Piratecat, the 'mandatory reconsideration' for ESA is now law.
For those who still haven't grasped the Stasi-like quality of this:
You're too disabled or ill to work.
You're sent to see a dental nurse or similar, who is employed by the DWP, via Atos, to find a given percentage of her claimants fit for work. She hasn't read your doctor's notes or heard of your condition. Because you were able to sit or stand at your appointment, she finds you fit. (They find people on permanent oxygen therapy, on drips, and in hospital fit. And did you know about the hypothetical wheelchair they legally use, to prove you could get around in a wheelchair if you had one?)
You protest this finding, and are sent a reconsideration form. This says the DWP will reconsider the decision it made. You are not told who will reconsider it, on what basis, or when. The mandatory period is indefinite.
While waiting for this 'reconsideration', you're not entitled to ESA so are told to claim JSA. In order to claim JSA, you're required to sign a document saying you are fit and able to work.
Having signed that you're fit, you're placed on a Work Programme which will involve making a large number of cold calls by phone, email and in person. You have to do this, regardless of your health issues, because of the agreement you've signed. If the Jobcentre person feels you haven't done enough, or even shown the right attitude, they can instantly stop your payments for up to three years. Your payments are stopped if you are ill; this includes going to necessary hospital appointments.
When your JSA is stopped ('sanctioned') your housing benefit & council tax benefit can also be stopped. You will have to apply for discretionary payments from the council, and you can imagine how that's going to work out.
You have to do all this while you're sick.
When your reconsideration eventually gets done, you will either have given up entirely or proved you're capable of full-time work activity. Catch-22.
The automatic right to a court appeal (tribunal) no longer exists. You can appeal the reconsideration, if you're still functioning by then, on points of law only. Thus, you must know the law. Which IDS changes three times a week (no exaggeration, I counted for a few months earlier this year.)
This process is to be navigated by people who can't walk some days, are already stressed beyond belief and have weakened immune systems. A High Court has just found the DWP's claims process discriminatory against sufferers of mental illness; it went to High Court because the department appealed an earlier court finding. The DWP is now considering whether to appeal further to the Supreme Court.