osdset
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Everything posted by osdset
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My overall Benefits journey from 2013 to date - and on going still!!
osdset replied to a topic in Benefits and HMRC
I wrote in block capitals at the top and bottom of every page of my last ESA50 I WANT MY ASSESSMENT RECORDED. It was, and I was migrated into support group. -
When UC was in it's infancy, it was mentioned that part time DWP staff might well have to claim it. I remember laughing like a drain at the time. Oh the irony!
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Every WCA I've had has been conducted at least one hour after the appointment time. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the waiting room is covered by CCTV cameras, It's a convenient tool to monitor the behaviour of claimants while they get more and more aggravated at the wait.
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Gobsmacked! Received the brown envelope from the DWP this morning, not only did I pass the WCA, they've transferred me to support group. I am literally scratching my head at this decision, I felt I met the descriptors for WRAG and would have been happy with a decision that reflected that, but support group? The GP (it was a GP, I checked later), did say he needed to phone a colleague at the end of the assessment for a 'second opinion', perhaps that influenced the final outcome. This WCA with Maximus was so at odds with the one I had with ATOS five years ago, I don't know where to start with comparisons.
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Reassessments scrapped for chronically ill benefits claimants
osdset replied to aw248's topic in Benefits and HMRC
Theresa May is regarded as a liberal conservative, she's got one toe firmly in the water, and a finger tentatively on the pulse. The spin doctors will dismiss terms like 'backtrack' and 'u-turn' and substitute them with 'policy change'. May ostensibly seems like an even handed person, but one must always bear in mind that she's a Tory, and we know what their track record is like. -
Reassessments scrapped for chronically ill benefits claimants
osdset replied to aw248's topic in Benefits and HMRC
The Devil is in the detail, no one knows what chronic illnesses will be included, or excluded. I'm not holding my breath at the mo. -
Hi antone. Does it make any difference to my likely entitlement? Not sure if I know how to answer that. I'm reasonably confident that the outcome of the WCA under my existing conditions would have been a fit for work decision; I was only awarded ESA WRAG by Tribunal following an appeal, I fully expected to have to go down the same route this time around. I assumed that a significant arm injury would trigger at least a postponement of the WCA until I got the 'all clear'.
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Hi all. Long time no post I know but I've been occupied elsewhere! I have a WCA booked for 7th September, however I had a nasty fall on the 29th July and fractured my upper right arm. I know an injury like this would trigger an automatic ESA claim, but as I'm already on ESA (WRAG) due to other conditions I'm wondering if there is any procedure in place to cover a situation like this? I'm guessing the answer from the DWP will be attend the WCA anyway. Can anyone shed some light? I used to be pretty well read on benefits issues but I'm well and truly rusty and I know some things have changed since I last locked horns with the DWP and ATOS, Maximus taking over the WCA's being just one example. Any help greatly appreciated.
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So acquaint yourself with the rules and regulations, print out anything pertaining to your situation or complaint, and remind Seetec of their obligations at every opportunity. If your Seetec office is anything like the one I dealt with they will try to fob you off and obfuscate the facts, present them with the paperwork and they have nowhere to go. Use their own rules against them. Above all, stand your ground, these people rely on claimants folding because they are either too afraid to say anything, or they don't know the regulations.
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See page 5 of the provider guidance, it states that ESA(IR)WRAG with a new12 month prognosis are mandatory participants after 12th Nov 2012. I scraped in before this cut off date, and it was this that was pivotal with regard to my battle with Seetec. Seetec insisted that I had been mandated to the programe, I argued that as my award pre dated the 12th Nov 2012 the (in my case) 24 month prognosis held and I had declined to participate with the programe. The regs are confusing, and it looks like the provider guidance PDF has been altered, I'll try to find my original copy because I'm sure it has extra information regarding claimants with a 12+month prognosis. However it looks very much like the DWP have closed the 12+month 'loophole'.
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My take on this? Sue Marsh is paving the way to Westminster, she wants to be a career politician. I cannot understand how someone so vehemently against the system would suddenly decide to be part of it. She is not so naive as to think she can actually make some kind of difference from within surely? The road to hell is paved with good intent, but I'm not convinced Sue Marsh has any conviction left. I've accused her of selling out, taking thirty pieces of silver, because I'm so disappointed that someone could be bought so easily. Maybe she's fed up with tilting at windmills from the sidelines and the pen turned out to be not mightier than someone's chequebook?
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Multiple forums? Two to be precise, lets not get carried away. It utterly sucks that she's sold her supporters down the river.
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I've no doubt she'll be doing loads, choosing new colour schemes for assessment centres, designing brightly coloured eye catching posters. That's if she gets any spare time off from being IDS/McVey's new poster girl. I note from her responses to comments on her blog she's already put a parting shot across the bows by stating (in her own defence) that she used £400 per month of her benefit entitlement to support her site, I expect a concerted campaign to get ESA benefits reduced forthwith.
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No doubt right after she opened the 'congratulations, you've got the job letter'. She'll last a year in the role, maybe two before either her condition deteriorates or Maximus decide they've had enough playing silly buggers and send her on her way. What then? Will she resume tilting at windmills whilst shoving in another claim for ESA? Start the blog up again and set up another Sue Marsh fund for new laptops and holidays?
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Sue Marsh, the author of 'Diary of a Benefit Scrounger' is taking up the role of Head of Customer Experience with none other than Maximus, who for the tiny minority that don't know, are taking over administering WCA's from ATOS in March. Salary details aren't on Sue Marsh's web site, but according to Johhny Void https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/author/johnnyvoid/ it's £75k. Is this the same Sue Marsh that has been fighting the current system of WCA's for years? Does she imagine that she's now well placed to make a difference from the inside? Maximus have bought her off, plain and simple. Dangled £75 grands worth of carrots in front of her nose knowing full well it's an offer too good to turn down. She adds Which should read "someone's got to do it, it might just as well be me". She's betrayed every benefits rights worker and campaigner across the board, a Judas taking her thirty pieces of silver in return for a gag on the back bench. What does this say about those in Support Group? Offer enough money and it's get up off thy bed and work? She's just undermined every single ESA claim in the country.
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Sounds more like a sobriety test!
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Irrelevant really because ATOS's remit is/was to find as many claimants fit for work as possible, and the DWP paid them handsomely to achieve that goal. The evidence to support my statement is the huge amount of decisions overturned at appeal. OK your gf will no doubt state that ATOS does not make decisions, the DWP does, but lets remember that DWP DM's routinely rubber stamp ATOS's assessments. And the vast majority of those assessments are a 0 point score.
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You are looking at article 4 of the ECHR, and as others have stated it's been tried as a defence against workfare already and failed. HM Gov as embodied by the DWP and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Ian Duncan Smith) can and have (in the case of the Wilson Reilly ruling) retrospectively changed the law to suit the governments agenda. I would fully expect them to rigorously attack any attempt to subvert workfare by legal means, and most people just don't have the resources in terms of finance and legal assistance to mount a challenge to the government. The best you can hope to do is as SabreSheep says, hold JCP/DWP to the rules, (or at least try to). I believe workfare to be a a particularly nasty method of supplying free labour to companies and so-called charities, coupled with sanctions for non compliance of other JCP imposed Muppetry it's a cosh to bludgeon the unwilling into compliance.
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That poster would be me. My advice is to avoid the WP like the plague, it's bad enough when a claimant gets a mandatory referral and is stuck with the provider for two years, To volunteer is akin to Turkey's voting for Christmas IMO.
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Benefit sanctions: Present your case to the Select Committee
osdset replied to Mr.P's topic in Benefits and HMRC
I'll be submitting my story, it'll be a bit difficult to contain it within 3,000 words though! -
The 13 week 'rule' no longer exists, the DWP have deemed the assessment phase is open ended. This came about as a result of welfare advisors successfully getting back dated payments of ESA from the end of week 13 at tribunal for claimants that had waited for months for the WCA. Obviously the DWP were somewhat miffed over this, and as they cannot overturn tribunal decisions they decided to move the goalposts. The cash savings were on balance quite minimal, and the lengthy waiting times causing financial hardship to claimants overlooked, but we have come to expect nothing less from the DWP.
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Asking Seetec to fund course - dragging their heels
osdset replied to nexxusone's topic in Benefits and HMRC
As with those wishing to get a CSCS card, the provider will say 'get the job first' to which the response is 'I can't even get onto site for an interview without a CSCS card' and the provider will say 'get the job first'.......... -
A Having problems getting ESA85 Statement from recent WCA
osdset replied to tommy456's topic in Benefits and HMRC
I think the legal aid issue is more about funding for an advocate from an advice centre than an actual solicitor. -
Been there already, told them feck off on more than one occasion Rossendales are the worst, I emailed their CEO with proof of ID and a copy of the tenancy, they're still hassling me. Most (if not all) of these debt collectors have been sent proof of tenancy, and I even taped a copy of the agreement to the inside of the front window! It seems that with every week that goes by I get another demand for money for the previous tenant, it's just getting on my nerves now. The HA won't send out any third party info, so no help from them.
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I moved into a Housing Association property two years ago, the previous tenant racked up a fair bit of debt, parking fines etc and then did a moonlight flit. I have been writing and e mailing the various DCA's and bailiff firms in a vain attempt to get the deluge of threatening letters stopped to no avail. I've already e mailed/faxed copies of my tenancy agreement to all concerned but the letters keep coming. What's the best course of action? I'm seriously thinking of sending them all a final letter stating that I'll be charging for any further correspondence and suggesting that if they can't (or won't) accept proof of who I am the best course of action would be for them to proceed with legal action and let the county court sort it all out.
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