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  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 6,531 Championing

    Oh no I wanted them to leave it as they would have been pulled up in court !

  • secretsquirrel1
    secretsquirrel1 Online Community Member Posts: 1,665 Championing

    Morning Charlie,

    I just migrated over to uc and I called them probably about less than a couple of months ago . I asked about them reassuring everyone on lcwra and the girl who was nice said they have no plans to and don’t have the staff even if they wanted to .

  • Holly_Scope
    Holly_Scope Posts: 2,653 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Hi @secretsquirrel1 a member of the team will respond to your private message imminently. Best wishes, Holly.

  • MW123
    MW123 Scope Member Posts: 1,268 Championing

    I think the issues you are referring to is partly due to this. A government select committee highlighted many problems as far back as 2018, noting that the structure of health assessment's incentivised assessment providers to prioritise volume over quality.

    Despite investigations and promised reforms, the system still operates much the same in 2025. Providers are paid based on the number of assessments completed, not their outcomes, and DWP contracts continue to include strict targets and penalties for delays or quality issues.

    While reforms are ongoing, such as changes to PIP eligibility, adjustments to the UC health element and plans for a single assessment system, the current model continues to place pressure on assessors to work quickly. There is no evidence that assessors are directly paid more for denying claims, but the volume-driven structure can affect assessment quality and fairness. These are not my words, but the government's own committee's words.

    See link below, If the link does not work, try copying the title into a Google search: "Committee concerns over DWP contractors' cash incentives to rush already 'shoddy, error-ridden' PIP and ESA reports UK Parliament". That should take you directly to the official report on the Parliament website.

    https://committees.parliament.uk/work/5471/pip-and-esa-assessments-inquiry/news/97820/committee-concerns-over-dwp-contractors-cash-incentives-to-rush-already-shoddy-errorridden-pip-and-esa-reports/

  • michael57
    michael57 Online Community Member Posts: 1,458 Championing

    haha if you hold the wire tight and hold someone elses hand they get a harder shock whilst not hurting yourself

  • secretsquirrel1
    secretsquirrel1 Online Community Member Posts: 1,665 Championing

    If this were the case MW the assessment centres could rectify this by giving those who deserve longer awards . They seem to keep reassessing some of us when there’s some still on DLA . Not only that but the call centre themselves actually lied to me so they didn’t have to record my assessment. If they recorded it I should have been given the 4? Point. Even the dwp said it had nothing to do with the dwp as it’s the assessment centres who make the decisions. I know someone who went with someone and the assessor saw this person but said they arrived by themselves. It’s outright lying . I don’t trust them and never will after my first assessment left me fighting for two years

  • Ranald
    Ranald Online Community Member Posts: 1,212 Championing

    Both ex Chancellors did OK, they now sit in the HofL. Poor wee things.

  • Ranald
    Ranald Online Community Member Posts: 1,212 Championing

    Ah, hold their hand! I wondered what I was about to learn! Lol.

  • Wibbles
    Wibbles Online Community Member Posts: 2,635 Championing

    ……….Yet they continue with HS2 - which is currently estimated to cost over £100 billion - for a few minutes off the time taken to get to Birmingham from OUTSIDE London… seems they've got their priorities are completely wrong.

  • MW123
    MW123 Scope Member Posts: 1,268 Championing

    I’m really sorry to hear about your experience. Just to be clear, I’m not defending the assessors or excusing poor reports. I know how unfair and stressful this all is. I’ve had three assessments myself between 2018 and 2023 and often felt they didn’t understand what I said or properly read the evidence I gave them.

    What I’m trying to explain is that assessors have to work within a system set up by the DWP. They’re paid based on how many assessments they complete, not how accurate or fair those assessments are. This puts huge pressure on them to rush.

    Because of this, reports can miss important details or be written just to fit the limited time they have, rather than reflect the full picture. Many assessors have said on Glassdoor, a site where workers anonymously review their jobs, that they are financially penalised if they don’t meet targets or if their reports don’t include the exact wording the DWP requires. This creates stress, leads to high staff turnover, and means less experienced assessors are under even more pressure.

    So the problem isn’t just the assessors. It’s a system that pushes out rushed and often flawed reports. I completely understand why people don’t trust the process. It’s high time the system had proper root-and-branch reform. With more proposed benefit changes on the way, if things stay as they are, it’s only going to lead to more confusion and chaos.

  • michael57
    michael57 Online Community Member Posts: 1,458 Championing

    Haha you never know what I am going to come out with that's why I don't say to much if I was coffee that I hate it would be unfiltered

  • secretsquirrel1
    secretsquirrel1 Online Community Member Posts: 1,665 Championing

    I just have no trust in them . I was told by dwp my last assessment would be a quick one . The assessor took over two hours going through everything in a form I’d filled out 18 months prior . She kept saying if I don’t answer they may have to call me back and it may not be her . But if that’s true why do I hear of people having quick phone calls and that’s it ? As I said my first assessor lied so much my GP was furious as was the dwp themselves

  • MW123
    MW123 Scope Member Posts: 1,268 Championing

    My first assessment was in person at one of their centres in 2018. The next review was due in 2021, however, I received the forms a year earlier and had the assessment over the phone due to COVID. The process was completed in a matter of weeks, and I was notified that my award would remain the same, Standard Daily Living.

    My next review was due in 2023. Again, a year before, in 2022, I received the review forms. I filled them in, sent them off, and then waited 17 months to hear whether I would continue receiving the Standard Daily Living. My conditions remained the same throughout all three assessments, so I wasn’t expecting any changes.

    This time, however, I was shocked. Seventeen months after sending in my forms, I received a phone call out of the blue from the DWP. I didn’t pick up as I was at work, but the person left a voicemail, including their name and personal mobile number. They said that if I could get back to them no later than 6pm the following day, they could complete my assessment. I returned the call, and all they wanted to do was confirm that my medication had not changed during the intervening period, that was the only question they asked. Just two hours later, I received a text saying my review had been completed.

    Within three days, a letter arrived confirming that the DWP had decided my conditions would never change. They upgraded my award to Enhanced for both Daily Living and Mobility. I was especially surprised by the Mobility component, as that has always been one of my most significant difficulties, and I never understood why it wasn’t recognised earlier. They also backdated the award to when I submitted the review forms in 2022, and the next review was set for ten years.

    There really seems to be no rhyme or reason behind these decisions. My condition hadn’t changed, yet the outcomes varied drastically between assessments. It’s hard to understand how the same evidence can lead to such different results.

  • AppleJacks
    AppleJacks Online Community Member Posts: 41 Contributor
  • secretsquirrel1
    secretsquirrel1 Online Community Member Posts: 1,665 Championing

    The fact you had assessments so close together is really stressful but thank god someone saw sense and finally awarded you correctly. Now my last assessor had all my information including specialist letters of diagnosis, all medical notes and supping letter from GPs over the years. My form was the short form that gave the option of no change. It was filled out completely yet assessor went through everything and back to my childhood. I have ME so I was exhausted and begging her how much longer. She said if I couldn’t answer a question they may call me back . I now can see she was steering me towards 2 point answers and ignored my replies which would have given me a 4 even though it’s in my answers on the form . She increased my award to enhanced and lowered my mobility which I didn’t understand. Though I got mobility back at MR . I suspect the 4 point rule was being spoken of then .

  • YogiBear
    YogiBear Online Community Member Posts: 269 Empowering

    No MR is not stopping. I predict what will happen if the current proposals go through is if claimants don't get 4 points when applying/reassessed they'll ask for a MR or go to appeal to hopefully get the 4 points.

  • YogiBear
    YogiBear Online Community Member Posts: 269 Empowering

    Benefits & Work - 19 June 2025

    News

    Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in brief

     Published: 19 June 2025

    The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill was published yesterday and is expected to be voted on for the first time in the Commons  at the beginning of July.  Below are the main provisions of the bill.

    Personal Independence Payment

    4-point rule

    The Bill introduces the 4-point rule from a date yet to be announced, but intended to be November 2026.

    From that date, new claimants will need to score:

    • at least 8 points, including at least 4 points for a single daily living activity, to get an award of the standard rate of the daily living component;
    • at least 12 points, including at least 4 points for a single daily living activity, to get an award of the enhanced rate of the daily living component.

    Existing claimants will keep their current award until it is reviewed from November 2026, at which point they will be subject to the 4-point rule. 

    So, if you have a review before November 2026, you will be subject to the existing rules, not the 4-point rule. 

    There has been no indication from the DWP that they will bring forward anyone’s review dates.  So, if your next review is not due for say, another four years, then that is when you will be subject to the 4-point rule.

    Pension-age PIP

    There is a clause in the bill which allows the DWP to make “different provision for persons of different ages” which may be used to exempt claimants who have reached pension age by November 2026.  But there has been no official announcement about this and, at the moment, there are no different regulations for people of pension age.

    Universal credit

    Changes are being made to the rates of universal credit (UC) and, in addition, a severe conditions criteria category is being introduced.  (Similar rules are being put in place for ESA claimants who have not been migrated to UC by April 2026)

    UC standard rates

    The standard rates of UC will increase each year by more than the rate of inflation.  Using the 2026/27 rate as the

    • severe conditions criteria claimant  £423.27
    • claimant who is terminally ill  £423.27
    • any other claimant with limited capability for work and work-related activity £217.26

    This means that the LCWRA rate for new claimants from April 2026 will be almost halved.

    The DWP has begun WCA reviews again. So existing LCWRA claimants may have their award reviewed before April 2026.  But if you do not have a review before that date, or you maintain your LCWRA status when you are reviewed, then you will receive the pre-2026 claimant rate from April 2026.

    Severe conditions criteria

    From April 2026, a new category of LCWRA is being introduced.  In order to be in the severe conditions criteria (SCC) group, a clamant has firstly to meet one of the LCWRA criteria.  You can find a list of the criteria here.

    In addition, all of the following criteria need to be met:

    The level of function constantly applies to the claimant.  So, conditions that vary in severity may not meet this requirement.

    The claimant will have the condition for the rest of their life.   So, conditions which might be cured by transplant/ surgery/treatments or conditions which might resolve may not meet this requirement.

    It must have been diagnosed by an appropriately qualified health care professional in the course of the provision of NHS services.  So, it would appear that a diagnosis via a private doctor or consultant would not be acceptable.

    If a claimant meets all these criteria they will be classed as having a severe, lifelong health condition and will not be subject to routine reassessment.

    What isn’t in the bill

    The bill only covers the PIP 4-point rule and changes to the rates of UC, plus the severe conditions criteria, which were added at the last minute as a concession to Labour rebels. 

    It doesn’t, for example, deal with the abolition of the work capability assessment, the proposed new Unemployment Insurance or the plan to change the PIP assessment criteria.  These and other Green Paper proposals will be the subject of legislation at a later date.

  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 6,531 Championing

    I'd wish they'd sit in out of Mongolia the lot of them stressed to eyeballs at times with lack of information

  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 6,531 Championing
  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 6,531 Championing

    But that'sall well and said but from personal experience before hand let alone witnessing labours dirty under handed ways they don't play fair they have already more than proved this they want this through knowing all reports from many organisations even CAB who they paided 20 million to set up UC ect knowing this is serious and will seriously harm the most vunerable don't need links just need to observe what's playing out the lies they tell in assessment will be doubly worse excluding the most vunerable the faith has gone they have treated us like 3rd class citizens ignored us bullied us seems despise us so forgive people for not waiting to see if they stick to any forms of guidelines they make thier own up if they say in you can't wash below and can eat with aids you won't qualify you will have to be in a coma to qualify so we need to fight they haven't got anyone's intreast at heart facts we are not living in a fair society threatening mps if they go against the vote it's unavoidable to say we will be skipping through the daisy's we have till 30th to contact house of lords whoever you can think of do it now yh it scary to talk to truth but that's the stage we are at