DWP discriminating those that are disabled and of old age?

racyguy

I have just been reading something on here where the DWP seem to discriminate against some sectors of society.
Take a simple scenario of a young and healthy couple. They are most likely to be able to understand and deal with the complexity of making and operating Welfare Benefit claims.
Then consider a severely disabled couple who are 70+ in the same situation.
I have tried to find any rules or legislation that the DWP must comply with under the Equality Act 2010.

Does anyone either have a view on this in that the latter couple should, by law, be given alternatives or changes to be made in accordance of that Act?

I am looking to hold the DWP to account in that under that Act, we/I are entitled to have reasonable changes made in dealings with the DWP.

Or is it a simple one rule for all

Biblioklept

What alternatives are you thinking and what would make it easier to change? I thought everyone is entitled to reasonable adjustments regardless of age but I can't relaly think of many the DWP could make. 

janer1967

There have been some examples one member dealt with their pip claim all via email 

Adjustments are made for assessments some having paper based 

Others have an appointee to deal with claims on their behalf 

Some people have vulnerability markers and don't have reassessment 

As with anything and part of the equality act the Adjustments requested have to be reasonable there will always be situations where the Adjustments required are just not able to be put in place 

racyguy

janer1967 said:

There have been some examples one member dealt with their pip claim all via email 

Adjustments are made for assessments some having paper based 

Others have an appointee to deal with claims on their behalf 

Some people have vulnerability markers and don't have reassessment 

As with anything and part of the equality act the Adjustments requested have to be reasonable there will always be situations where the Adjustments required are just not able to be put in place 

You do surprise me.
You may know that I have extreme difficulties in (a) travelling and (b) understanding the complexity of many claim forms including PIP, GPC and others. In addition I find it extremely difficult to maintain benefit awards such as Pension Credit.

If email is available as a method, where would I find the email address for a start?
For PIP how does one go about having such a marker placed on their file?
As for a paper based PIP assessment once again where would I find the contact details to arrange it?

As an example I had to transfer over from DLA to PIP in 2018. Despite having been awarded DLA in 1996 at the highest rate for both elements with the help of a Welfare Rights officer attached to Social Services I was faced with a huge claim form on the transfer with no one to help me.
I was then told that I had to get two buses and travel for 20 miles and then walk a further 1/2 mile to an assessing  centre. If I failed to turn up it would most likely result in my claim being dismissed.

No one offered any alternative even after I told the assessing company that such travel would be most difficult. 

bg844

There is a ‘criteria’ for paper-based although it ultimately goes down to whether the DM or assessor feels they have enough information or it’d cause significant distress to the claimant and so on. For the venerability marker that can also be added by the original call handler when you apply for PIP, both of these options are rare with the paper-based being even rarer.

Although I, like many others agree that PIP and DWP has it’s problems/errors, they are a huge department that deals with millions of claims. Nothing in life can be spot on unfortunately and even more so when there’s over 5.4 million people claiming a disability benefit (not even including ESA or Universal Credit). This number is rising day by day too. I had issues when I moved from DLA but it all got sorted in the end luckily and the majority of people agree.

racyguy

bg844 said:

There is a ‘criteria’ for paper-based although it ultimately goes down to whether the DM or assessor feels they have enough information or it’d cause significant distress to the claimant and so on. For the venerability marker that can also be added by the original call handler when you apply for PIP, both of these options are rare with the paper-based being even rarer.

Although I, like many others agree that PIP and DWP has it’s problems/errors, they are a huge department that deals with millions of claims. Nothing in life can be spot on unfortunately and even more so when there’s over 5.4 million people claiming a disability benefit (not even including ESA or Universal Credit). This number is rising day by day too. I had issues when I moved from DLA but it all got sorted in the end luckily and the majority of people agree.

So, as I thought and found out getting the DWP to offer any adjustment is as rare as hens teeth!