The Green Paper Discussion (the document link is here too!)
Comments
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I'm so sorry to hear your spinal issues are worsening.
This is a weird section of the document and we must get clarity from MPs/Ministers but something tells me this Unemployment Insurance benefit cannot be for us.
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@Middleton that's great news. Was this your reassessment for LCWRA?.
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I have to wear AFO's on both legs and the muscle wastage has got very bad. Hopefully an MP will come back to us and clarify. 👍️
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Im also on ESA (contribution related), and I’ve been in the support group for many years (well over 10) and Yes, the details are extremely vague -putting it mildly. The: “ (for new people claiming)” in paragraph 54 is possibly for those who are NOT in the support group, or who have been on it many years (lifetime award etc) I received this last week, thus:
How Employment and Support Allowance has been worked outThe Employment and Support Allowance Award
The payment of Employment and Support Allowance is based on your National Insurance Contribution records and any additional amount the law says you need to live on.
£92.05 Your living expenses
Limited capability for work addition
Extra Money because you are in the Support Group £48.50 (all emboldened mine)
Which gives a total income-related amount £140.55
Income and Benefits
No income will be taken off your Employment and Support Allowance
Your income-related amount is £ 140.55 less £0.00 so you would have been entitled to £140.55
However because you are entitled to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance we will pay you £140.55
The amounts on this page apply from 11 April 2025 to 27
November 2025
Yours sincerely
Office Manager
—————————————The inside booklet (ESA REPORTING CHANGES - ESACOC) on page 6, says:
Changes to capital and assets
We need to know if the total capital and assets in your household is more than £6000. Tell us if you or anyone who lives with you:
- starts getting, stops getting or has a change to the amount of savings or investments owned
- becomes the owner of any land, buildings or premises or sells any land, buildings or premises
- gets a one-off payment such as inheritance or a lump sum payment.
There is no mention in this booklet of CB-ESA (AFAIK), but from the above info (mine), I would assume I’m on contribution ESA. The booklet should read well for means, (and non means tested) esa.
I have savings over 16K, and never been contacted about this. What is concerning (as pointed out by others here), is that if It’s time related, then we on ESACB could lose our NI contributions. I’m 64 (just last week) so 3 years till pension.
Thank you all for this forum, of which we would all struggle without.👍️1 -
How long before the disabled are harrassed in public!
The zeitgeist is turning against the most vulnerable😟
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Yep, it is for LCWRA
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II dont think Id go so far as to say thwy are evil (re assessors)
Some are not very nice. Possibly just the way they are (so not sure why they're in that job 🤔 ) but possibly bullied by their superiors to get results.
Some are very human but are still under the cosh, so to speak.
As for Kendall Reeves & Starmer - (sounds like a dodgy firm if you ask me ) I think they are the evil ones
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Love this! You go for it! A degree is a degree. ☺
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I'm going to contact a few peers as well. I'm honing my draft. It must be flawless.
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Did you have to complete the same questionnaire before the phone call today?. I'm basically waiting to be reassessed and was wondering if I need to go through the whole process from scratch again?.
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No; this was simply a UC claim review.. Around 3 weeks ago i received a note in my journal asking me for 4 months of bank statements.
They asked me 2 questions concerning a couple of bank transactions and that was it.👍
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So they gonna get rid of Contribution Based ESA and then make it time limit and then you have to apply for UC.
What happens if your partner works fulltime ?
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I think they will take into consideration their earnings on any award for you then
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my first assessor was definitely evil . Hardly looked up from her computer. Asked me questions to which she had the answers . Wrote underneath everything I answered , claimant said she can’t do x. I say she can . Ignored my Drs letters, my Gp said he’d never had that before and was furious. Said my specialist letters claimed my condition was due to my child’s condition but I’m ok now . This was a lie . I have ME that was caused by glandular fever and there’s no cure. She even had the cheek to say I made good eye contact when she barely looked at me . Second assessor pretended to be friendly then down graded my points . To do the job and knowing the damage you’re doing to ppl imo they’re evil. And it’s us that being made out as liars and cheats to the system. When it’s the assessors that are the liars I know they’re trained to turn ppl down but the two I had were nurses , they didn’t need to be assessors . The first was definitely the worse , the second just crafty . So far and I don’t want to jinx myself ( touch wood , I’m touching my head 😂)the dwp have actually been nice and helpful.
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From the Benefits and Work site
What you can doContact a member of the House of Lords
Contact organisations you have a connection with
Making your voice heard is definitely not a waste of time.
It appears that the government were panicked into dropping a planned freeze to PIP before it was even announced, because of fears of a backbench revolt. So there’s clearly hope they can be persuaded to drop other measures.
Please use the comments section below to share ideas for speaking out, tell us what action you’ve taken or pass on responses from MPs, Lords or anyone else. But please do stay on-topic.
Take part in the consultation
Normally we would be urging people to take part in a consultation on an issue like this.
But the DWP consultation in this case is so unfair that we have very mixed feelings. It fails to ask questions about most of the issues that people would want to give an opinion on, such as:
- Changes to PIP scoring
- Abolishing the WCA
- Freezing the UC health element
- Having a single assessment for both PIP and the UC health element
You can read more about why we are so unhappy with the consultation here.
But we also know that the DWP may argue that lack of response means that most people do not object to the changes.
So, if you consider that taking part in the consultation is the lesser of two evils, you can do so here. The closing date is 30 June 2025.
Contact your MP
Whatever party your MP is a member of, it is worth contacting them.
Some parties will be against the cuts and your support for their position will encourage them.
Even some Conservative MPs may decide not to support the Green Paper, or may choose to only support parts of it, if only to cause problems for the Labour leadership.
And Labour MPs will need a lot of encouragement to have the courage to rebel.
You can email your MP via Write To Them
Even better, write them a letter or arrange to talk to them in-person at a constituency surgery.
We recommend that you make any communication very polite and reasonably brief. If you are going to be personally affected by the changes then focus mainly on how you will be affected by the proposals.
Contact a Lord
You don’t have your own member of the House of Lords, in the way you have an MP. But the House of Lords can do a great deal to challenge, delay and sometimes even change legislation.
If you visit the Lords section of Write To Them there is an option to “Find a Lord interested in my topic”.
You can put in key words like “PIP”, “social security”, “depression” – it’s best if you enclose them in quote marks – and you’ll be given a list of the Lords who have spoken about your chosen subject the most. It will also tell you which party, if any, they belong to. It’s worth checking what they have said on the subject as some may be strongly anti-claimant.
Alternatively, you can select a Lord who has a connection with where you live or work.
At the top of their results page there will be a link saying “I want to write to. . .” which will allow you to email them.
As with MPs above, please aim to be polite and reasonably brief.
Contact local media
Local newspaper are often fairly desperate for content, including reader’s letters. You can ask for your name and address to be withheld to maintain your privacy. Write about why you are concerned about the cuts and encourage other readers to complete the consultation or contact their MP
The Local Media Works website allows you to find the contact details for local papers in your area.
If you have a local BBC Radio station, you can find their contact details here.
Contact organisations you have a connection with
If you have a connection with a major charity, please contact them if you think they could be doing more to publicise the Green Paper changes and encouraging their members/visitors to take action.
Alternatively, if they are doing a great job, let them know that it's appreciated, because there's always an element of worry for a charity when it criticises the government
And you may have a connection with a smaller charity or a local branch that could also be more proactive on this issue, perhaps with some support from you.
Or you may be have contacts with an advice agency, housing association, trades union, housing association , food bank or some other group that could also be encouraged to do their bit.
Sign a petition
Signing a petition probably doesn’t achieve much on its own, in most cases. But if it’s just one of a range of ways you are trying to make your voice heard then it’s worth doing.
There's one from 38 Degrees headed No to cruel benefits cuts.
And Scope have a Cutting disability benefits would be catastrophic petition here.
Let us know in the comments section about any petitions you have spotted.
Support a campaign
There may be campaigns being run by different organisations that you can support.
Scope have a campaign asking people to contact their MP and request that they meet with Scope to discuss cuts to disability benefits.
Take part in a protest
We don't yet know of any protests against the cuts, but there may be some being planned. Let us know in the comments section or drop us an email, if you are organising one or aware of one.
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BBC news 3 more Dudley Labour councillors have resigned and will sit as independents over the welfare cuts
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Two more from disability news
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Does anyone know what's happening to old CB ESA? I'm in the support group. With all the announcements this week I'm left very confused about reassessments and / or mergers!
I heard that old style CB ESA would move to New Style ESA but that only last 12 months then onto UC.
Really hoping someone can explain this clearly as I'm so so confused and worried.
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