WHO WILL BE TARGETTED FOR REASSESSMENT ON UNIVERSAL CREDIT
Comments
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No worries about not wording things better. I think we can all bit a bit sensitive about our own illness/disabilities in this climate of being attacked by our own government.
As to your idea, if the goverment would set aside jobs where people could work from home, say on a computer. Like the USA did in the Great Depression when they set up jobs for those who were starving I could maybe cope with working part time from home on a computer. If it wasn't too pressured and if the DWP promised not to hound those taking part to fill in all the forms correctly, put pressure on how many hours were being done and sanction those who made mistakes. All that would stress people to the point they couldn't cope anyway.0 -
I've never thought of myself as "disabled" either. But if you think about serious mental illness, it can debilitate someone so much, making even simple things like self care/showering really hard/impossible sometimes. When the mind gets really sick, it can almost immobilise someone so they can barely get off the sofa all day. People who have never gone through it have no idea. Neither does this Government, apparently!
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Please ring the Scope helpline (about your fear over reassessment.) They are so helpful and very empathetic/caring. They are really good at calming people down who are panicking about all of this and giving a different way of looking at things. They have really helped me. If you get overwhelmed by everything, the Samaritans are also really good at listening!
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@axab43 Indeed, I have decades of anxiety, depression,panic disorder, and ptsd. Amongst my physical conditions. I'd never in my life wished any of it on another .... Until now.
The government all need a good few yrs of trying to cope physically and mentally to "Teach" them what we go through. But sadly we are saddled for life with our health conditions.
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In their spring statement, they've added those awarded LCWRA due to "substantial risk factor".
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Here it's:
"The Government will reintroduce reassessments for claimants placed in the LCWRA group prior to April 2026 with certain short-term prognoses (such as high-risk pregnancies or cancer treatment) or who, without LCWRA, faced substantial risk to their physical or mental health."
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@Passerby I have a feeling they are intending using those three categories of people to 'test' their new system and, of course, for propaganda purposes.
They will expect 'positive' outcomes for the first two groups (pregnancy and cancer) i.e. when the condition is over/cured they will be fully, positively, supported to return to the workforce.
And, they will expect a different type of (completely reassuring - we see you, we hear you, we respect you) positive outcome for the third group.
They will become poster children of the system for propaganda purposes.
'Look! Here's Chantelle …. she was understandably extremely anxious/depressed due to her high-risk pregnancy. We supported her through the difficult time she was experiencing (on our generous new high rate of ESA), and that gave her the confidence to return to the workforce when her health crisis was over!'
'Look! Here's Fred …. he was understandably extremely anxious/depressed due to his cancer diagnosis. We supported him through the difficult time he was experiencing (on our generous new high rate of ESA), and that gave him the confidence to return to the workforce when his health crisis was over!'
The other group, substantial risk, will also become poster children in an effort to reassure that claimants being assessed are being found disabled 'enough' is a straightforward process.
'Look! Here's George …. he was understandably extremely anxious/depressed due believing we would not consider his personality disorder to be severe enough to warrant benefits. We supported him through his anxiety/anger about the new assessment process. We accepted the medical assessment provided by 'the experts'. We were able to reassure him his benefits (including the various health-related additional payments) will be protected going forward. Further, he was advised he would not face further assessments in the future.
The first two groups are red meat for those who resent the welfare system i.e. making sure people are not allowed to 'wallow' in the system for their lifetime.
The third group is to afford a false sense of security to other claimants that it is absolutely possible to continue with your benefits unchanged. The subtext to this is when you 'fail' to achieve this it means you're really not chronically ill/disabled because others (whether they meet the LCWRA criteria or not) have already been awarded this.
They are skewing the figures, and I'm pretty confident the scripts have been written already.
Sorry. I can't sleep. Mind running riot. 😔
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Friends, please help. My ESA hasnt come in, it usually comes in at midnight or 1am. I need this money badly. Is it possible to come in now or is something wrong?? I am so stressed I get panic attacks
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Hi, it can go in any time on your payment day. If it hasn't come in by tomorrow then you'll have to contact ESA to ask them why it hasn't gone in. If it's just an error they can make a fast payment manually.
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please try not to worry, this has happened to me a few times. Give them a call and they will sort it out.
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Hi, Just looking for some information. I have cerebral palsay since birth and get CB ESA (Support group). Would having a disability that won't get any better have put me in the "substantial risk" catagory? I don't have the origional award letter. Thanks very much
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I need to update my pip as I was waiting for tests when I got awarded, my review is due after 30th this month . I have obstructive sleep apnea (no cure only treatment via a cpap machine) profound hearing loss with both hearing aids and will not get better only worse . Would these conditions be classed as long term sick ? thanks
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My partner had severe obstructive sleep apnoea and he had to use a cpap machine.
He lost 4 stone in weight and he no longer has the condition so it is 100% possible to reverse the condition with a change of lifestyle.
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My husband has severe obstructive sleep apnoea too but is not overweight; he has a genetic heart condition too (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) but he doesn't class himself as sick or disabled and still works full time.
He was totally shocked when early medical retirement was put to him! But he has accepted some measures from occupational health to make things a bit easier.
The same condition can really affect people in very different ways which is why assessment is done on the effect a condition has on a person, and not diagnosis.
Totally agree with comments about how debilitating depression can be - my husband was signed off work for 6 months, so depressed i remember him just rocking back and forth in a chair! Thank heavens for anti depressants or our family would have collapsed as he was sole breadwinner at that time and we had a mortgage, 2 car loans and 4 small kids. Very fortunately, after trying a few pills, citalopram was the one for him.
Unfortunately, after 30yrs on it, he is unable to get off it but it absolutely did save his life and career. In his case, i think he was back in work within 7 months and has not been out of work since.
And i managed to go from psychotic breakdown, hospitalised on 24/7 watch back to work in 7 months too (with the help of some ECT!)
So there must be something about 7 months as a recovery milestone @Albus_Scope .
I wish the treatments worked as well for everyone as they did for us, but sadly that's not the case and mental health is an absolute blight on people's lives. We were very, very lucky.
** also just to add it's great that mental health is more out in the open now. When i was ill, back in 1993, such was the stigma that my union stepped in to bar my boss from seeing me at all. And it was kept off my work record so i went without the sick pay i was entitled to. I had to get back to work asap as we needed the money. As i had been off so long, my work demanded a fit note to say i was fit to go back. I remember going to the worst gp in the practice, knowing he'd sign anything without checking me. His phone rang during my consultation and he never asked any questions, just signed the paper and waved me away. It was tough going back and not saying what hell i had been through and i was a fragile shell after the ECT but i did get back to my old self and i'd say having to pretend i'd never been ill might have helped me get back to normal faster.
My psychosis came on after childbirth. I'm not schizophrenic. So it was covered over as (unpaid) maternity leave. I should have been back at work when my baby was 3 months old but i took an extra 4 months unpaid. A tough start for me to being a Mum but all worked out in the end and i had more kids but never another psychosis thank heavens.
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