works. Make sure they backdate the benefit to the date of the original claim too