to think under these new rules no one will qualify for PIP .....the replacement for DLA.

[HelenaDove]

Looks like the ruling has been created retrospectively in a hurry.....a bit like they did with workfare.

People with epilepsy and dementia arent going to qualify Utterly disgusting.

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/tory-ministers-have-rewritten-the-law-to-deny-increased-disability-benefit-payments-to-more-than-150000-people/ar-AAngTpD?li=AA54rU

Yet another eg of an uncaring govt refusing to tax the rich enough to put for the poor so penalising the poorest. I hate it.

No personal experience of my benefits here. I just wanted to show my solidarity with those who are worried - there are many people who care but don't have a vested interest.

Anyone who talks about disability benefit fraud should read some of the comments on the various dla forums on Facebook. Some of the children being turned down for dla and the parents fighting for it put it into perspective.

Oh, and there have always been people who play the system. There may still be. But that's the minor opportunity cost of helping the many who really need it.

This is awful. My Pip is due reassessment next year and it's terrifying.
I have multiple complex MH issues. I'm okay to look after my DD as she's a very powerful grounding mechanism, especially as I'm usually in my house where I have rigid routines, post its all over to remind me of things, reminders set up on my phone to tell me what I should be doing, my OH and MH supports accessible over the phone 24/7; without those I'd be all over the place. I couldn't hold down a job right now,

But if you saw me out and about with my DD you'd think I was a perfectly capable person.

I'm hoping things will keep improving as they have been to the point where I will be able to work and not need PIP by 2018 but it doesn't look like they will, and I'm left having to intentionally trigger an 'episode' or risk not looking disabled enough in my assessment.

For those switching with very severely disabled children don't worry too much. My son (severely autistic, severely learning disabled, epilepsy, non-verbal) switched without problem. It's actually easier for people like him to claim enhanced rate mobility than it was claiming HRM under DLA. Although I have just discovered he no longer has an automatic entitlement to a blue badge.

They do interview almost everyone. They didn't know my son's case as I wrote that he was likely to attack people or the furnishings of left waiting, would not be able to answer the questions & sent a shed load of reports from multi agencies from the previous year. So it was a PITA (they give you hardly any time to switch) but it was straightforward.

In not know

Sort of I have got this wrong but does that mean that those who don't get it - their carers can't get carers allowance either?

It is horrifying how many people are goi g to loose out. We claim dla for my son who has spina bifida. He can hardly walk and has incontinence, etc and we had to appeal to get it. I'm scared for his future.

Did your son have to be interviewed Devlish?

My daughter has been on an indefinite DLA award but she must be due to switch to PIP soon and am really dreading it. I have just reapplied for her blue badge and last time that was turned down and had to be 'reconsidered' before it was issued. She currently gets LRM and has no automatic entitlement.

I think from reading threads on here, it is essential to send in your own reports (as far as possible) and consult a guide when filling in the PIP form.

Where the hell is this in the press? That msn link says it's a mirror article but I cant find it on their website, the guardian haven't written a PIP article since last year and there's nothing on the BBC, independent or telegraph?

Why isn't this being reported? Was it deliberately released on by election day to bury it?

How can people protest against something that they don't even know about?

Winter fuel payments are maintained for all pensioners on the grounds that it would cost more to means test, how much money would it save to move to a paper based administration of PIP/DLA with reports from the medical team treating the person claiming? I suspect quite a bit.....

Is there anything we can all do? Petitions active we can sign?

Today in the Daily Fail they're reporting that MPs are getting another £76k. It's ok for them...!

It's all horrific

One of the bigger implications being that dla is a gateway benefit. So people who no longer qualify for it won't qualify for mobility cars 100's of thousands have been taken off people already. They likely won't qualify for care needs assessments and direct payments. Their carers won't be entitled to claim carer's allowance, and with it the exemption from jumping through jsa type hoops on 1 hr sleep a day. They won't be able to apply to family fund etc. It absolutely is eugenics.

On and the extra tc threshold banding will be lost if people loose dla

It was a change to the law that took social security lawyers by surprise, but I heard it on the radio 6 news yesterday morning so it hasn't gone completely under the radar.

I think there's a lot of confusion - understandably - on this thread about what is apparently proposed.
The benefit being discussed is PIP which is awarded for people with care or mobility needs, regardless of income. It can be awarded to working people. It replaces DLA.
ESA is the benefit awarded to people who are not working and are too sick to work. If you don't get ESA and are unemployed you have to claim JSA. The changes in the article are not about PIP.
From the article it appears that the mobility element of PIP is to be rewritten. The wording at the moment is a mess, and been subject to several upper tribunal decisions, none of which wholly agree with each other. The gov should amend the law to make the wording clearer - although they'll use it as an ppportunity to restrict entitlement rather than widen it unfortunately.
The current wording does a disservice to many people who are unable to go out alone - it would be great if the new wording addressed that but I'm supposing the gov will use it as an opportunity to restrict the benefit still further so more people will lose out.
However there is to be no blanket ban on people with epilepsy or dementia qualifying. It will depend on whether the point scoring activities match with their conditions.
The care element is separate and it looks as if it isn't being changed. Although it's not great as is for people with epilepsy.

I share with posters here the fear about what is going on with disability benefits but I don't think it's helpful to whip up the fear even more by saying benefit will no longer be able to people because they have a certain illness. Thats not quite true and is just causing worry about the wrong things.

My dad is 63 and has Alzheimer's. At the minute he is just about managing to stay in work as a cleaner in a supermarket but it won't be long before he can no longer manage.
He gets the lower rate pip at the minute and the dwp pay £40 a day for a taxi to get him there and back!
He really needs to give up work, he is struggling but unfortunately he can't afford to and because he's under 65 he doesn't qualify for his pension yet, the whole system sucks

38Cody only a tiny minority are defrauding the system. The current proposals are not addressing that tiny fraud, they're making life harder for the huge majority.

Am I understanding correctly that those who are physically capable of achieving the things set out for the mobility points system but cannot do so for non-physical reasons (for want of a better word) such as epilepsy, mental health or learning difficulty they would be denied the motibility componement?
That seems to be it Clash depending on what the actual wording is to say.

www.thecanary.co/2017/02/23/woman-no-hands-benefits-stopped-couldnt-open-letter-video/

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has stopped a woman’s benefits for not attending an appointment. Even though she couldn’t open the letter informing her of the appointment, because she has no hands.

A house fire severely injured Tina Leslie as a baby. It left her with life-changing disabilities, and having to live without the use of her hands. In 1989, Tina was in a documentary about religion and disability. She was receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Income Support. But the DWP wants to change her DLA to a Personal Independence Payment (PIP). And because of her disability, she couldn’t open the letter from the DWP about a PIP assessment. So she missed the meeting.

(contd)

If they are affected by their condition for more than 50% of the time, they're still entitled to those points. At assessment, they are invariably asked how many days a week they can't do this, that or the other. Say 3, they lose those points, say 4, and they get them.
In theory you are correct, in practice, you are not.
I have seen numerous people get turned down because during the assessment they were seen to be able to open the lid on a water bottle, or didn't seem that anxious, or were able to walk from the waiting room to the side room.

I couldn't find anything that says they're changing existing regulations.
They are changing the regulations to reduce the number of people who can qualify.
The new criteria is here
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3602-government-rushes-in-heartless-changes-to-pip-mobility-for-mental-health

I probably won't get it but Joe Bloggs down the road will say he has a bad back and get it, really winds me up.
Please don't say nonsense like this. You can't just invent a condition and get benefits for it. There may have been a tiny number of cases where people have fraudulently claimed, but if it was that easy, disabled people wouldn't be getting turned down so much.

People are far more likely to be refused dla or pip when they genuinely need it than be able to claim it when they don't.

Madamginger - If your dad has to give up work he should be able to claim contributions based ESA ( assuming he has paid NI contributions) which is an income replacement benefit for those too ill to work. This would be in addition to his DLA. he could get this until his state retirement pension kicks in.

Thanks for that link, Voice. Much clearer. I'm surprised this hasn't come up on my news feed!

That's pretty shit, but nothing this government does surprises me. I have at least 2 clients who will lose their mobility money next time round, and one of them is on the higher rate.

Agree with Iamnotanumber.

Please try not to mix up PIP and ESA. The media are awful for not making it clear which one they are talking about and a lot of potential claimants are put off by something they read that was about the wrong benefit.

Anyone in the system, please do appeal bad decisions involving wrongly awarded points for either benefit. If your mandatory reconsideration appeal is turned down, which the vast majority are, go on and take it to tribunal, where it is considered by an independent panel, not the DWP.

I recently had a claim for ESA stopped, with just 6 points awarded by the DWP. The tribunal agreed I should have had 18 points. The qualifying points level is 15, so now they will pay me the ESA owed. I represented myself at the tribunal, having informed myself about the points qualifiers and why I should get them.

Babyroobs and madamginger, contributions based ESA is limited to on each year only now. Means tested goes on after that if you qualify.

Jo Bloggs down the road will get it with his bad back.

I have a severe spinal injury with chronic back and sciatic pain. I was receiving higher rate PIP for both sections on a three year award. After two years and one day I was invited to reapply and within a couple of months had been reassessed and downgraded to standard rate on both sections. My condition had minor changed at all.

My application was detailed and I evidenced it with letters from my GP and several top consultant neurosurgeons. The assessor knew better.

Because I was using the Motability scheme I had to either give my car back or buy it which would render me housebound so I borrowed the money. I was also encouraged by a wonderful CAB advisor to appeal.

My appeal was upheld in both sections and is, I'm praying, indefinite. I now need to sell my perfectly good car and get supplied with a brand new car at the expense of public funds. My current car has 8500 miles on the clock.

It's all so, so useless and so, so stressful.

So no more talk about Jo Bloggs please. Back pain and injuries are real and claiming PIP has been a close second in term of pain to my actual injury.