ESA reviews/WCA's suspended for current claimants for 2 years

Richie-from-the-Boro

schrodie wrote: »

Not when you consider who's running the department!!

Yep ............... on this very forum almost a year ago whole thread is here.

cattermole

I'm not entirely sure however that is IDS calling all the shots though Richie

Write to your MP about an issue to do with the DWP and you get a reply forwarded from Lord Freud!! It is his baby IDS is just the whipping boy. He only defected to Tories from Labour when he realised they were going to loose the GE.

I am mystified as to why this happens as he is not an elected member!!

Morglin

I think Duncan Smith thought he would go down in history as a 'great reformer' which he confirmed when he compared himself to Wilberforce...:rotfl::rotfl:

I agree Freud is equally culpable, but it was obvious that after his Easterhouse speech, Duncan Smith thought he had all the answers to 'benefit poverty' - take it away from claimants, seems to be his answer to it all.:mad:

Failed leader, failed MP, and failed reformer - what an epitaph! :doh:

Lin

cattermole

David Anthony Freud, Baron Freud (born 24 June 1950) is a British journalist, businessman, Conservative politician and welfare adviser and is a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He is a great grandson of Sigmund Freud, and son of Annette Krarup and Walter Freud. Freud's book describing his career in the city has been described as "morally ambiguous". Whilst working in the City of London he was called by a colleague the "Fraud Squad" because of his ability to "heavily promote new share issues that subsequently tanked." Though having no previous experience in the welfare sector he was asked by Tony Blair to provide a review of these services. The "Freud Report" and his subsequent parliamentary career have greatly influenced government policy on the provision of welfare services. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 his policies have been described as "making the poor pay for the risk-taking of the rich."

From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Freud,_Baron_Freud

cattermole

He was later rehired as an adviser to the government when James Purnell was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2008. He was involved in producing a white paper, published in December 2008, which would require most people receiving benefits either to participate in some form of employment or prepare formally to find paid employment later. "We cannot have people simply loafing about, doing nothing and expecting the state to finance their lifestyles," he said in comments to the white paper in question. "That is the way to the destruction of our society." Freud's vision of welfare reform would involve the removal of welfare benefits paid purely on the basis of need. In future people such as those receiving incapacity benefits would be forced to agree to a plan to enter employment or be subject to sanctions. In 2013 Work Capability Assesments for disabled welfare claimants were described by Peter Beresford OBE, Professor of Social Policy at Brunel University, as "reminiscent of the medical tribunals that returned shell shocked and badly wounded soldiers to duty in the first world war or the ‘KV-machine’, the medical commission the Nazis used in the second world war to play down wounds so that soldiers could be reclassified ‘fit for the Eastern front’.”

He is most certainly responsible for ESA and assessments.

Morglin

I think perhaps Cameron, IDS and Freud are our very own version of the 'unholy trinity'......;)

However, the whole thing, around disability reforms, is quickly unravelling now, and even those that did agree with the original idea are viewing the chaos and cost with astonishment and alarm...:eek:

This will be the new system of assessment:





Lin

hardtimes

Does anyone know if these rules will apply in Northern Ireland?

hardtimes

I just found out it does not:(

Morglin

The minister for Disabled, Mike Penning, has finally admitted, officially, that WCA's have been suspended.

Minister finally admits ESA repeat medicals suspended

Created on Friday, 28 February 2014 13:22

Category: Latest news


"Mike Penning, minister for disabled people, finally admitted in the WOW debate yesterday that the DWP have suspended the sending of employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants to Atos for repeat medical assessments, as Benefits and Work revealed on Monday. He also did not deny the two year length of the suspension for those affected, which we disclosed on Wednesday.

On Monday we broke the news that the DWP have told staff that due to a growing backlog at Atos all current ESA claimants who have not already been referred to Atos will be left on the benefit, without further medical checks, until another company can be found to do repeat work capability assessments (WCAs). On Wednesday, following contact from a DWP insider, we also revealed that claimants due to be referred to Atos were being given a two year repreive.

Until yesterday, however, neither the government nor the DWP would confirm this information. But in the WOW debate yesterday, Kate Green MP asked Penning point blank about the issue [column 472] :

“My point is on the WCA, and I hope that the Minister will address the question that I and my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) raised about the suspension of reassessment of ESA claimants for the next two years. Will he tell us why the Department appears to have decided not to inform claimants or Members of Parliament about that?”
Penning responded:

“If we were to inform claimants and Members of Parliament about the minutiae of every single change in policy, we would be here a lot longer. As most Members know, I am not hugely party political, but I must point out that the previous Administration did not offer that level of information either. That is not how Governments work. We are trying to deal with the delays, and to ensure that people get what they are entitled to as quickly as possible and that nobody will be worse off while we are doing that. We are, however, in the middle of a really difficult negotiation with Atos over the WCA.”

Penning’s response is a welcome, but grudgingly given, confirmation of the news broken on Monday by Benefits and Work. However, it also displays his extraordinary lack of understanding of what it is like to be a sick or disabled claimant dreading the post arriving every day, for fear it will include a summons to an Atos medical. To actually know when your medical is likely to happen is not ‘minutiae’, it is a matter of enormous importance.

The suspension of referrals does not, unfortunately, affect claimants who have already been referred to Atos by the DWP.

As Atos made clear on their website yesterday, having been inundated with calls about this issue:
“Any WCA repeat referrals that we have already received from DWP will also continue through the WCA process as they would before.
“You can normally tell that this process has started because you receive a Limited Capability for Work questionnaire, or ESA50. You should still return forms, supply additional evidence or attend appointments for a face to face assessment as necessary.”

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2663-minister-finally-admits-esa-repeat-medicals-suspended

Lin

melbury

Morglin wrote: »

The DWP stopped referring claimants to Atos for repeat medicals with effect from 20 January 2013Lin

Is this correct? My OH was called in for a repeat assessment by ATOS last July. Was he just very unlucky?