News

@lacoste1985 I received my forms mid June ,  by the time end of October I received a decision without a medical and my award was changed from getting a few years length to now ongoing.  

@lacoste1985 Well I sent my review form back in.... JUNE 2024, 18 months ago!! and all I get are texts every 3 months saying they are still to look at it! Already been extended once by a year and it's nearly that time of year again (late January is when my claim ends), so I hope it gets extended again. I don't know if waits vary because of region or condition but be prepared for a very long wait. Waits were long when I applied for PIP and went to tribunal 4 years ago and seemed to have got a lot worse since, so reviews don't seem to be a priority at all. 

@Neil Whoever gets in at the next election will have no choice to make cuts with our slumping economy,so we should make the most of the time we have left.

@Neil

@Neil I'm Ruddy scared too.

@John Now I am really terrified of the future after reading all that.

@Neil The government announced the WCA is being abolished and along with it LCW and LCWRA status. And that there will be no consultation on this. However we are a parliamentary democracy not a dictatorship. Starmer might get ousted as PM after the May local elections. And if Starmer remains as PM he still needs to get parliament to agree. And he is unlikely to be willing to rely on Tory votes to get it passed. As doing so would probably make his position as Labour leader and so PM untenable. So it is not a sure thing.

If Starmer gets the changes he wants. It is unknown what legacy benefit or transitional protection there will be.

It is hoped New Style ESA support group/LCWRA will remain as a legacy benefit (at least for those still eligible, those on PIP daily living), as that is what the pathways to work green paper seems to indicate. If not they will be in serious trouble as they will have to claim a means tested benefit instead if eligible.

It is hoped those on the legacy higher LCWRA/health element who currently get the same higher rate as new claimants in the Severe Conditions Criteria group will get, will continue to do so. At least if they still qualify, get PIP daily living. Otherwise they would be looking at just getting transitional protection.

It is hoped those currently in the LCWRA severe conditions criteria group will be passported into the new UC health severe conditions criteria group. As they have already been assessed as incapable of work for life and told they will not be reassessed for WCA. I also hope those currently with ongoing/indefinite PIP enhanced rate daily living awards will be passported into the new Severe Conditions Criteria Group. As they have already been assessed as severely disabled for life and told they will not be reassessed for PIP.

Some believe to prevent a backbench MP revolt and get the legislation passed there will need to be some protection for legacy claimants. In particular legacy LCWRA claimants who do not qualify for PIP daily living and legacy PIP claimants who do not qualify due to any changes in eligibility caused by the new Timms PIP review PIP assessment system. As otherwise there will be a huge number of people who are going to be massively worse off. Both in terms of money and in terms of having a conditionality and sanctions regime.


Going by the pathways to work paper the new system is supposed to be:

Contributions based non means tested unemployment benefit time limited to 6 or 12 months. Paid at the current level of legacy LCWRA and new Severe Conditions Criteria Group. For able and disabled newly unemployed. With work coaches focused on helping them back to work.

Severe Conditions Criteria. Means tested, non time limited. Paid at same rate as above. For those aged 22 or older and assessed as the most severely disabled for life, never expected to be able to work. The total amount increased by inflation but the health element is increasing at below inflation rate while the standard allowance element increases at above inflation. To overtime reduce the extra amount of UC people get for being incapable of working. It is unknown what contact they will have with the DWP.

UC health. Means tested, non time limited. The UC health element paid at half the current LCWRA element and frozen so falling in real terms year after year. For those aged 22 or older and on PIP daily living component (the PIP assessment system is also being changed to focus on the most disabled). Viewed as facing barriers to employment. But still required to engage in support conversations about their aspiration to work and offered voluntary help towards and into work. Conditionality will be reviewed in future for this group if too few take up the voluntary offer of help towards and into work.

UC unemployed. Means tested, non time limited. Full conditionality and sanction regime at the discretion of the work coach. The UC standard allowance element is being increased at above inflation rate. Both to make the benefit more capable of supporting people and to reduce the gap in money to those on UC health and those in the severe conditions criteria group.


In the longer term it looks like. UC health and UC severe condition criteria group premiums will be eroded. So eventually there will in effect be no incapacity premium. So no "perverse financial incentive" to be deemed incapable of working. Leaving PIP as the benefit for disability paid in and out of work. With PIP itself focused on the most disabled.

And in the future if the Labour right wing think tanks policies are adopted PIP regular cash payments reduced or replaced with support in kind or one off payments for specific costs, for many disabilities/illnesses. So no "perverse financial incentive" to be deemed disabled and no "overly generous" disability benefits that are funding lifestyles and unfair on hard working families.


The future looks bleak.  

@Chips and gravy You could be right.

@Annatar As far as PIP reassessments go I think they are doing the opposite. They are shifting resources from PIP reassessments to WCA reassessments. And increasing PIP award durations so the standard for those aged 25+, is 3 years for first award, and 5 years for re-awards.

The DWP do claim their subcontractors are recruiting more staff to do assessments.

And the DWP also claim they are going to increase the percentage of PIP assessments/reassessments that are done face-to-face to 30%

But the government seems more interested in trying to clear some of the backlog of WCA reassessments. And has said they want to reassess those whose condition is likely to have improved and those who were awarded on grounds on substantial risk. Maybe they are trying to reduce to the number of people on LCW LCWRA who may lose it if they abolish the WCA and base eligibility to UC health element on receiving PIP daily living.

@pollenpath pollenpath Source?i will have some tomato ketchup if you have some?I think that Annatar is secretly Bert in disguise too 

@pollenpath Heinz or HP ( snigger) (sorry my s.o.h is very childish)

@Annatar Source? 

@John I hope this doesn't coz many of us will be right royally stuffed.

@John The UK's most influential think tank Policy Exchange has a new paper Pulling Teeth suggesting reform to NHS dentistry.

All dentist required to provide free NHS dental treatment for all children paid for by the state at the current NHS price list uprated each year by inflation.

A £150 NHS dental voucher for every adult in the UK to be used to towards paying for private insurance or paying toward dental treatments.

Abolish NHS free dental care for adults. Currently for example those on means tested benefits are entitled to free NHS dental care.

Abolish the NHS treatment price list for adults. Dentists free to charge what they like. Free market competition will keep prices low and drive prices down.

My thoughts. The winners are children and those adults who currently have a private dentist. The losers are those adults who currently get free NHS dental treatment. They would be screwed. £150 is not enough to cover dental treatment costs. And dental treatment costs would soar as there is a shortage of dentists and there would be no mandated NHS price list for adults. No NHS dentists for adults to teether the price down. And no option of NHS dental care for adults be that via being registered with one or being able to access one via emergency dental clinics for those not registered with a NHS dentist.  

@Neil Neil are you wrapped up in army blankets on these cold nights.

@tintack He can sling his hook as far as I'm concerned, he is a dangerous and nasty person at the very least.

@Minxy Has any esa/uc claimants actually had a reassessment since the beginning of the pandemic?

@Minxy 2 years behind? My brother had their last ESA WCA in 2016, they were supposed to be reassessed after 3 years, so 2019. Still waiting, hopefully the WCA will be abolished before it happens as they have a ongoing/indefinite PIP daily living award. It would be annoying to put it mildly if they lost LCWRA between now and 2028/29 when the WCA is abolished and UC health is based on receiving PIP daily living component.

The delay in reassessments does highlight that some of the increase in benefit claimant numbers that is used to justify the plan to abolish the WCA and change the PIP assessment system is directly due to government policy. Turning what were intended to be as little as 3 month LCW/LCWRA or 9 month PIP awards into 5 years and counting awards due to auto extending and the number of active claims is going to go up and up.

@James h I doubt very much that you will get a review anytime soon as the DWP are way way behind. People are 2 years behind. Try not to stress too much 

@D The government will see such findings as validating it's approach of reducing/removing the premiums and exemptions from conditionality disable people get over the unemployed. No point in claiming a disability benefit if it does not get you more money and does not get you any exemption from conditionality.