Disabled niece being exploited by government

[rational837]

My niece is 26. She has very severe mental health problems - in and out of units etc. Fairly stable now but heavily medicated and lacks capacity. Was getting disability benefits til March which organisations had to fight for. She had a review and got a letter saying she was no longer entitled to anything even though her doctor did a report to support her. Me and my mum tried our best to help but she lost her money. She was forced to claim Universal Credit but is expected to work full time and take all sorts of steps to achieve this. She lost her supported living flat/housing benefit and had to move in with my mum. She has health problems so its limited how she can support my niece. The stress of the conditions of UC and several sanctions has caused a relapse but she can't go back to unit. She keeps attempting suicide and disappearing with the police looking for her. She's stopped her tablets and says she doesn't want to live as the government hate her and don't care. No organisations can do anything and I'm scared she will take her life. Anyone any advice please a I don't know where to turn and having mental health issues myself :(

I can't advise you, sorry, but would just like to offer some support till someone else answers.

With the recent suicide attempts, would there not be a chance that she could reapply for the benefits that she's lost?

I am raging against the system on your behalf, OP. It seems inhumane that all support has been withdrawn.

Hoping that you're OK.

Has she tried appealing the decision?

We are appealing but have been told it will take 2.5 years. In the meantime, to have any money at all, she has to claim UC and do what they say. She can't and the staff are horrible with applying sanctions ie, a drop in money that she is permanently on now.

Thank you for the support. We have been told that she can't reapply, just wait for the tribunal. We have got lots of advice who say this is all correct.

Was it PIP that was stopped ? If so she can apply again whilst she waits for the tribunal hearing. I have never known a tribunal take 2.5 years more like 1 year maximum. It is vital that you submit as much medical evidence as possible and get some help from CAB or similar with the tribunal submission. I presume she has already been through mandatory reconsideration ?
Secondly - she could have been claiming PIP and UC alongside each other. On UC you need to make sure she has declared her health condition and is submitting sick notes so that she can be assessed for work capability. Has she had an assessment for work capability yet? This is a different assessment to the PIP one. If she has been submitting sick notes for a while then you need to chase up this assessment as she will be asked to attend appointments with the job centre until she is assessed. If you need to advocate for her then sign into her journal with her permission and send notes to everyone work coach and case manager that she is vulnerable. In my experience they do take note and treat claimants differently when they know there are severe mental health issues at play. lastly please get some support from CAB or similar to help you negotiate the system and best advocate for her.

Who told you she cannot re-apply ? If it is PIP then she can most certainly re-apply.

We were told this by PIP and ESA. We finally managed to get in touch with CAB who said she has to wait for the appeal now. Even if she did re-apply it would take too long to be looked at.

Can she apply for LCWRA this would take some of the pressure off with universal credit as I think they lower or stop all expectations of job searching and the like if this gets awarded?

It's true she cannot go back onto ESA now she is on UC.
Were both ESA and PIP stopped ?
New claims in my area are only taking a maximum of around 3 months wheras appeals can take up to a year.
I'm surprised at CAB saying that you have to wait for the appeal as it's perfectly possible to put in a new claim whilst waiting for an appeal. Perhaps seek advice elsewhere - a mental health charity or a different CAB advisor ?
It is not unusual for this to happen. I was helping someone the other day who had severe mental health problems for over thirty years and his PIP was stopped suddenly in feb as they said he did not return a review form - he is adamant he did. I managed to ring PIP and negotiate for them to send out another form, but really when people are severely mentally ill they should not suddenly stop a benefit if the claimant doesn't comply because the very nature of their illness means that they bury their heads in the sand/ ignore forms/ don't open letters etc so are vulnerable. I hope you manage to get some help for her and get things sorted.

Contact your local authority to see if they can support with benefit appeal, they usually have specialist welfare rights workers who can do this. Also I think a conversation with the GP to refer to mental health services to see if they can offer support? Have u contacted social services?

It's true that she can't reapply while an appeal is ongoing but the win rate at appeal level is very high and if she wins at appeal she will get a lump sum of all the backdated payments she missed during the time it was wrongly withdrawn.

Stick with the appeal. It's not the government who made the PIP decision against her, it was the outsourced DWP assessors who are notoriously bad

The appeal however is independent from the DWP and will be conducted and decided by a medical expert and disability expert who will inform the decision of a neutral judge.

From my own experience I was initially denied PIP despite an MS diagnosis. This was overturned on appeal and I felt the appeal hearing was conducted very sensitively and professionally.

The purpose of the appeal is not to put the claimant on trial but to assess if the DWP made the wrong decision and overturn it if so.

I hope this information can help your niece understand the process and have some hope that she will be treated fairly

I hope it goes well

contact your local mp.we have a carers center near us, they would give advise, or CAB, good luck

After the mandatory reconsideration has been refused & you apply to appeal, the DWP have a month to review the claim before it goes to the tribunal service. Lots of claims get given during that month, I got my PIP award increased back to enhanced during that month, originally for 5 years & the day after it was increased to 10 years. Contact your MP as they can often get claims moved along quicker, give them all the information you have, did you ring for copies of the assessors reports? They are really useful as you can pick holes in what the assessor has awarded. You can also make complaints to the Assessment Company, the DWP & report the HCP to their governing body if you feel that they have lied or not given their client a fair hearing.

Thanks for replying. She has constant mental health input as shes 'in the system' and is meant to take several medications. She also has a social worker but she is useless and just says its down to the mental health team how they help (or not in this case). I believe she should be sectioned as we can't keep her safe and the police said as well. Again, the buck stops with mental health team. She has appointments but its like we just go round in circles.

Yes, we will try the local authority. Thank you.

It might have to be our MP. We will take her with us and he can see how bad she is!

Thank you. We had to appeal before to get the help but only waited 3 months. We are very hopeful of that but she does need money in the meantime (UC) as my mum is 72 and terminally ill herself. I appreciate its not the actual government but they oversee these organisations and allow this appalling treatment to go on. I fear she may be dead before the appeal so in a way it will resolve :(

There is case law to say that the onus is on DWP to prove your health has substantially improved to be able to lower a previous award, here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/58527464ed915d0aeb0000a8/CPIP162332016.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3p4RzPuJyBfN45kDIG74rtJZxd8jHOoxDAZD6IFN1DgDzss5fPboVKisaemm_Aed3N3GUUDk0YOXTZNIJK7R28qRQpFSgmKkGiSUQawJrxrAI1uSQd-3JsneRBoEetzc

It’s long winded, but worth a read. Even just writing to them and quoting the case might be enough to change their minds! A tribunal judge is not going to look favourably on them for wasting the courts time. It's entirely possible they will make an offer long before the tribunal.

Also, get your MP involved and get them to highlight the above case law.

I believe she can apply for a limited capacity to work on UC. She will need to prove that medically she cannot work. It would stop all the calls and need to meet with work coach.

Also as mum is terminally ill, she may well be able to apply for PIP which will be fast tracked. Niece could then be down as carer maybe and stop her having to look for work too I think.
The system sucks, they screw over everyone and go after the most vulnerable in society. I'm so sorry

So her benefits were stopped after a review in March and she's been claiming UC since? One of your posts implies that she was on both ESA and PIP, but ESA reviews weren't happening in March so that must have been a PIP review, is that right? When and why did the ESA stop, then? Losing PIP can reduce an ESA award depending on the circumstances, but can't stop it altogether. Sometimes the DWP stop an ESA award by accident at this point but it can be reinstated, although I'm not sure that's possible now that she's on UC even if the move was down to a DWP mistake.

Is she only getting the basic UC element and, if so, has she submitted fit notes to be referred for a work capability assessment?

She can reapply for PIP whilst awaiting a tribunal but this can cause more problems because it puts an end date on the existing claim. If she wins the appeal she will get any back pay owed but only up until the start of the new claim, and if the new claim was also unsuccessful she would go back to having no award whilst appealing that.

You would need to be very careful if niece being a carer for someone when she is claiming to have severe difficulties even keeping herself safe. I have seen people at PIP tribunals questioned very thoroughly by tribunal panels in relation to what care they provide for 35 hours a week to someone else. It can go against them.

Sorry, to be clear it's the decision on a new claim that puts an end date on any award given for the first claim at appeal, not the application itself. Was ambiguous in writing "start of the new claim". Shame we can't edit a post twice(!)

Approach a university that has law students that want cases to help them practice.
I got recommended this from a charity that is meant to be advocacy based but doesn't include it any more.
Mind the mental health charity has advocated for me in the past and helped me with paperwork.
Can you approach charities that might be specific to her needs to help you also?

Please make sure she has professional advice when appealing, things need to be worded a certain way. I believe if you emphasise that she would be in danger by being made to work it will mean she will be awarded LCWRA.

That's a horrible situation to be in , for UC if she can get a Dr's note that says she's unfit for work then she won't have to do job search , she might also get a slightly increased amount as they have something called a disability component to UC.

I know it probably feels like everyone is against her but just keep reassuring her it's not personal, lots of people have this problem with DWP and that the appeal will be a much gentler experience with a high chance of success

One positive is that if she gets UC with a disability component and a fit note then she can continue to be on that when her PIP does arrive so overall she will be better off than before as she could receive both UC and PIP concurrently

In the meantime try reaching out to mental health charities to see what help and support is available. They may not be able to help financially but might be able to provide other support like councillors etc.