Tuesday 3 November 2009

Good luck to the 500,000 turfed off incapacity

I have just been through a very unpleasant experience. In February of this year I attended a medical assessment in order that a doctor could assess my ability to work. I have chronic fatigue, was feeling particularly unwell at the time and was examined by an unsympathetic doctor who put me through all the physical tests despite my explaining that I would be able to perform them now but they would likely lead to fatigue later. In April, I was surprised by a letter through the door from the DWP explaining that I had not scored enough incapacity points and so my incapacity benefit was being stopped. Thanks a bunch. There followed several phone calls to the DWP and visits to CAB (where I had fortunately been volunteering when in ok health) asking for advice on what to claim. After being told 3 different things by the DWP, I was eventually advised to claim Employment Support Allowance and so had to fill out yet another form (less insensitive to the symptoms of chronic fatigue this time, but that's not saying much) and attend another medical (still haven't got the results of that one after several months). My benefit had dropped from £102.25 to £64.30 a week and I was leaking money fast.

I appealed against the decision with the help of Inverness CAB (Thanks Iain) and was told to expect about a six month wait. My tribunal happened on Monday and lasted all of one minute. The judge (put up in the nicest hotel in Inverness the night before) stated that I should have scored at least 3 extra points in various categories and so was approving my appeal. So off I trot to await the £1200 in arrears that have accumulated over the last 7 months.

I was lucky. Had I been on ESA when I was judged fit for work I would have had to claim Jobseeker's Allowance whilst knowing that I was incapable of work. It can't be fun having to apply for jobs you know you will not be able to carry out adequately.

Labour and the Conservatives both want to get 500,000 supposedly fit IB and ESA claimants onto Jobseeker's Allowance, saving £25 a week. I'm sure there are many people out there who are capable of work, but I would much prefer they used the carrot rather than the stick. Both the personal advisors that have been assigned to me have been lovely people who helped me try permitted work last year for a few months to build my confidence. My health didn't last, but the experience was vital in demonstrating to me that there is a path out of incapacity benefit when the time is right.

Over two fifths of IB claimants in Scotland have mental or behavioural disorders such as depression or anxiety. The volunteering and permitted work options could be vitally reassuring in their return to employment, or an effective way to trial various types of work to gauge their suitability. Removing such people abruptly from Incapacity Benefit risks making these stress-related conditions considerably worse and might place additional burden on the health service.

Forcibly moving people off IB adds to the workload of the DWP in processing appeals, costs about £300 a time for each tribunal (at a rate of £300 a minute for mine), and around 45% of appeals are successful. This rate rises to nearer 60% when the appellant has representation. My representative was a welfare rights worker at the Citizen's Advice Bureau (a service already overstretched by the demands of the recession). If someone could let me know how many incapacity benefit recipients appeal removal of benefit (Table IB1.10 I don't have Excel) http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/ib_sda/ib_sda_nov03.asp I might be able to show that the savings the Tories are projecting are insanely optimistic.

Anyway, my chronic fatigue is back again and I'm wilting and ready for bed so this blog post is just going to fade out with this highly unsatisfactory closing sentence.

5 comments:

BoB said...

The Labour and Conservative party policies on IB are callous in the extreme, and I'm sick of the way the media portrays people on IB as scroungers - particularly people with mental health conditions or things like chronic fatigue.

Hope you don't mind I've linked this entry from my new blog.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for putting this so succinctly: I tend to get too upset and just rant! When I was a child we had a family friend who suffered from schizophrenia and who killed herself when her benefits were suddenly stopped because she tried to take an art course. I suffer from depression and have lived in terror of my benefits being stopped for ten years now. I have tried doing voluntary work whenever I am able, but have found even volunteering too difficult mainly due to people's attitudes, such as paid workers telling me I am "pathetic" because I am not a paid employee, and getting angry with me when I am unable to keep up with the hours required. I have friends who are on benefits for incapacity who would be willing to volunteer or work part time if or when they were able, but the system does not allow people to work for a short while then stop when unwell, and part time work does not pay enough for survival. A friend who suffers from PTSD recently had her benefits stopped because she managed to find a job but had to leave it after three weeks because she could not cope with the stress or find childcare. The argument for stopping her benefits was that she had shown she was capable of working by getting a job! The terror of being left with no income if unable to keep up with a new job prevents many people on benefits from attempting to find work.

Anonymous said...

Great article, well done on the appeal.

"It can't be fun having to apply for jobs you know you will not be able to carry out adequately."

No; it's not, and then having to apply for jobs that you know you can do, and going to interviews where employers feel free to disparage you for having listed mental health or invisible disabilities on the application form, and then being rejected ostensibly for other reasons is not much fun either. I would also much rather a carrot than stick approach, but if there must be a stick, why isn't it directed at the employers who openly admit (there was a Guardian article recently) to discriminating against people with mental health or related conditions?

Norman said...

Snap. The same thing has just happened to me, although in my case it's Employment Support Allowance I've been refused. I will appeal and hope to get the same result as you eventually.

Why did you not appeal the original IB refusal? Success would have meant a higher rate of benefit, not now available. A late appeal might just be possible.

Christine said...

Yes, well done on both the appeal and this piece.

I strongly agree with the comments made by those above me. Kicking people off incapacity benefit will cause huge amounts of stress and distress which will only further contribute to people's incapacity. It's callous, it's stupid, and it's unfair.

I found you via BoB's blog link btw. I'm glad people are speaking out about this. I hardly ever use my blog, but I should write something on this topic.