DWP demand access in your home & documents

[morgandlin]

This is an interesting thread - a lot of scaremongering and hostility!

 

I come at this as an ex DWP worker (including compliance visits!) some years ago, and now as someone disabled, living with my disabled pensioner husband, so can see all sides here, It is true, as a previous poster pointed out, home visits are actually less common than they used to be, simply because the DWP now have access to many things, such as bank accounts, tax records, credit agencies etc.,

 

Compliance is, obviously, to check the validity of a claim, but, on some occasions, it has also helped those who gave been under claiming, and they have ended up better off.

 

We don't claim means tested benefits, so, no compliance visits, just the DLA and ESA medical checks, which are fair enough (and which, to be fair, have been hassle free).

 

We don't have to subject ourselves to submitting medical evidence, as we can just stop claiming. We choose to claim our entitlements, as we paid in, so we have to accept the checks!

 

As a taxpayer, I am more than happy for the DWP to check up on those claiming, because it is just not fair on the rest of us, when people sca* the system. It's also voluntary - no one is forced to claim public money!

 

I am also a bit weary of disabled people constantly being referred to, patronisingly, as 'vulnerable' and therefore, somehow incapable of dealing with a claim. We are not all sitting whimpering behind the front door, dreading the brown envelopes, phone calls, or doorbell!

 

Being in a wheelchair buggars your limbs up, but not necessarily the rest!

 

I do, of course, understand, that many people have been treated badly by both this lousy government and a few lairy DWP workers, but there are complaints procedures, which should be used, and that situation should not mean we just throw public money around with inadequate checks.

 

It is much less hassle just to show the DWP official your paperwork, because nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

 

If you don't want them in your home, fir whatever reason, (and they just turn up normally dressed, in normal cars, not as storm troopers!) then make an office appointment. However, if you fail to keep the appointment, they can and will stop paying the benefits.

Edited July 29, 2014 by morgandlin

[morgandlin]

I so agree... I know of people without any disability at all that can't handle such things, and I know of disabled people that have no issues whatsoever.

 

The FOI reply seems to answer many of the objections raised.

 

 

Yep, my view with the medical checks element is to prepare - get reports from consultants, GP's, health care professionals, and attach your own statement, to the forms, giving full details of how your disability affects you. The more (proven) detail you provide, the better.

 

Same as means tested benefits - supply ALL applicable financial details, accurately give details of your household, and who lives there, and don't work for non declared income. Do not try to hide bank accounts, because they do (always!) come to light now, with the links between banks, HMRC, and the DWP.

 

Credit reference agencies now give info to the DWP, as do credit card companies.

 

Don't run around telling neighbours how much you get (one malicious phone call can cause no end of hassle!)

 

It's simple really - claim truthfully, and nothing can ever be proven against you.

[morgandlin]

Of course some adults are vulnerable, and not all are disabled. Many disabled are not especially vulnerable.

 

However, there are too many 'blanket statements' like 'vulnerable people such as elderly and disabled' - not all of us are, and not all of want to be thought of as such lol

 

Of course, anyone vulnerable, whatever the cause, should seek support, with dealing eith agencies, from either an advocacy service, welfare rights, social services, voluntary groups, or the CAB.