To let you all know that disabled are having their benefits cut

[AndNowItsSeven]

The DWP has today launched a consultation aimed at cutting the number of people eligible for the daily living component of personal independence payment (PIP) by up to 35%. The cuts will be aimed at claimants who qualify for PIP because of their use of aids and appliances and may include replacing awards with discretionary voucher payments.
The press release and consultation document published today claim that 35% of all daily living allowance awards are based solely on the claimant’s need to use aids and appliances.
This is flawed as
A)often disabled people require assistant, however Atos are only scoring then as needing an aid.
B) even if you disability needs listed in the pip form can be met by aids most people will have many other needs not mentioned on the form.
To suggest the only extra cost of being disabled for those claimants, is the cost of aids is absurd and insulting.
The consultation ends on 29 January 2016, conveniently over the Christmas New year Period.
Please if you can take the time to respond.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484217/pip-consultation-on-aids-and-appliances.pdft

And I'm sorry AndNowItsSeven, a HP would never have 2 days training to carry out surgery. That's a bit of an overstatement imo. But I can see this is a sensitive subject with a lot of people and I can understand why.
It's very difficult to know what the answer is. BUT it would cost thousands of pounds and take months of organisation to ensure that each person claiming saw a specialist in their particular field.

No blue they may do half a day a week over four weeks but they do not do 28 days training to become an assessor.
But let's just say you are right , 28 days training does not qualify a physio to assess the impact of autism, bipolar or copd on a claimants daily living.

Yes it would cost thousands , however all the claimants have there own specialists who provide medical evidence. Therefore the face to face assessments waste thousands of pounds in the majority of cases.
Under the dla system people were awarded with either realms of medical evidence or an assessment. No one simply filled in a form.

Their not there.

My son's statement required him to have input from a physio, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist, as well as regular clinic visits with a very good consultant. I think the physio's input was 2 sessions. But he saw the speech therapist, occupational therapist and doctors, for a number of years as well as got support in a special school from specially trained teachers. All of whom could submit evidence to support us, when we applied for DLA. All of whom gave detailed info.

There is no way a random 'health care professional' with a few days' training and no personal knowledge of the applicant, can have a more valid opinion than a consultant.

Oh and I hope that gives the idiot upthread who thought the change to PIP was needed to prevent DLA fraud, a bit of a reality check. Can you see how much easier it might be to commit fraud if all you're doing is convincing an unemployed physiotherapist?

My older son had an ATOS interview where he lost his DLA he had for dyspraxia. In his case, the interview was conducted in broken English by a doctor - who seemed to have receptive language problems of her own, judging by the fact that when she asked a question he'd say one thing but she wrote down another... And I came away wondering what kind of doctor would even have the time for this as a job on the side. Presumably she was unemployable or wouldn't be working for ATOS? I don't care where anyone comes from or who they are - so long as they are competent - but what kind of half arsed outfit would employ someone who can't even understand simple responses to basic questions? He decided not to appeal as he simply couldn't face the whole procedure again and as he's an adult, I didn't try to change his mind (he also suffers from severe depression and I didn't want to trigger anything).

This is why I'm dreading the PIP thing with my younger son.

AndNowItIsSeven - they do FOUR WEEKS training. Honestly!!!

Blue ok maybe I am wrong and it is four weeks. The points still stand four weeks training is laughable compared to seven years training to become a doctor, plus many more years to become a consultant.
If you were in labour and you were told they were short staff, however don't worry a physio with four weeks training will deliver you baby would you be ok with that? Even if that had your full notes and information from your consultant obstetrician ( if you had one) .

I suspect most hospital consultants might have spent a bit longer training than 28 days...

I'm not even sure medical training helps hcps understand LDs and autism though. They certainly didn't understand my f2f when we had our recent stay in hospital, in fact I'd go as far as to say, they didn't have a clue! including knowledge of how to control her epilepsy and what it looks like

Absolutely Jofrey, and so have the HEALTH PROFESSIONALS that assess people. The 28 day training is purely learning the assessment process.
Consultants cost a fortune. Health professionals cost considerably less.
Do I think it's perfect? Far from it.

Of course the flipside of reviewing awards made "for life" is that in some cases, the review might find the recipient is entitled to more help than when initially assessed.

But wouldn't it be better to have fewer assessments? Less stressful for the applicants and then they could use consultants etc as it wouldn't cost a bomb. It would also mean it's less likely to get incorrect assessments which surely benefits everyone.

But wouldn't it be better to have fewer assessments? Less stressful for the applicants and then they could use consultants etc as it wouldn't cost a bomb. It would also mean it's less likely to get incorrect assessments which surely benefits everyone.

It would depend what the point of the assessment is. If you believe what they say, you'd be right. However, when you look at what they do, you realise it's actually a different thing.

LurkingHusband I'm guessing you mean most assessments are done to see how little can we get away with awarding you. Sorry I don't know much about the nitty gritty about this.

LurkingHusband I'm guessing you mean most assessments are done to see how little can we get away with awarding you

Actually it's MrsLH, but yes, that's my impression.

I'm not surprised to hear that really.

That's exactly it. It's the same with some appeals you are treated as if you are taking money from them personally.

To whoever it was who said about my GP being a specialist in everything, no they aren't, but they do phone my specialists to find out about my conditions and they can refer patients on to secondary services for help.

These assessors don't.

Yes, I expect anyone assessing me to have knowledge about my condition. I provide details of my specialists to people without and expect them to contact and be knowledgable by the time they see me. Enough damage has been done to my body by those without knowledge for me to put up with that anymore.

I don't care if it's expensive. Tough. Thats their problem for ignoring the advice they have been given by specialists telling them my prognosis and to leave me alone

I think most of the allocation of disability benefits is pure luck, depending on whether the person making your decision is well-informed or not. The first time I applied for DLA I had my application rejected, rejected again on second consideration, and waited 18 months for my tribunal date for the appeal. I "won", but only low rate care (backdated). I immediately applied for PIP because I was absolutely not getting what I was entitled to, and after a few months I got an appointment for a face-to-face assessment at my home. The assessor seemed very lovely and well-informed. About another two months later I got my decision through, which was enhanced rate for both care and mobility, with exactly the same needs that had led me to apply for DLA in the first place, for which I was initially rejected and then only begrudgingly awarded low rate care by a tribunal panel that were so horrible they made me sob. There is absolutely no consistency in the system whatsoever. Two people with exactly the same diagnoses and indeed needs will get allocated completely different sums of money from them.

Did we all get our Christmas bonus letters today folks?

I bet the mail will be spitting feathers about the extra tenner we've all been given

I don't get it anymore. Mine was stopped. Gave up trying to find out why - too much hassle and energy I just don't have.

Every benefit letter I get says christmas bonus 0.00

Yes I still qualify so no idea why.

We get a whole £20 as I get carers allowance too! Shocking

didnt get a letter but they put the £10 in my bank

I am living abroad at the moment so I assume I haven't been receiving my PIP anymore. I say 'assume' as my partner and I spent the first 2 months of moving here ringing them every week to tell them to stop paying it because I've moved abroad, they still paid me at least once, haven't checked since. Wouldn't be surprised if they are still paying me, they are so incompetent (obviously I hope they're not).

It's very worrying.
I'm not surprised though.
There are so many people arriving on the doorstep every day and a lot of those won't all be completely healthy and many will have additional needs that will need funding.
As a result, there are more people taking out of the pot.
Therefore, with the way things are, there was always going to be cuts.

As nice as it is to welcome all and sundry in, it is bound to affect our services in the long run..
Not a popular view I know, but it is sadly true.