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DWP not being careful with vulnerable claimants
- conney
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8 years 11 months ago #160422 by conney
DWP not being careful with vulnerable claimants was created by conney
Being a member of B & W and having read the latest newsletter I felt that my brother''s current situation may be of interest.
He suffers mental health problems and has since he was sectioned in 2011 having suffered from severe psychotic episodes. His family were told that if it happens again they will not be able to bring him back towards anything that resembles normality. Since his condition was diagnosed his anti psychotic drugs were gradually lowered as he improved but once it got down to 5mg he was starting to experience difficulties so the dig was put back up to 7.5mg. They struggled to find anti depressents that didn't give him too many side effects. Eventually they did but his dose is so high that if they increase it he will have to go into hospital.
The DWP are investigating his banking due to the amount in his current account which was doubled due to the DWP sending him a large sum in back pay last year saying they were not paying him the correct amount due to being allowed carer''s for his wife. He has held on to the money in the suspicion that they will ask for it back. This is still going on and his anti psychotic drugs have increased by 2.5mg through the stress.
Then to top it off he had a medical in May for the work capability assessment. Again stressing him out and then rang him last Friday to say he didn't get enough points and his ESA was stopped. The panic that ensued was off the charts with him and his wife who is now also suffering from depression. If they put the warning into practice then how have they allowed all this to be put on 1 man at the same time. He is already questioning why he is still here and has done so every day since the phone call. My brother is lucky in one way, he is not alone and receives support and help from his whole family.
We are now working on putting an appeal together so he can respond upon receipt of his confirmation letter.
He suffers mental health problems and has since he was sectioned in 2011 having suffered from severe psychotic episodes. His family were told that if it happens again they will not be able to bring him back towards anything that resembles normality. Since his condition was diagnosed his anti psychotic drugs were gradually lowered as he improved but once it got down to 5mg he was starting to experience difficulties so the dig was put back up to 7.5mg. They struggled to find anti depressents that didn't give him too many side effects. Eventually they did but his dose is so high that if they increase it he will have to go into hospital.
The DWP are investigating his banking due to the amount in his current account which was doubled due to the DWP sending him a large sum in back pay last year saying they were not paying him the correct amount due to being allowed carer''s for his wife. He has held on to the money in the suspicion that they will ask for it back. This is still going on and his anti psychotic drugs have increased by 2.5mg through the stress.
Then to top it off he had a medical in May for the work capability assessment. Again stressing him out and then rang him last Friday to say he didn't get enough points and his ESA was stopped. The panic that ensued was off the charts with him and his wife who is now also suffering from depression. If they put the warning into practice then how have they allowed all this to be put on 1 man at the same time. He is already questioning why he is still here and has done so every day since the phone call. My brother is lucky in one way, he is not alone and receives support and help from his whole family.
We are now working on putting an appeal together so he can respond upon receipt of his confirmation letter.
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- Gordon
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8 years 11 months ago #160441 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic DWP not being careful with vulnerable claimants
conney
I'm sorry that your brother finds himself in this situation.
There is little that we can do to assist with his savings problems, the law is quite black and white in this area. If he was receiving Income Related ESA in part or in whole then any savings and assets in excess £6000 will reduce his ESA(IR) payments by £1/week for every £250 in excess. If his savings are in excess of £16,000 then he loses any entitlement to ESA(IR) payments.
In either case there is a potential for an over payment to have occurred and he really needs to get face to face advice from a trained advisor.
As to the failed ESA assessment
The first stage to challenging a Decision is for him to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with his claim, have a look at our ESA MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the ESA area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1
He should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if he has not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once he has the assessment report he will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
His primary task is to show that he meets the criteria, there are many reasons he may have failed, he needs to address each of these but he shouldn't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless he can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
I'm sorry that your brother finds himself in this situation.
There is little that we can do to assist with his savings problems, the law is quite black and white in this area. If he was receiving Income Related ESA in part or in whole then any savings and assets in excess £6000 will reduce his ESA(IR) payments by £1/week for every £250 in excess. If his savings are in excess of £16,000 then he loses any entitlement to ESA(IR) payments.
In either case there is a potential for an over payment to have occurred and he really needs to get face to face advice from a trained advisor.
As to the failed ESA assessment
The first stage to challenging a Decision is for him to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with his claim, have a look at our ESA MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the ESA area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1
He should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if he has not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once he has the assessment report he will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
His primary task is to show that he meets the criteria, there are many reasons he may have failed, he needs to address each of these but he shouldn't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless he can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: conney
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