Future of CB-ESA & other Green Paper proposals not included in the UC & PIP Bill

Hi all,

Sorry, I have not been on for a while, as it would seem, as you can see, that "our Government" seems to have lost its way a bit.

In the background we "Scope" and others have had great success in Reforming the reform, if you will excuse the pun. 1. In order to go forward you have to have a plan or suggestion, so that in discussion you can formulkate a plan to present to others that will look at it and see, in our case, what care, medical, or financial help is available, and how someone that does not know or has never used the system before (either by accident, or by becomming of working age, or even retiring, without even claimed for an issue they have always had.) access in plain English so all can understand.

Is this statement correct? Not really. WHY? because if youare a resident in the UK, ALL documents supplied by the government needs to be in your first language if required. This includes WELSH.

My point is that we rely on others to help us navigate the rocky road of benefits, with the hope that we will get the entitlements we require, whether Medical or Financial, as painlessly as possible, and without fuss.

• My first question: Given the current state of the system, how do you feel about the proposed changes?

To understand this system, it's helpful to have some background information.

The writing of the Green Paper and the Writing of the White Paper is not new, I have been involved with this since Professor Harrington started writing his reports back in 2010. They were not twenty or thirty pages but around 1300 pages. But what happened to them? He was accused of attacking the government? The white paper was presented at the World Forum, featuring the Red Cross and the NHS, among others.

People like Ian Duncan Smith, Jeremy Hunt, David Cameron, Boris, ATOS, the assessment provider for the DWP, and others were all targets. Yes, I use the word "Target" because succession after succession of ministers who took on the role of "Health Minister" had one mission, to cut the bill of benefits.

That's O K, but not at the cost of the Disabled or long-term sick.

In reading the Green Paper, it has already stated that the reforms are to cut the bill, which is growing.

• Question 2. It also states that a budget has been allocated to support the sick and disabled.

Where in the statement does it include able-bodied people or people who are stagnant on the dole or have been pigeon-holed into a group with no prospect of getting out of the vicious circle that they created by sacking workers at the 800 JOB CENTERS TO SAVE ADMIN COSTS? (DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THAT?)

Yet, on paragraph's 55, 56, and 57 it states.: They will be scrapping the WCA and UC assessments (ish)

Why go to such detail about recording a WCA, (which they should do) and get more face-to-face interviews if they are going to scrap it in its present format?

55.

We will therefore shift the balance towards doing more face-to-face assessments, while ensuring we continue to meet the needs of our people who are claiming, who may require a different method of assessment (e.g., due to the need for a reasonable adjustment). In addition, in advance of scrapping the WCA, we will restart re-assessments to make sure that people are accessing the benefits and support they should be, which will mean better outcomes for people who undergo a WCA and for taxpayers. We will smooth and improve the assessment process for people who have severe and lifelong health conditions that will never improve. We are not consulting on these measures.

Look at the emboldened section; maybe they should read their own script, since they are already supposed to be doing this.

Face-to-face interviews were halted during the pandemic and have never been appropriately reinstated. The number of F2F interviews were being recorded (this changed before the pandemic and they found that the report they were writing could now be played back and was of such a poor quality that it was thrown out and not used.) (plus they did not follow protocols of the Judicial System or the "Expert Witness Statements" after all isn't that what they were?

better outcomes for people who undergo a WCA and for taxpayers.

• What is this supposed to mean? What I see is that you cannot get the assessment correct first time, and it means more work to rectify, where a few years ago I had this transfered back to the Assessment provider since it was their error and that the Decision Maker was also involved since he had the last word and just rubber stamped that report.

Across the UK

63. As set out in Annex B, DWP is responsible for all health and disability benefits in England and Wales. In Northern Ireland, health and disability benefits are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive, although the UK government and the Northern Ireland Executive work closely together to maintain parity between their respective social security systems. In Scotland, some elements of support for disabled people and people with health conditions remain reserved (for example, the health element in UC) and some have been devolved to the Scottish Government (for example PIP and DLA).

64. Employment support is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland. DWP and the Scottish and Welsh Governments all have powers to provide employment support. The proposals in this paper would only apply directly to UK Government areas of responsibility. The interactions between reserved and devolved areas will need to be fully considered before implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland where responsibility for certain disability benefits is devolved.

What this means, finally, is that unless a report is written in the first instance in a PDF Format, nothing can be changed.

To change the PDF file, you must identify the parts that need to be modified. Both parties have to sign to say they agree to the content and then both parties are sent copies of the original PDF, the list of amendments agreed, a new amendment top copy number and the new PDF document with everything inserted.

"You cannot amend an original PDF Document. You must assign an amendment number to indicate that this copy has superseded the original, and it must be signed and dated by both parties.

If we write a White Paper, and the Government decides to write a Green Paper in response, this does not constitute an agreement……

Even now with further "discussions" the wording in the latest "Green Paper" is different and includes all people on the dole, not the budget ear marked for us.

And this is only starters….