ESA3QR, ESA3(IBR) 06/18

Hi all!

I have been having a quiet time since I last posted. I'll maybe fill everyone in, in another post, but the upshot of it was that the DWP put me back in the Support Group again. I have been focusing on my mental health and family since then, as well as a complaint to the ICO for a grievous breach of my Data Protection rights by the DWP, (which was upheld, but that's another story).

However this Friday a big manila envelope dropped on the doormat and I was a thrust back a year to the hell of last year's ESA WCA assessment, and the violent crime in my workplace that bought me to this point in the first place.

After I had calmed down, and my husband had picked up a prescription for sedatives from the doctors, I got to thinking. I have been a sent an "opportunity" to have my Contribution based ESA (originally Incapacity Benefit) assessed, to see if I qualify for "premiums" if I were to transition to income-based ESA.

The thing is, I arrived here through the CICA compensation scheme for being a victim of crime. I have been very careful with that money and my partner works full-time, which has always pushed me past the threshold of any Income-related benefits. I have never applied for them. I am in receipt only of a small amount of IIDB for being injured by a criminal attack in my workplace, and IB, which became CB ESA. So my questions are as follows.

1.) Aren't some people in great danger of losing their CB-ESA, because getting that money backdated also means that they effectively transition from CB-ESA to IB-ESA and then to Universal Credit at some point in the future? I don't get the impression that anyone knows what's on the other side of IB-ESA status.
2.) What are people on CB-ESA doing to fill in this form? Are they
a.) simply leaving the whole thing and not letting the DWP know at all? Or are they
b.) divulging their financial details in a legally binding document to the DWP for a benefit that doesn't depend on your income (if they don't meet the criteria now, but have at times during that period)?
3.) In order to choose to reject a benefit I don't want (IB-ESA), do I HAVE to tell the DWP my reasons, and in so doing in fact lie to them? Because none of those boxes really apply to me. There's no. "I don't want to be assessed thank you, and I indemnify you form the results of me making this choice. I'll be in contact if I change my mind".

I don't want my income assessed by the DWP to see if, at some point in the last 6 years I MIGHT have been eligible for IB-ESA, because
a.) I know I'm not now, so I would lose that benefit in the here and now. But
b.) The CICA assumed I would receive Incapacity Benefit, so deducted it before they awarded me compensation, but didn't take anything else. To lose the CB-ESA would be a loss in real terms to me, but I can't now go back the CICA to recover that money as my case is settled.
c.) I don't want to have to have any interruption to my CB-ESA because it could mean falling foul of even more confusing and punishing system, and dragging my partner into having his earnings examined by the DWP annually. He would be within his rights to do so, because they shared my personal information with a third party, and admit to having done so.

Is this is stealth route to get more people off of Contribution-based ESA and onto Income-based ESA and from there to the fresh hell that is UC? I'm very worried. Because as far as I can see, nothing the DWP does is EVER about improving the lot of the disabled or sick person who is unable to work.

Making people apply for a new benefit in exchange for money owed, even if it might not be in their best interests in the future, because the new benefit is even less secure than the old one, seems to me like coercion of the worst sort. I'm fairly certain that the whole thing could have been carried out as an accounting exercise. It doesn't need an application. It definitely does need a fresh explanation for applicants that they might be prejudicing their own best interests in the future. What are other people's thoughts and experiences?

Thank you for your reply Gordon.

Can I ask if you have had sight if this form and the covering letter?

There is no box to tick to say you don’t want to take part. Only 3 boxes giving your reasons for not taking part, (partner was or is working 24 hours plus a week, You have savings of over £16K, your partner or both of you have savings over £16K). None of these actually apply so I’m going to pass it on to a solicitor.

I’m not on a means-tested benefit. I don’t want my means tested. But if I answer those questions, I’m breaching my partner’s privacy by giving a reason that isn’t true, (his working hours are irrelevant to my decision, even if they do apply).

It also indicates that they could require you to attend a work-based interview.

There are also handwritten things in the form including Part 16, asking me to answer if I own my home and Part 17 asking if I have lived in a care home. I have never ever had a communication like this from the DWP with scribbled notes.

Also on page 42, you agree that, basically the DWP, CHDA and other people or any other contractor can ask anyone you mention on the application to deal with this claim for benefit “any request for this claim to be looked at again” and that the info may be passed on.

It also says in bold “I have provided this information so you can decide if I am entitled to income-related ESA”.

Then there’s an office use box at the end where you can sign to declare that you have had the answers read back to you and they are correct and complete, and the signature of the interviewing officer next to it.

You’re basically filling in an ESA1. Applying for a fresh benefit rather than having any premiums to which you’re entitled paid back.

I suppose I’m asking because I’m very concerned, and not just for myself, that this is a stealth attempt to transition CB-ESA candidates to IR-ESA. That perhaps for a while they’ll be on both, then they’ll be transitioned off of CB-ESA onto IR-ESA or UC. For the long-term sick with sufficient resources not to need extra financial support, this application invites an enormous amount of sharing from which the DWP can assess your ability to burn through your own resources before you need means-tested benefits (home owner status and catehome residence).

Also there are no supporting explanations or indications from the DWP iprecisely which benefits you’d be entitled to. You’re just “filling in a form”. But by the end of it, you’re actually making a fresh application for IR-ESA. Which wouldn’t be a problem if UC (which will follow on from IR-ESA), hadn’t have transpired to be so punishing for the people migrated into it. For the sake of a small possible rebate, it might not be worth losing the enhanced protection of CB-ESA.

Is this is stealth route to get more people off of Contribution-based ESA and onto Income-based ESA and from there to the fresh hell that is UC? I'm very worried. Because as far as I can see, nothing the DWP does is EVER about improving the lot of the disabled or sick person who is unable to work

.

This is exactly what we have thought as soon as the envelope landed on our doorstep, I can see a carrot but Im always on my toes for the stick that its attached...we have decided to reply with box 1 my partner worked for 24 hrs or more and don't want to be re-asesed, I just cant see them (DWP) offering to give anything without a payment of sorts, that payment I believe is to eventually move all ESA (CB) support group onto the Universal credit fiasco..
my wife has been on ESA (CB) for years I am just in the assessment phase of New style ESA (CB) after finishing work on grounds of ill health in September (im 58 so in the final times of my working life anyway).

Tough times ahead for us all...