WCA without ESA50 ?

[Guest 888]

Hi,

 

..enquiring on behalf of a friend who is in receipt of ESA and recently received a letter to attend another WCA which is coming up soon. The previous ESA50 was sent in late 2013/beginning of 2014, hence at least more than 18 months ago. Under these circumstances - what is the current position regarding whether M. has to send a new ESA50 form before calling for a WCA?

 

There are different statements from M. dating back to April/May this year implying that everyone would receive a new ESA50 before they are called for a WCA.

 

Are there any regulations, guidelines, statutory acts that require that a new ESA50 is sent before calling for a WCA?

 

A quick response (Margaret?? ) would be much appreciated due to the urgency of the upcoming WCA.

 

Many thanks

[Bazooka Boo]

You/they need to question the lack of this form, if needs be, they can download one and fill it in and send it.

 

It seems this is their latest tactic in an attempt to kick more claimants off state security.

http://www.disney.go.com/mickey//news/3037-missing-forms-and-missing-medicals

[antone]

Bazooka Boo, just to let you know that the forum software automatically broke your link - it presumably went to a commercial site that we don't allow links to. If you want to PM me a description of what it was, I'll see if I can find it elsewhere.

[reallymadwoman]

I believe the current advice is that if you've not been asked to provide an up to date ESA50, download one, fill it in and send it with any additional evidence to Maximus. If there's not time to do that before your WCA, take it with you on the day. If the HCA refuses to read all the info before your assessment, it's grounds for a complaint to Maximus and the DWP.

[Guest 888]

Thanks, given this was the subject (i.e. lacking evidence for ESA claimants with mental health issues) of the Public Law Project WCA Judicial Review and subsequent Tribunal hearings in 2012-2013/14, it seems this current practice is going backwards rather than forwards - is there any chance, that ESA claimants with mental health issues can reject attending the WCA without prior being given the opportunity to submit an ESA50 and accompanying information from their GP etc.?

 

I believe the current advice is that if you've not been asked to provide an up to date ESA50, download one, fill it in and send it with any additional evidence to Maximus. If there's not time to do that before your WCA, take it with you on the day. If the HCA refuses to read all the info before your assessment, it's grounds for a complaint to Maximus and the DWP.

[Bazooka Boo]

As RMW says, download one, fill it in, make a copy, and send it in before the WCA, as well as taking the copy in with them.

 

I've just read an email from another site, who have some very damning evidence regarding the DWP .

 

Their research shows that the reassessment of incapacity benefit claimants for ESA is linked to an additional 590 suicides in England.

It is also implicated in an additional 279,000 people developing mental health conditions and 725,000 more antidepressant prescriptions being issued.

The relationship between the use of the work capability assessment (WCA) and the rise in deaths was clear and the researchers were at pains to rule out other causes.

Any responsible body, even if they were doubtful of the findings, would have responded with concern and given an undertaking to look closely into the matter.

The DWP, however, instantly dismissed the research out-of-hand.

In 2010, a coroner sent a ‘prevention of future deaths’ letter to the DWP in relation to a claimant with a mental health condition who had committed suicide after scoring zero points at his WCA. The claimant, Stephen Carre, had a community psychiatric nurse and a psychiatrist but they were never contacted by the DWP.

On receiving such a letter from the coroner, the law requires the recipient to respond within 56 days saying what they are going to do to prevent future deaths.

It now seems that the DWP simply wrote acknowledging receipt of the letter and then did absolutely nothing more, in flagrant breach of the law.

Not only that, they also withheld the fact of the coroner’s letter from Professor Harrington, the independent reviewer of the WCA. If the matter had been brought to his attention, it might have prevented the DWP from pushing ahead with the mass reassessment of all incapacity benefit claimants using the WCA.

And almost 600 people might not have taken their own lives.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Andyorch
Removed external link