Posted: Thursday 29 April 2010
Last week the Conservative party published its new welfare contract, which sets out their plans to deal with worklessness. Under the mantra of “ending the free ride for those who fail to take responsibility”, the Conservatives promise more support for those who need it, but far stronger sanctions for those who abuse it. The Labour party has made remarkably similar pledges in its own manifesto, while the Liberal Democrats have so far been fairly quiet on welfare.
I find it strange that this topic, which is of such importance to millions of people, barely got a look-in in the national press last week. The election coverage has been dominated by talk of the national deficit, the recession, and unemployment levels, yet the flip side of this – benefits and welfare – have been largely ignored.
Why? Well, I don’t know, but my fear is that it’s because there is already a sense of agreement on this issue: politicians and journalists across the spectrum are united in the belief that it’s time to “get tough on benefit scroungers”. And where there is consensus, there is no need for debate.
Except that there isn’t consensus. Mind, for one, doesn’t think it’s so straight forward, and we know from our work with the Disability Benefits Consortium that many other health charities share our concerns about this worryingly distorted view of benefit claimants. Over 40 per cent of incapacity benefit claimants are unable to work because of mental health problems. The belief that this group of people should simply ‘pull its socks up and stop scrounging off the state’ is dangerously ill informed.
The fact is, many people with mental health problems do wish to return to work, but need a good deal of support to do so - support that is rarely offered. It seems grossly unfair to use sanctions and benefit cuts to push people into employment before they are ready, and without any of the necessary support. Add to that the current shortage of jobs, as well as employers' discriminatory attitudes to people with mental health problems, and you have an uphill struggle all the way.
Both Labour and the Conservatives want to get tough by reassessing all incapacity benefit claimants, using the Work Capability Assessment (we don’t know the Lib Dem plans yet). Those who are deemed ‘fit for work’ will be moved onto Jobseekers Allowance, which provides less support, less money and more sanctions. But given that charities including Mind have questioned the efficacy of that test for nearly two years, this seems a little premature to say the least.
So the nightmare scenario is this: agencies that are inclined to be sceptical of claimants will reassess their benefit needs, using a dodgy test, and then send them out to find jobs that don’t exist, without adequate support. It’s not ideal.
Welfare reform is a complicated and emotive issue, and one that deserves far more attention than it has so far received. Be sure to do your bit before May 6th and raise it in any way you can.
Louise Kirsh, Parliamentary Officer
The thing is, nearly all IB claimants (and ESA claimants) are reassessed periodically already and have been for decades. This constant re-announcing of the same thing is just about looking tough but, more damagingly, gives the wrong impression that benefits claimants have had it easy until now.
The work capability assessment was redesigned recently, I think it makes it tougher on mentally ill claimants, however there has been quite advanced talk about restricting it further. This initiative is likely to survive the election whatever the result because all politicians like to look tough on 'scroungers' and, usefully, most don't have the political clout to fight back.
We're easy targets - all I can say is this - watch the readmission and suicide rates go up - because they will. Tories and New Tories will do this no matter what charities say, they don't give a damn.
'Fit for work' has it's origins in the Holocaust. 'Mentally ill', physically disabled and people with learning disabilities were selected for the initial gassing pilots before the camps murdered the Jews partly on the basis of who was 'fit for work'. Frankly the political hatred of us feels similar, if we die or live in poverty they don't care because they will save some money and that's all that matters.
Privately people on IB speak of how will they probably kill themselves if the medical fails them, they don't do this with any media fanfare and they MEAN it.
Perhaps resulting suicide notes should be sent to no 10, the BBC and charities so that way those deaths will count for something and can be collated to form the welfare death statistics.
Only then will policy and tests be reviewed.
This scares me. My husband has dementia but is only 40 years old. Like other illnesses he looks well. He can hold a conversation and it is obvious. But like others, it cannot be ignored. I would find it difficult if they insist my husband had to work and removed his benefits. That would mean I would have to work longer to make up missing benefits and he would then get less care. I would also then be comprimising my children and spending less time with them.
Let's hope these politicians are sensible. There will always be people who abuse the sytem, but let's not hope that genuine people are not punished.
This is the problem isn't it, no matter how people's views differ on tax credits, bank bonuses and the EU, it seems to be a consensus that those pesky incapacity benefit claimants be made to buck their ideas up and get back to work. When questioned face to face, the average voter would probably declare "oh but it's only the *fraudulent* claimants we should force back to work", a sentiment I wouldn't be far off agreeing with. However the 'guilty until proven innocent' mindset has taken over, meaning all benefit claimants are easy scapegoats.
It's quite a horrible feeling knowing the whole country hates you. It's even worse knowing they only hate you because they've been misinformed and merrily invited to jump on the anti-benefit bandwagon at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in the country.
I'm grateful for this blog post to allow people to speak up anonymously without fear. I've lost count of the amount of times I've tried to explain the predicament of an IB claimant in various online fora, only to be met with "but you can use a computer, go and get a job you lazy scrounger". However people don't realise what goes on behind the computer screen. That person could have been up all night troubled by flashbacks or voices; they could be sitting there trying to distract from the need to self harm or be getting their head together after such an occasion; they could be on-screen coming across as calm and coherent, yet the reality they're trying to get precious respite from could be unbearable. But people assume that if you can sit in a chair and watch a screen, you can work a 40-hour week cleaning toilets (let's not forget anyone coming off benefits going into work couldn't possibly be qualified for anything other than cleaning or supermarket work...)
How anyone can entertain the idea of trying to force people unable to work into unsuitable jobs is beyond me. All you hear is "we will support them back into work..." what support?! Leaving aside the fact that there are no jobs available anywhere right now, what exactly is the support being given here? People being herded into private employment agencies where staff have targets to meet to get their weekly commission ("you got 35 people into interviews last week, reckon you can do 40 this week? If you push them really hard you'll achieve it") is hardly supportive and uses the same hard-sell approach as is employed in double glazing showrooms. So what happens? Someone is pushed to attend an interview for a job for which they are unsuitable, they can't cope with 40 hours a week so get ill and have to leave and try to claim sickness benefit all over again, by which time they could have lost all their long-term premiums, age additions etc just because someone wanted to look good in the election campaign and get the sickness figures down. How much money will all these relapses cost? How much more cost efficient to allow sick and disabled people to undertake whatever voluntary work they want without risking losing any of their benefits. It's oft-quoted that working is good for mental health, and many people want to do a small amount of flexible work with the security of a regular income and without the pressuring routine of a full-time job. It would be cost-effective both for the economy as a whole and emotionally for the individuals. However no-one seems willing to put anything like this into action, it's all-or-nothing and then claimants are viewed to be digging their heels in and refusing to work.
And what's at the centre of all this? The dreaded Personal Capability Assessment (or equivalent, depending on which benefit you're looking at). A test which people have nightmares over even if they're not due for it for the next 18 months. A test which is always being targeted to "solve" the country's problems by being made increasingly more difficult to pass until we're going to get to the point that anything other than being dead will have you being found fit for work. The tongue-in-cheek cartoons scattered across the web joking about people in a coma being fit for work as paperweights are only slightly removed from the reality. The prospect of failing this test is too much for some; plenty of people have expressed their wish to take their own lives if they fail the medical, death being preferable to the life of poverty they'd have to endure if they don't get through the impossible test. These conversations take place in private among trusted friends, fear of the repercussions of standing up against the mighty benefit system preventing most people from speaking out. All we can hope for is those in power get to hear of the deaths that will occur and why; maybe then they will finally sit up and take notice. There doesn't seem to be much hope of things changing otherwise.
The Personal Capability Assessment has always been tough on people with mental health problems. Not so long ago, the CAB highlighted that you were more likely to fail a PCA if you were claiming for a mental health issue than if you were claiming because of a physical problem.
I had agoraphobia, suffered from severe panic attacks and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, yet I still failed the PCA five years ago basically because I tried to keep myself busy and didn't just dribble in a corner. I had to keep myself busy - keep the bad thoughts at bay - but I couldn't explain that to a doctor who hadn't a clue about mental illness and was just trying to work out if I was depressed or not.
People claiming IB and ESA because of a mental health problem are unlikely to be seen by a doctor who has a mental health qualification, and will be lucky if they are seen by someone who is interested in that area of medicine and has a modicum of empathy. In my opinion, that's what needs to change, not just "make the assessment harder" which has been the political stance thus far.
My next PCA is due in December, and I'm dreading it. As usual, it will exacerbate my symptoms, and if I fail, I know I won't have the mental strength to go through an appeal again.
I really hope the Lib Dems have the courage to change this system, because frankly, they're the last hope for people like me.
I am currently writing an initiative for Open Up (an orginisation challenging mental health discrimination), which links prejudice towards incapacity benefit claimants to other hate crimes in history.
The link is the presumption of laziness. Rather than genuinely trying to understand and empathize with us, the public are overwhelmingly prejudiced and presume that we are capable but not "trying". This is underwritten in the UK by lingering class prejudices.
This is a continuation of centuries of hate crimes that have used the presumption of "laziness" to murder and enslave disempowered groups. The three historical examples I am using are the white slave masters in the US and their prejudice towards black African slaves as lazy, the Victorian British and their prejudice towards the Irish, resulting in the famine that killed 1 million and the Nazi hatred of Jewish people, using propaganda to convince the German public that the Jews were lazy and needed to be sent to "work" camps.
I am just waiting for a politician to tell me "Work Makes You Free!"
What we need to convey is rather than us being capable and not trying, it is the public that is unaware of their prejudice. This is because we tend to think of prejudice as being overt, like a neo-nazi skin-head but most prejudice is subconscious and so deeply buried in the culture people are unaware of their prejudices. We need to look at and challenge language itself - such as the terms "hard work" and "lazy". And we need to see ourselves in a just cause fighting for civil rights.
I've spent periods in and out of work due to my mental ill health. When I've been able to work, I've taken advantage of working tax credits and the return to work credits to fund working, although if I were single I'd not be able to pay my rent, even with such benefits. I currently live with a partner and receive IB and DLA. We struggle as it is. When I go back to work, it will be part time, and a fraction of what I previosuly earned.
If it were possible for me to work, my own sense of pride in myself would drive me to look for work, in the same way that most benefit claimants I know would, because they hold a similar good work ethic. Being unemployed on benefits is shameful and boring. I'd rather work any day.
That said, my last temp job landed me a weeks stay in hospital as I was so ill I was afraid that I might stab my partner. My partner insists that I now look after myself first and consider our finances later, and that I should take as much time to recover as I need to. I do, but not a day goes by that I don't worry about work, how hard it will be to find a job, how to explain this gap, how we will manage for money. It doesn't help my recovery to be burdened with all that.
Has Mind approached the Lib Dems to ask what their welfare policy is?
Could Mind arrange a meeting post election for recipients to meet with them to help them shape policy?
My son's qualifications were distorted by a disability related illness. (Hearing, not Mental Health as it happens.)
His career should have been in the NHS, but the NHS recruitment system and individual Trusts do not make 'reasonable adjustments'.
He took a Trust to an Employment Tribunal. The Trust spent £28K in legal costs while arguing that they could not afford reasonable adjustments. The Trust would not meet my son. As an unemployed person he got no help from Unions.
The Tribunal decided against him. Now the Trust is asking for Costs.
The idea that public bodies 'promote the interests of disabled people' and that Employment Tribunals help people overcome disadvantage is nonsense.
i agree martin not enough is being done for the disabled people,i have a brother whos is deaf,he has so far spent 5 yrs at college learning machanics,only to be told now that he will be unable to finish the course as he wont be able to hear the engine..why waste his time and college time and money...deaf people do not get the help they need..
i also know someone who has claimed mental health problems when infact it is all an act to get as much benefit as they can without having to work...whilst having hoildays and regular nights out,they seem to put on a good show for the benefits system and get away with it when there is more deserving people out there who need the benefits system to help them when they are ill and they get nothing.....and yes i agree with you all something needs to be done to sort this out once and for all.
I have severe schizophrenia, I am terrified of losing my benifits and being forced into some awful supermarket work rather than live in poverty, but i hear voices, get suicidal, i just can't cope with this pressure,the tories do not care at all for the mentally ill, we will see more begging, the hospitals being full. I just cannot work my head is in a state, i don't know what i will do, it is a lot of effort for me to go outside at all, and i have the full support of my psychiatrist, but will that be enough,? I take five different medications and I still can't cope, i'm not putting it on, i used to commute in London and had to give up because of my mental health, now everything seems bleak and pointless, i feel suicidal at the thought of living in poverty, its not that i'm not intelligent, I am but schizophrenia is a serious condition , I just want to get better but its on a reacurring cycle where i have to go into hospital or die, its that simple.What hope is there for all the others like me?
The Benefit entitlement witch hunt against the mentally ill has been allowed to happen mainly because Psychiatrists, GP's and charities worked with politicians who have listened
to the media propaghanda to design policies to scrap work related sickness benefit and introduce over a period of time a one rate unemployment benefit at job seeker rate of allowance.
It is absolutely shocking that GP's and other mental health professionals have had their contracts altered to push welfare reform.
How can mental health professional be trusted I would like to ask when they are told to push welfare reform on everybody?
It was almost impossible before for long term claimants to find paid work. Now many are going to have a gun put to our heads, not literally yet but under threat of benefit withdrawal and be forced into schemes whilst others profiteer from us.
Volunteers have to be very careful under ESA, very likely to end up on JSA or work related ESA with continual retesting under the CAN DO medical.
It is obvious that their voluntary work will at some stage be probably used against them. It was always risky doing voluntary work but it is a lot more risky now.
Welfare Reform will not work, it will increase the bigotry, disengagement homelessness and illness. Huge cuts are soon to be made in mental health services across the country, the charities might do well though because the Tories if they are elected believe in charity and the workhouse, as they reinvent the Victorian Era.
The other two Parties are almost as bad. The Tories cannot believe their luck that New Labour have done so much of their work for them.
Hardly ever over the past 10 years have Employers been criticised for the way so few mentally ill people get jobs and also the way discrimination in the workplace is often so rife for those becoming ill at work.
Discrimination law is designed to make money for lawyers and to make politicians feel better. Most cannot afford lawyers and representing yourself is extremely stressful and is not fair on a claimant at all.
Paul
VOTE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT
I am concerned about welfare reform taking place and the impact it will have on people with disabilities.
Of all the MPs the only ones I have heard that are opposed to Workfare (work for your benefits) are the Liberal Democrats.
Also their policy of no tax on the first £10,000 of earnings will help those working on the minimum wage, or those obliged to work for the minimum wage.
My hope is that they will act more compassionately towards the vulnerable.
That's what I intend to do because I contacted my local LibDem MP and got a really good response, this person understood how people on benefits are kicked in a recession for political rather than economic gain. It's like the BNP capitalising on immigration
As someone with a complex mental health diagnosis who was warned by my manager that if I went off sick with depression, I would never be offered another position within the organisation, and then went on to suffer very badly at the hands of the benefit system - I fully understand the complexity of the issues outlined in Louise's blog and share the deep concerns expressed in the comments.
I agree that Mind should be campaigning for better support for people with mental health conditions in accessing and sustaining suitable employment. However, whilst we are being attacked from all sides and peope with enduring illnesses are having their lives turned upside down as a resullt of being forced to live in poverty on JSA following attendance at an unfair medical, I think that Mind has to be very careful in its approach .
I am very concerned that one of its five key election priorities on Mind on Twitter reads: "Are your party committed to getting ppl with experience of mental health problems back to work? ". Maybe I am particularly sensitive, but isn't such a question playing into the hands of the ruthless politicians and welfare reform enthusiasts who are dead set on forcing people off incapacity benefit and its replacement ESA?
Yes, tweets are intended to be brief, but is this an appropriate medium for such sensitive subject matter? There has to be reference to the tremendous support people will need, a shift in attitude and policy on the part of employers in supporting people who become ill whilst in work, in recruitment procedures and tackling such things as bullying in the workplace. Mind needs to keep on stressing the ongoing need for the safety net sickness benefits provide.
It is appalling that new proposals are in place to simplify the work capability assessment even further when two research projects carried out by Citizens Advice and by an organisation commissioned by the DWP themselves, have highlighted a catalogue of failings in the way that ESA is functioning. A Work and Pensions Select Committee has also found great failings in the decision making process and have made recommendations that ESA is reviewed before IB claimants are migrated onto it and that greater weight is given to the medical advice provided by claimant's GPs, specialists and mental health workers.
I agree that a working group needs to be set up, made up of benefit recipients, Mind, Citizens Advice and other representatives from the Dsability Benefits Consortium, medical bodies such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists, GMC and BMA's medical ethics committee, the Tribunal Service, and any other organisation committed to improving the system along with government policy makers.
Having watched BBC's Question Time for years, I agree that the Liberal Democrats are more likely to be the most compassionate current major party, though I personally warm to the policies of the Green Party.
It is vital that whoever wins the election, a high calibre minister is selected to champion the rights and welfare of people with disabilities.
Thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog and shared their stories, and to Patsy in particular for her ongoing support. I want to assure Patsy and other readers that Mind’s position is always one of ‘support first’.
Threatening people with sanctions and conditions is more likely to undermine the recovery process than to help people, which is why we campaigned for crucial safeguards (http://www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/report_and_resources/2564_welfare_reform_act_2009_briefing) to be included in the Welfare Reform Act last year.
Nobody should be compelled to take up employment that could compromise their mental health and wellbeing, and the welfare system must always provide a financial safety net where employment is not a viable option. We will continue to lobby for fairer system and a more suitable Work Capability Assessment.
However, we also believe that when people are ready to take steps towards employment, they should have personalised and professional support from staff trained in mental health issues. As you know, this is one of the five priorities we have set out for the new government (http://www.mind.org.uk/assets/0000/6899/2010_Elections_-_mental_health_priorities.pdf). In particular, we are calling for reforms to the Access to Work scheme, so that it better meets the needs of people with mental health problems, and this is what the tweet referred to. I’m sorry that we didn’t manage to properly convey all of this in the tweet and we will take your concerns on board for future campaigning work.
I am severly depressed at the moment owing to being unemployed after working most of my life
I refuse to see a doctor as being depressed and having treatment would hinder my jobsearch and cause prejudice - the constant daily struggle,the rejectons or worse - silence from employers even when youve turned up for an interview knock you down even more. Not eating properly,no social life and being out of the 'loop' cos you have debts now and little money
the media seem happy to lump anyone on benefits together as a bunch of scroungers and idle - do they know how this makes genuine people feel?
I have worked in mental health in the past and know the struggle they and their family face - lets hope these issues are addressed fairly and soon
Just noticed this blog (and the date of the post), but my experience of the DWP and the 'help' it offers is not positive. As an ESA claimant with anxeity, stress et. all (I, generally and to put it simply, find it very hard coping in this society), I have to have what will be my second WFI at the local jC+. This willbe with the disability adviser i've encountered a couple of times before, and tact prevents me from expressing how I really feel about her. But I have no alternative (other than the possibility of a my benefit being sanctioned) but to attend. I was offered the choice of a difference office, but that one is not somewhere I feel safe at all - it's rough as heck! So hobsons choice all round.
I feel that there is just no support at all. Even the independent (though state funded) organisations that exist to help (not the ones like the dreadful Working Links to whom I was sent last time and who treated me like dirt IMO) have limited funding and can't really do much. The problem is the system and the increasingly draconian attitudes at its heart, driven by the media. Talking tough (as if living on £65 a week, hand to mouth, wasn't fraught enough) is ridiculous: i get no choice in how the system deals with me. For instance I have to attend this appointment (the accompanying letter includes a lovely slip of paper with red large wording threatening me about the consequences of failing to attend - even then i'm not sure I really care anymore, I can't face that adviser again). No option to attend at a neutral location or see someone who isn't part of the broken system pursuing an agenda that ultimately isn't in my favour. I can't, for example, choose to be seen at my local dr's surgery. Instead I have to travel by bus, which increases my anxiety, to the nearest centre and be seen as if i was a regular JSA claimant - in public in an open plan office discussing issues with someone who isn't a therapist or doctor.
My personal situation aside (forgive me, i have nowhere else to discuss these issues, talking to the GP is hard enough: they just don't understand the situation re: benefits), it's getting worse. We have to see a change in this progressively more harsh anti-benefits culture. People who have issues are not all the same; issues that might seem trivial to some are a big deal for others. What people need is to be treated with respect and as individuals and offered real help that isn't conditional and that doesn't come with some perceived schedule (ie the sort of 'we expect you to find work within x months or we stop your benefits'). If it takes months or years for people to deal with their problems, then why should that be a problem?
I have experienced how useless the DWP is - thankfully my experience isn't as bad as others (nor would I seek to draw comparisons). I hate to say this, but there are so few places for people like me/us to talk about this.
The continued whittling of the welfare system will result in suicide on its present and projected course. If the next government doesn't change tack (to say nothing of the constant portrayal of people with problems as lazy scum) they will have blood on their hands.
I have to deal, again, with the Jobcentre next month as part of my claim for ESA suffering stress/anxiety (amongst other issues not easily explained). I have seen the adviser before on a couple of occasions, including an earlier WFI. I found her to be snide, manipulative, condescending and intent on twisting what was said. Is this any way to treat someone with problems? How does that help anyone do anything, never mind work?
Why can't the system be geared to working with people individually, without an agenda bent on reducing the perception of numbers claiming incapacity benefit? Why can't help be given by understanding professionals working only at the pace of the patient with compassion? Why the nastiness and the bile unchallenged from the media all the time?
Thank you Louise for clarification regarding the tweet - I do welcome Mind's commitmment to inclusion and its campaign work to secure a greater slice of the access to work budget for people with mental health conditions.
Also for highlighting Mind's position on the DWP's use of sanctions and conditions. The Government's approach to welfare reform is indeed counter-productive. It is totally unacceptable that extremely vulnerable people are being made to live in fear of ruthless treatment at the hands of the benefit system and its unfair medicals.
People living with debilitating and fluctuating conditions that are exacerbated by anxiety and stress, must be treated with respect and sensitivity. We should be allowed the right to choose if and when we access voluntary work (which tends to allow far greater flexibility) or paid employment. For many, either would feel too much.
Hopefully Mind's Time to Challenge project will help create less pressurized, supportive and more flexible working environments in the future.
Following the exhausting to watch election and its bizarre aftermath, I am very pleased that we now have our first Green Party MP. I can only reiterate the need for a new minister with a willingness to engage with and champion the rights and welfare of people with disabilities.
We have a right to live in peace - free from persecution.
I have suffered from depression for many years, and have anxiety issues and insomnia along with it. Having bouts of bad depression, I was always able to get out of them by myself, with the help of friends of course, but during the past 2 years I have felt the full force of the benefit systems. Incapacity Benefit, DLA, ESA and Income Support. All these things I tried to claim but failed everything, and was without money for 1.5 years (yes no JSA either).
Apart from all my personal anguish and distress, the systems that are there supposedly to help mentally ill people, do nothing but cause more stress, and make you out to be a liar.
I recently passed my initial ESA medical after reclaiming, but was put on the work-related rate. Which is of course preposterous, but I dont get much say in what happens in the dreaded Medical.
I also recently had my mental health interview with the head mental health nurse, who found me unfit for work, which was a great sigh of relief after the last 2 years of basically not wanting to be alive. I have been referred to a support worker, and a psychiatrist which is one giant leap from the less than nothing that was happening last november.
Although this still comes with a huge downside, after the stress of everything over the last two years, I dont think I will ever get better, aside from the fact I have tried so hard to get the help i needed, and although I gave up hope, I carried on (eventually to win my benefits) out of anger for the benefits system.
Anyone with less hope for the future than me would have commited suicide under what I went through. Even though I did give up many times I felt I wanted to get better to have a happy life (and I still do), but at what cost will this come?
As far as I'm aware I could easily be pulled of ESA and my DLA (which I am in the process of claiming) and forced into JSA. Which would be even more detrimental to my health. Or if I got a bit better, and went back into work, whats to stop me from becoming depressed again a month later, a year later?
Now I have the backup of a mental health nurse can i phone ESA and get them to put me on the support related rate, or would i have to wait until I got my DLA? In the meantime do I have to attend these work focused interviews, which I am incapable of doing, since I barely ever leave the house, apart from going to see a friend around the block, which still gives me anxiety problems, even without having to cross a road.
How many more have had to suffer for so long, with no help or guidance, I fear for many it is too little too late, maybe the only reason im still alive is because im too stubborn to kill myself, there have still been times let me tell you..
I want to know when this lunacy will end, as the current system is completely prejudiced towards mental health patients
I'm not lazy, just unable to work right now. If I was well enough to work I would, I wouldnt scrounge on benefits, what kind of life is that?
All I ever wanted was to be happy, will i ever see the light?
The death of labour – all us useless eaters better get off to Switzerland...
Tories want everyone reassessed within 2 yrs with an assessment no one can pass and Mind has been ignored in its calls for this to be reviewed. The Tories wanted even tougher sanctions but there's no point in speaking to them, we are just not on their radar with no political lobby speaking for us. They will take everything from us and they know they can easily, there won't be a single Tory MP reading this blog. If anyone decides they can't deal with their fate in the face of failed reviews make sure no 10, the BBC home affairs correspondent and the coroner have copies of your last letter, at least the inevitable deaths from welfare reforms will then mean something because that's only way it will be reviewed.
Hi there Xelian; feeling for what you've been through... and are going through.
I agree it's unforgiveable what's being done in the name of 'helping people' back to work, but the last government went about it very cleverly, managing to carry many in the disability lobby with them until the impact of the reforms became clear... and I see little reason to believe that the new one will be any more understanding - indeed the Tory manifesto seemed committed to hitting people on the sickness route to benefits just as hard, only a little faster...
To answer your specific questions on ESA... I'm afraid that having a Support Worker isn't enough in itself to get you on to the Support Component - nor is getting DLA (at any rate). Hopefully though once the Support Worker and Psychiatrist are aware of your difficulties, it'll be easier for you to get detailed supporting evidence to accompany any claim or challenge you need to make...
The criteria for the Support Component are very, very specific - any independent advice agency should be able to give you a copy of them, or try Googling them... But there is also a 'passported' way into the Support Component if it's decided that NOT being treated as being in the Support Component could pose a substantial risk to you or to others... Any supporting letters you can gather - e.g. from a GP, Psychiatrist or Support Worker would be helpful in this...
In the meantime, you can ask for each Work Focused Interview to be deferred - i.e. put off to a later date - as it crops up, on the grounds that you're too unwell for one to be helpful at the moment. If they say no, that decision isn't appealable, but again, involving your Support Worker etc. could be helpful in getting them to change their minds.
Instinct tells me they're more likely to say 'yes' if you ask them for deferral of each individual interview as and when it comes due than if you tried arguing that you're generally too unwell for them at all...
If you miss an interview without 'good cause' then they can withdraw the Work Related Activity Component in two chunks - half straight away and then the other half after four weeks if you've still not 'complied'... Oh brave new world...
I hope that's of some help - if not what you were hoping to hear...
Good luck with the DLA meanwhile...
Just so, so scared right now.
Have bipolar. Only eventually diagnosed after I ended up on the streets as I became very poorly while working and was then too erratic to sign on and so ended up not eligible for JSA and HB and so was evicted. Having gone through that under the old system, I'm sure you can imagine my current mental state at the prospect of these poorly thought out tests now being applied by a new government.
Having Just left a very understaffed and, at times, disempowering psychiatric unit after a bad bout of depression I was relieved to hear of a service offered by MIND from my psychiatrist. Later that day my CPN informed me that the service from MIND was now cut and no longer taking referrals.
Apart from seeing my CPN once a week there is no other form of help to aid my recovery and I am frustrated to hear this service has been cut.
Is this a result of government cuts? could the decision be reversed with the new government and can I do anything to help overturn the decision?
Ps reference Jules comment on the 30th April.. Do you know this 'someone' personally or is this based on your judgemental observation?
I have Multiple Sclerosis, PTSD due to finding my partner dead after suicide, and severe depression due to the above and going from working full time with my own mortgage to having to go into council and benefits. I dont look disabled but know I will probably be on benefits now until a cure or death. If I go out, treat myself or go on holiday will I have to face the judgements of others for the rest of my miserable life? Then I too will be writing to number 10 posthumously because having a long term illness mental or physical is hard enough without finding enjoyment where possible.
For everyone that may be fraudulant there must be 20 at least that are genuine so is it worth making the genuine suffer?
And I fully support putting the blue badge photo side up so everyone can check as even I judge at times.
Good luck to all who have posted
Hi Chocolatewig,
I'm so sorry to hear that the service you were looking for at your local Mind wasn't available.
Because each Mind association is a separate, independent, charity, I can't offer an explanation for you. If you want to let us know which local Mind you were hoping to visit I can try to find a bit more information for you. Feel free to contact me on webmaster@mind.org.uk
best wishes,
Eve
Perhaps the new coalition will show us mercy by rounding us into concrete bunkers and gassing us to death en masse? The approach has been tried before with great pragmatic success, excoriating the embarrassment of mental illness from the Perfect Society. But why don't we consider this: those of us who might be thinking of a third-time -lucky result on hanging from the bannister in fact have nothing to loose. Why conveniently and quietly apply the final solution to ourselves when we can instead descend on Whitehall and make the media (and hence politicians) sit up and listen? The basic principle of securing a change of heart any in government is to make life hell for them, as they do for us, until they (not we) cave in. 2.6 million IB claimants living under threat? There is another view. 2.6 milion IB claimants heading for Downing Street and as angry as any other group whose lives are under threat. Remember the Poll Tax? Work is good for us so let's occupy ourselves by painting those protest placards now.
Steve, I feel a protest is in order. Unfortunately I am not well enough to attend such a thing and for anyone outside of London the cost of travel may well be prohibitive. That's what makes these reforms so indefensible; it is literally attacking people who cannot fight back.
Like others on here I am sure that eventually my suicide will be the net result of these policies.
I failed a medical exam some years back and it took 7 months for my appeal to be sorted where, luckily, I passed.
My plan for the next assessment is to take with me a scalpel and self harm in front of the doctor. I have no better ideas. I couldn't go through the stress of a drawn out appeal again and I don't see how I can get my point across in words, so I feel this is the only way.
This welfare reform,,and the spin word,its good for your mental health to work!,..reminds me of the Nazis,telling the lazy jews,,its good to work!!...those that dont work hard!,,are gassed!!....Well i used to work hard!,,very hard!,,until one day,,,i had a nervous breakdown!,and my physical,and mental health collapsed!...my nerves,are now shot to pieces.
I do hope that the ministers,who are in charge,of this welfare reform,and getting these lazy depressed scroungers,stuffed into any old job!,never have the misfortune,to have a nervous breakdown!,or suffer,with intense prolonged depression....It does seem that most of these ministers,come from priviledged,and successful backgrounds!!,,how can they have the bloody cheek!...to know,whats best,for my mental health!!
I am currently on IB and DLA. I suffer from depression/anxiety/insomnia and the thought of having these benefits taken away is already making me ill. My husband works for a low income and I don't know how we'll cope financially if my benefits are stopped.
I used to be a nurse until seven years ago when my depression came to the attention of management who used every tactic in the book to get rid of me. This led to a severe breakdown and despite periods of recovery I now know that employers do not want to know if you have a mental health problem.
I was discharged from the mental health system 3 years ago with a diagnosis of personality disorder-I am lucky that I have a good GP who informed me that lack of resources are seeing (particularly challenging patients) discharged.
I have now managed to get myself together enough to do 2 days voluntary work with the CAB. Will I have to give this up if I (and I will) fail the work capability assessment. I do want to work but there is so much discrimination out there-how can I explain 7 years out of the 'loop'.
Right now I feel a complete failure to my family and a burden. I did not ask to be depressed and I have to fight the symptoms every day. Why is the media so one sided on this issue? I have written letters to newspapers giving our side of the equation but they were not published. Its seems that society is constantly out to get us.
This doesn't surprise me at all I am visually impaired and again my disability amongst other things is not immediately obvious.
Summoned to Jobcentre halesowen, 29th December and Told I had to go onto Flexible New Deal (P.O.E.T)Pick On Easiest Target.
14th January phone by this 3rd Party provider (A4E). I stated I was visually impaired so guess what they did ? Sent out small print paperwork. I told them thatI couldn't read it but they didn't see fit to send large print out to me. No phone calls, no written communication. During the phone conversation 14th Jan I was told my meeting was on the 27th. I had no directions that I could read, no paperwork despite stating to both the dwp and A4E i was visually impaired. I even had to phone the benefits office in wolverhampton the next ones up from the local managers to chase A4E up. They eventually contacted me on the same day.
All in all this 3rd party provider was rude, and intimidating. No respect no help and they even ended up telling the dwp I was uncooperative.
http://flexible-new-deal.co.uk take a look at the DWP Incompetence causes more heartache
I am a carer for my wife who has acute social phobia, agoraphobia, and physical disability. She has not been out of the home for years and cannot attend her own breast scans or even visit her own mother in a care home, how on earth can people like this attend work focused interviews or any other appointment, under threat of losing their income if they don't turn up when they cannot leave the house through physical and mental pain.
This has been going on for 40 years, do they expect someone with such intreched history to just magic it all away. She has had every therapy available over her lifetime and nothing has helped, to put people through this all again to prove they are ' doing something' is to much to bear and inhuman, some will never work and this must be recognised, and not put them through daily agonies with threats and accusations of being fakers of illness, fear is a terrible thing, and to heap more of it on top of people with such conditions is unforgivable.
the conlibs are now planning to introduce a tough new test for dla.
announced in yesturdays emergency budget the new test will be introduced for all new and existing claimants from 2013-2014.
we all know the track record of the so called "tough new tests".
just a way of denying the sick and disabled benefits.
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