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AIBU?

To think its ridiculous to keep re-accessing for ESA in this situation?

20 replies

tangledyarn · 12/02/2018 21:53

My sister has a LD, aspergers and epilepsy. Shes 30, the LD particularly is not going to fluctuate or change dramatically at this point. Today she was asked to take 7 away from 100 and how much change shed get from £1 if she spent 75p. Surprise surprise she still can't answer these questions, still cant travel alone despite still being at college and having lots of support from my mum etc etc. It just feels like a really horrible process for someone to have to keep going through where the circumstances are hugely unlikely to change.

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emmyrose2000 · 13/02/2018 08:49

I don't live in the UK, but we have an ESA equivalent.

A friend of mine was asked to provide evidence that her blindness wasn't going to improve. She's been blind since birth. Another person I know vaguely was asked to provide evidence - again - that their very evident cerebral palsy was real. Apparently the wheelchair and virtual inability to talk wasn't enough.

These unfortunately aren't isolated cases.

There are self important box ticking idiots in every country.

Hont1986 · 13/02/2018 09:38

YANBU, absolutely right. Incapacity Benefit used to be a permanent award but the ridiculous obsession with 'scroungers' meant that ESA has introduced this cruel system of reassessments every few years.

Are you familiar with the new guidelines about 'severe conditions'?

www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2017/october/guidance-work-capability-assessment-reassessment-published

Roomba · 13/02/2018 09:48

It's utterly ridiculous, isn't it? My friend keeps being reassessed to check whether his leg has miraculously grown back by itself. I read of a parent being asked at assessment when their child had contracted Downs Syndrome, as if it were something that she just caught at age 10 or something

Roomba · 13/02/2018 09:52

I'm g;ad to see the new guidelines on reassessment for lifelong and severe conditions. But at the end of the day, it's still all on the whim of the government at the time and may still change if another system or set of guidelines comes in. My friend was told (and had letters to prove it) that he was granted ESA indefinitely and would not be reassessed again in the future' Yet 18m later, he got called in again - apparently the guidelines and process had been changed so he had to go through the rigmarole yet again.

tangledyarn · 13/02/2018 10:02

Thanks I'll have a look at the new guidance. I do understand that re-assessment is necessary for a lot of people..I've got a number of conditions that do fluctuate/potentially improve for instance. Theres just no common sense in the system and certainly no compassion. For my mum and sister to have to keep going through this, focusing on my sisters 'deficits' is awful for them when in day to day life we try to encourage my sis, celebrate her achievements and downplay what she cant do as her confidence and self esteem is not great anyway.

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tangledyarn · 13/02/2018 10:05

Shes also still on DLA so will be moved over to PIP soon which means that they'll probably have to go through a similar process again this year.

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italiancortado · 13/02/2018 10:31

I don't have a problem with further assessment. Yes in some circumstances people will not change, but in others, they will. Where do we draw the line? I think it's actually really important for people on long term benefits such as ESA and PIP to be assessed with some sort of regularity. Ability or disability, changes.

HollyBayTree · 13/02/2018 10:38

Most of the stuff in the PIP assessment couldnt be proved or disproved - do you need help in bathroom - no one is going to accompany you to the toilet and watch your carer perform those functions for you, ditto shower, getting dressed. The only thing they can actually assess is the mobility aspect, ie you being observed outside of the house.

tangledyarn · 13/02/2018 10:46

The PIP and ESA assessments seem to largely assess how good you are at filling in forms and how much support you have got to argue your case well. In my sisters case she can walk miles outside but she would definitely have no idea where she was going and would most likely get run over so I don't really know how they assess that.

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picklemepopcorn · 13/02/2018 10:59

Bit of a waste of taxpayers' time and money, Italian, to keep dragging in people with permanent conditions. There is a limit to how much improvement s9me conditions are ever going to see. S9meone who has used a wheel chair from birth is unlike to become mobile and need it checking every couple of years.

G120810 · 15/02/2018 02:28

I agree there should be long term for people with certain disabilities but the questions they ask you most aren't related to the illness you have my illness won't change but there are people out there saying there sick when they aren't as doctor will just give anyone a sick line always make sure u have something written from doctor etc about conditions and get a letter from college xx

HelenaDove · 15/02/2018 02:42

italian.................imagine the uproar if parents were visited or called in every couple of years to check that their child was still living with them re. a CB claim.

Ludicrous right?

TitaniasCloset · 15/02/2018 14:44

Everything was working fine before this government messed it up. It's so stressful going through these assessments and a big waste of money.

italiancortado · 15/02/2018 15:28

Tbh it really wasn't. People have been defrauding the benefit system for absolutely years. The now government is trying to stamp that out. I don't agree with their methods, but they are no way responsible for the mess we are in

FoofFighter · 15/02/2018 15:39

2017 Fraud/error levels www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/664827/fraud-and-error-stats-release-2016-17-final-estimates.pdf

Luxanna · 15/02/2018 15:49

You would have to piss yourself laughing at some of these reassessments, if it were not so fucking tragic. That there are people out there that, for their job, have to question whether a severed limb might grow back or if a blind person with no eyes might be making shit up is ludicrous. That elected politicians approve of it is offensive.

Hont1986 · 15/02/2018 16:17

The number of fraudulent claims is almost negligible, and nothing compared the amount of benefits that go unclaimed by people who would be eligible for them.

Of course everyone seems to know a guy down the pub who faked a bad knee and got both enhanced rates of PIP

Lules · 15/02/2018 16:29

My friend has his eyes removed as a baby due to cancer but had to do the reassessment recently. It involved him saying ‘no, because I don’t have any eyes’ a lot.

Samcro · 15/02/2018 16:32

yanbu
i really can't see how it saves money to re assess people who have ld's and im our case Severe CP
but hey maybe they will suddenly get cured and not have brain damage

UpstartCrow · 15/02/2018 16:36

Yanbu, I know someone with brain damage, and another with one arm, and no they aren't going to improve. Not ever, not even with massive improvements in medicine.

I dont know how any reasonable person can sit behind a desk and ask a man with severe brain damage if his condition will ever improve.

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