DLA Medicals?

[stewey]

Hi all, I'm really getting concerned about the DLA medical test coming into force soon.

 

I have MS and I'm currently in receipt of the higher rate of DLA for both Mobility and Care,

but from what I read online and hear from others in the news I can see me losing everything and being told, however ridiculously, that I'm fit to work!

 

I think if I lose my disability benefits I will not remain in this world for long as I genuinely am unable to work, particularly due to the most debilitating fatigue you could imagine.

 

Is their plan to make many of us commit suicide?

[count orlok]

You can get DLA whether you are in work or not. DLA is being replaced by PIP for people of working age from Oct next year.

 

ESA is the benefit for people to ill/disabled/sick too work. It is the governments plan to make as many of the sick as possible get into work, even though there are not enough jobs for the able bodied.

Edited September 24, 2012 by count orlok

[stewey]

I wasn't eligible for ESA as I was not working for some time whilst being diagnosed and was on Income Support. Eventually got to the highest rate for both elements of DLA with an indefinite award and acceptance by them that, barring a miracle, I was never going to be able to work. Now it seems the new medical assessment will probably see me lose most of what I get to make my life easier and with quality of life already nearing unbearable I can see little point in going on if that happens. That Duncan-Smith man is an absolutely heartless creature. Arbeit Macht Frei springs to mind whenever I see him speak.

[count orlok]

You will be migrated from Income Support to ESA, not sure how it works if you haven't enough contributions, you may be entitled to Income based ESA, or you may be put in the support group. DLA has nothing to do with work (despite the government claiming it is a disinsentive to said), but it is going to be replaced by PIP which will no doubt be at a lower rate and a lot harder to get. The reason behind this is to remove 20% from the benefit so we are told.

[Nystagmite]

Count - yes, the OP would go on to income based ESA (if they meet the low income test) as they haven't paid or been credited with enough national insurance contributions.

[della2]

I honestly don't know how people are coping with the benefits system for now and in the future.

 

Any certainty of income has been removed or is being removed.

 

Re-assessment of ESA, Re-assessment of DLA/PIP are just two. I also find it impossible to take in what I hear about these 'work schemes' and how easy it is to be sanctioned.

 

I know how I feel, and that is that I would do anything now to avoid having to claim a penny from the state.

 

Then what gets me is that we have genuine claimants that have proven medical conditions, some life threatening, yet they too are made to 'appear before the board' on a regular basis when logic and common sense says that they will never improve - they will deteriorate further in time!!

 

Benefits - there is no attraction unless you enjoy the endless roundabout of being made to feel that you are defrauding the country by asking for a continuation of what you are already getting.

 

And all of that is before I even get onto the subject of those that are playing the system!!!

[stewey]

I spoke to welfare rights after posting and they have said I'll be moved to ESA and having done the online self assessment completely honestly I have scored into the 'support' bracket...that doesn't fill me with confidence though given the stories I've heard and read.

 

They are also confident that I'll meet the criteria for PIP and keep my present level of DLA when transferred but I guess only time will tell...if only big business would pay their taxes then the deficit would be wiped out in under a year and the government could start reducing the national debt...but better to make the poor in society suffer for the sins of the rich! The way it's always been and the way it always will be

 

I have to say if I were wealthy I would really be proud to pay my fair share, sadly not a position I'm likely to be in though so somewhat irrelevant...

[stewey]

Look on the bright side...in a hundred years no one will care

[della2]

I spoke to welfare rights after posting and they have said I'll be moved to ESA and having done the online self assessment completely honestly I have scored into the 'support' bracket...that doesn't fill me with confidence though given the stories I've heard and read.

 

They are also confident that I'll meet the criteria for PIP and keep my present level of DLA when transferred but I guess only time will tell...if only big business would pay their taxes then the deficit would be wiped out in under a year and the government could start reducing the national debt...but better to make the poor in society suffer for the sins of the rich! The way it's always been and the way it always will be

 

I have to say if I were wealthy I would really be proud to pay my fair share, sadly not a position I'm likely to be in though so somewhat irrelevant...

 

 

What you think or what a Welfare Rights worker thinks and even after completing a self assessment, means nothing!

 

The only person who will give those decisions will be the DWP Decision Maker, based on what ATOS reports.

 

If everything went as it should and everyone was awarded a benefit based on a self assessment or what a WRO thought, the Welfare budget would go up!!

 

Personally and from lots of experience, the decisions bear little regard to what is actually the case.

[stewey]

I'm well aware of that, however I am genuinely disabled with a condition which only progresses and if by some ridiculous reason they say I'm 'fit to work' then I have little doubt I'd then win on appeal...

 

The only inference I can draw from your post is that you are one of those who would like to strip everyone of their benefits, or perhaps you fear losing yours so much that you're hoping the more others lose, the more chance you will escape the cuts!!

[gemspan]

I have an ATOS assessment on 9th October and if I were you I would be horrified if you didn't continue on the benefits you are currently receiving. One of my friends has MS and is in the support group with the highest awards for DLA. I think its quite wrong for people to come on and scare the living daylights out of people especially as they admit in another post that their father doesnt get the benefits they are entitled to because they talk themselves out of it. I hope this helps to put your mind at ease a bit! I would think its a travesty if you lost any benefits. That's not what the benefit system should be there to do. The genuine people should not be frightened....

[stewey]

Thanks for the moral support gemspan, I hope your assessment goes well tomorrow

 

You are right, the genuine should have nothing to fear, but the truth is this government is out to strip everyone they can, and also set people against anyone who isn't working...the Chancellors speech today proved that...

 

I was listening to 'Any Questions on Radio the other day and one of the panel made a very pertinent point...the cost of fraudulent benefit claims around £1 billion a year...the tax which is avoided, uncollected or even evaded each year, over £125 billion...if only the super rich and big corporations would pay the tax under the same PAYE system we all have to or did when able to work we would have a very wealthy country, not one in debt...

 

Hope you post how your assessment goes, and best of luck again...

[Lillibelle]

I have primary progressive MS stewey and please don't get yourself too worked up,,stress is not good for us. My medication list and my care needs were enough to convince the powers that be that I'm not going to improve.

It's hard not to read every post and think OMG!!!,but you know your care/mobility needs,and telling the truth will be enough.It's very hard for some people to understand,especially with MS,that a lot of our problems do not necessarily show on the outside,,ie: numb patches,continence issues.

 

I wish you all the luck ,but please stop fretting,,I know it's easy for me to ask that,but your health comes first and foremost

[daveydavey]

Don't forget the benefits cap under ' universal debit ' , I've heard a figure mentioned of a limit of £350 per week for a single person, this is for everything : IS/ESA, HB CTB DLA/PIP , this is another way of cutting benefits, & the inevitable IT problems will mean long delays of payments during the changeover. My advice to you is to save up as much money as you can now, you'll need something to fall back on soon enough, & it won't be benefits.

[count orlok]

People in the support group of ESA are exempt from the cap. Unfortunately I doubt those who will be affected are in a position to save enough to help themselves out.

[Nystagmite]

People on DLA / PIP are exempt from the cap too. DLA / PIP isn't counted as income.

[stewey]

Don't forget the benefits cap under ' universal debit ' , I've heard a figure mentioned of a limit of £350 per week for a single person, this is for everything : IS/ESA, HB CTB DLA/PIP , this is another way of cutting benefits, & the inevitable IT problems will mean long delays of payments during the changeover. My advice to you is to save up as much money as you can now, you'll need something to fall back on soon enough, & it won't be benefits.

 

£6000 is the limit anyway for savings and even if I could save that much I doubt it would last very long if benefits are cut drastically...being careful maybe a year or so...

 

Maybe I could find work...a job that pays as much as my benefits, but one where I'm still fully paid if I don't turn up for days or even weeks because I'm not up to even leaving the house, and one where when I can turn up, they won't mind me going home again in an hour or two because the fatigue has me completely floored...that's the reality of it, and I'm sure that will sound familiar to so many people, but to get inhuman beings like Cameron and Osborne to understand that is a fantasy...let alone the architect of the Reich, Ian Duncan Smith...