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Employment & 'Support' Allowance What the papers never tell you is how strict the rules for 'scroungers' are...
A complex set of rules which the claimant must follow on their 'customer journey'....
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It's a journey which often goes wrong right from the start...
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Because people fill in their forms without knowing how it's all worked out according to complex rules....
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So lets put the law under the magnifying glass...
Starting with Employment & Support Allowance, we will take a look at the main regulations which relate to the questions in the 'ESA 50' questionnaire. It's how the claimant fills in the form which can make all the difference to whether they get State support or not, some will just give up because they don't think they will qualify, others indicate they have no problem because they are misled by the questions; claims are often disallowed because decision - makers look at the claim form and use it to say the claimant has told them they have no limitation in their own self assessment. Claimants simply do not realise how the questions in the form bear a poor resemblance to the legal criteria which determines whether people get support.
The legal criteria is to be found by matching the claimant's wording with social security legislation rather than the somewhat ambiguously worded 'self - assessment' questionnaire forms. We start this article with a look at the physical set of 'descriptors' by going through the ESA 50 form and looking at the descriptor questions one by one. Then we'll take a look at the mental health assessment questions which are currently subject to an application for judicial review. A High Court judge last Thursday granted permission for the judicial review of the Work Capability Assessment; as a welfare benefit specialist we see clients who are simply living on their nerves as they endure the claim process then sit and await an anxious assessment. Most claimants accept that under the new rules relating to Employment & Support Allowance (introduced in 2008) they would be able to do some work providing they get some support; these claimants will be placed in the 'Work Related Activity group'; however a larger than expected number of claimants are being found to be incapable of any work at all - the group which is placed in the 'Support Group'.
Where the process is going badly wrong is when claimants with profound limitations are being found to have no limitation at all - it's because of an assessment process which is deeply flawed and one which organisations are saying is not fit for purpose'. Have a a read of the mental minefield which claimants typically have to go through just to prove they have a mental health problem. Ironically many are just saying they need some support to help them in to work - it's the Jobcentres which are refusing to recognise the need. Others are simply too unwell to do any work at all.
Read more...
Starting with Employment & Support Allowance, we will take a look at the main regulations which relate to the questions in the 'ESA 50' questionnaire. It's how the claimant fills in the form which can make all the difference to whether they get State support or not, some will just give up because they don't think they will qualify, others indicate they have no problem because they are misled by the questions; claims are often disallowed because decision - makers look at the claim form and use it to say the claimant has told them they have no limitation in their own self assessment. Claimants simply do not realise how the questions in the form bear a poor resemblance to the legal criteria which determines whether people get support.
The legal criteria is to be found by matching the claimant's wording with social security legislation rather than the somewhat ambiguously worded 'self - assessment' questionnaire forms. We start this article with a look at the physical set of 'descriptors' by going through the ESA 50 form and looking at the descriptor questions one by one. Then we'll take a look at the mental health assessment questions which are currently subject to an application for judicial review. A High Court judge last Thursday granted permission for the judicial review of the Work Capability Assessment; as a welfare benefit specialist we see clients who are simply living on their nerves as they endure the claim process then sit and await an anxious assessment. Most claimants accept that under the new rules relating to Employment & Support Allowance (introduced in 2008) they would be able to do some work providing they get some support; these claimants will be placed in the 'Work Related Activity group'; however a larger than expected number of claimants are being found to be incapable of any work at all - the group which is placed in the 'Support Group'.
Where the process is going badly wrong is when claimants with profound limitations are being found to have no limitation at all - it's because of an assessment process which is deeply flawed and one which organisations are saying is not fit for purpose'. Have a a read of the mental minefield which claimants typically have to go through just to prove they have a mental health problem. Ironically many are just saying they need some support to help them in to work - it's the Jobcentres which are refusing to recognise the need. Others are simply too unwell to do any work at all.
Read more...
