WCA reassessments to start again

Anchoress

FBaby wrote: »

Life is stressful, that's just the way it is and I don't know why people on ESA think that should be fully protected from it. We all have to learn to cope depending on our circumstances and prepare for the things we fear but have no choice but to face.

Oh dear FBaby, you have made yourself look very foolish with your 'words of wisdom'. I can't even be bothered with a rebuttal except to say.....until you walk a mile in another's shoes, you can't really understand their experience.

red_devil

well said Anchoress:)

The governments only plan is to get as many people off benefits as they can by whatever means possible, they couldn't give a toss about people.

We no longer having a caring and compassionate government. They have waged war on anyone who needs benefits.:(

Yet they give tax breaks to their rich friends and send a lot of money abroad.

ab1982

Anchoress wrote: »

Oh dear FBaby, you have made yourself look very foolish with your 'words of wisdom'. I can't even be bothered with a rebuttal except to say.....until you walk a mile in another's shoes, you can't really understand their experience.

FBaby response seemed sensible, apart from maybe being a little uncaring it seems factual, what was wrong with it?

KxMx

I was assessed regularly on IB, forms & medical, so not sure why another poster seems to think I was "parked" on it?

I've actually been assessed less, not taking into account the delays, on ESA!

ESA is a money saving exercise, nothing more. Anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish.

Anchoress

ab1982 wrote: »

FBaby response seemed sensible, apart from maybe being a little uncaring it seems factual, what was wrong with it?

Well, put simply hers was a logical response when others are expressing an emotional one, so it's not comparing like with like.

I would expect that even FBaby has had emotional responses - maybe when her children were born or she fell in love.

You may think that some people have an over exaggerated emotional response to the ESA system but you need to understand that it is a direct threat to them if they don't have a cut and dried entitlement. The result of the assessment is in the hands of a decision maker, so a lot people will feel powerless in such a situation and that is anxiety inducing, causing all sorts of knock on effects to their health and wellbeing.

ab1982

Anchoress wrote: »

Well, put simply hers was a logical response when others are expressing an emotional one, so it's not comparing like with like.

I would expect that even FBaby has had emotional responses - maybe when her children were born or she fell in love.

You may think that some people have an over exaggerated emotional response to the ESA system but you need to understand that it is a direct threat to them if they don't have a cut and dried entitlement. The result of the assessment is in the hands of a decision maker, so a lot people will feel powerless in such a situation and that is anxiety inducing, causing all sorts of knock on effects to their health and wellbeing.

She is agreeing with you then I think. I understood her point to be that stress and anxiety over security of income is just part of everyday life for most people be they employed or not, sick or not. What I think she is saying, and I agree, is that there is no reason why reassessments for ESA should be stopped just because it makes some claimants anxious, the alternative would be open to fraud.

I don’t understand what you mean by emotional and logical responses or kids and falling in love etc, sorry.

I would think that a bit of stress, pressure and anxiety in small manageable doses is quite healthy although I appreciate this will be different levels for different people.

FBaby

Sorry if my words were abrupt, it wasn't the intention. However, I do stand by my comment that having to deal with the stress associated with finances and the fear of losing income is not exclusive to benefit claimants. It is something that many working people face too and have to accept regardless of their state of mind.

My point was that making is that the fact that waiting for an assessment is stressful doesn't justify that it shouldn't take place or that special allowance should be made on this basis.

.until you walk a mile in another's shoes, you can't really understand their experience.

And you are making the assumption that I haven't. Trust me, I have, it wasn't nice, but I had to accept that I had to face it as no-one was going to make it all go away to make it better for me.
.

GirlFromMars_2

FBaby wrote: »

Life is stressful, that's just the way it is and I don't know why people on ESA think that should be fully protected from it. We all have to learn to cope depending on our circumstances and prepare for the things we fear but have no choice but to face.

I'm glad to hear that you are better at coping with the system than I and a lot of other sick and disabled people. I hope you understand that stress affects people in different ways, and you are one of the lucky ones who is able to cope. I am not able to cope with stress, and that is just one aspect of my physical disabilities.

Like a previous poster, I was on IB before ESA, and like them I was assessed regularly. It wasn't ever a nice process to be assessed for IB, but it didn't adversely affect my health. Being assessed for ESA adversely affects my health, and the health of many other people.

And yes, I do believe that there should be a duty of care to sick and disabled individuals that at the very least allows the government to monitor the level of distress they are subjecting a vulnerable portion of the population to on a regular basis, and I am not remotely ashamed of that position.

I don't believe anyone should be parked on a disability benefit, and never reassessed. But I don't believe that the ESA system is transparent and fair to the claimants, and the long drawn out process of mandatory reconsiderations & tribunals is torture. But hey, the government are saving money!

I am hopeful that this time around the DWP have learnt from their mistakes, and are making better decisions from the start about grouping ESA claimants. When I was initially transferred from IB, there were many erroneous decisions, of which I was just a statistic, but being that statistic dramatically affected my health. As I said, I am hopeful, but that is just a way of thinking, and sadly will do little to quell my visceral emotional response to reassessment. I was hurt a lot by the previous assessment, you cannot expect me not to react emotionally to my next reassessment.

Thomas_The_Tank_Top

Open up empty military barracks. Give you all a room. Messing will be provided. Your bennies will pay for it. Sorted.

TELLIT01

GirlFromMars wrote: »

Like a previous poster, I was on IB before ESA, and like them I was assessed regularly. It wasn't ever a nice process to be assessed for IB, but it didn't adversely affect my health. Being assessed for ESA adversely affects my health, and the health of many other people.

How is assessment on ESA different to IB?

It's not a loaded question, I genuinely am interested to know the differences.