PIP claimants: All 1.6 million claims to be reviewed

Enki

Never heard it.

I'm going to be glass half full here and suggest it's good news, albeit too late.  Let's hope paulyoung doesn't get messed about over it though.

IronGiant

PIP has nothing to do with the ability to work it's a non means tested benefit, meaning you could be a working millionaire and still claim, its down to the disability and how it effects the persons life.  Yet still the misconception PIP claiment = possible scrounger, is loud and clear everytime..

IronGiant

Ironically the only people who have mentioned work in this thread are PIP claimants (or family members) so not sure what your point is.

mij

It's what they don't say?

Oh come off it. It's a regular meme that the government is demonising the sick and disabled. Yet nobody can provide any examples of this.

Never heard of blinds down Britain. I'm not even sure what it's meant to signify?

And the disabled as a group have done pretty well in getting into work.

Disabled people in work

Over 600k more in work in the last 4 years.

IronGiant

Google hasn't heard the phrase either.  In the context it was used it may mean we all have blinkers on, ignoring the disabled.  If it's applied to the disabled I have no idea.

PIP has nothing to do with work though, despite Enki's best efforts to suggest people were equating it.

tapzilla2k

I thought it might mean people who stay in bed late with the blinds closed?

Who knows. Either way, if it's a theme the government has pushed it hasn't sunk in.

Enki

George Osborne said the following: “Fairness is about being fair to the person who leaves home every morning to go out to work and sees their neighbour still asleep, living a life on benefits.”

In his party conference speech, he criticised those on benefits with drawn blinds while their industrious neighbours head out to do shift work.

It did get a lot of attention at the time and was used quite a lot in the media.

Will the benefit squeeze hit the 'strivers' or the 'skivers with their blinds down'?

mij

So....

It is not true to say that the Tories created a phrase "blinds down Britain" that the public repeat ad ad infinitum as was claimed.

Yet to see any single example of the government demonising the sick.

Enki

It's clear that the phrase had nothing to do with PIP, so perhaps it's time to move on.

Bl4ckGryph0n

You've not been paying attention to what the Daily Mail has been printing about benefits over the last decade. Or IDS rambling about generations of families being on benefits who've never worked, which itself appears to be a myth -
Iain Duncan Smith and the tall tale of the feckless layabouts| Hugh Muir

The Government haven't overtly labelled the disabled, sick and mentally ill as scroungers, they've simply used the perception created by the likes of the Daily Mail to justify some really shoddy benefit reforms.

Of course they would, but unless you need to claim benefits then you have no idea how harsh the system has become. The safety net isn't what it was. It can be extremely cruel and vindictive.

Most people who claim Pip also claim Employment and Support Allowance, which has similar problems to Pip and lengthy waits for appeals. You have ATOS and Capita employed assessors telling people they are fit for work (which the DWP more often than not agrees with) so they either get put in the work related activity group or are told to sign on for JSA and look for work. When in reality their medical conditions and disabilities preclude them from working and therefore should be placed in ESA's support group. The DWP appears to want to deny ESA to as many people as it can, even those with serious disabilities or medical conditions. All predicated on the Scrounger myth to distract people from the utter shambles that the benefit system is in. IDS reforms haven't really saved any money and have put people through untold misery and in some cases people have died (still waiting for the DWP to release the data on deaths in full).
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This is how PIP works (I moved from DLA to PIP) -
1. You are sent a letter inviting you to apply for PIP. You then have to
call the DWP to provide basic details. They will then send out a PIP
form in the post.
2. You fill the PIP form out either by yourself or by an appointed representative (in my case a benefits expert from Mind). Gather evidence and try to fit your complex conditions into the DWP's descriptors.
3. Await for an appointment letter to from either ATOS or Capita. In my case it was ATOS.
They knew full well that I don't travel well, so they offered me an assessment miles away in Witney. I had to ring them (under stress and barely able to speak as I had teeth removed) to rearrange the appointment. Turns out they have an assessment centre on the Cowley Road.
4. The Assessment - Asked a series of questions which are often entirely pointless when it comes to mental health. The Nurse who did my assessment as I've mentioned previously refused to believe that Professor Geddes was qualified to diagnose me. That set the tone. He carried out a pointless exam of my knees, ankles and feet. I have morton's neuroma, which can only be picked up by an ultrasound scan, which I hadn't had at the point. But if I did and had the evidence for it, I suspect he'd still have done his useless exam.

5. As I expected I got the brown envelope saying I'd been refused PIP "0 Points and you can manage your own condition. You may appeal". My GP wasn't impressed by the DWP's attitude (I guess he's come across it too many times). You get one last DLA payment and then you are get no more money. If some think that's fine, appeals take anywhere from 8 months to 15 months in some cases to reach the tribunal.
6. You have 28 days to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, again Mind did all the hard work here.
7. The DWP does it's Mandatory Reconsideration process which itself is a joke as they have a target to uphold 80% of the original decisions. What this really does is, delay the tribunal appeal process.
8. As expected the DWP upheld it's decision, I then had another 28 days to start the appeal process proper.
9. Tribunal service sends you a letter confirming your appeal has been lodged and asks for any further evidence.
10. You get a letter 2-3 weeks before the appeal date. I had to wait until November for my appeal to take place.
11. Mind were at my appeal and fended off the DWP's representative. Who reduced me to tears through his non understanding of mental health and him blurting out "well he wears PJ's he can surely go out" to which I lost my cool and retorted "I don't go anywhere in my PJ's you moron. I remain in my PJ's to stay inside so I don't harm myself". If that sounds irrational, then it is. Bipolar warps everything and suicidal thoughts are a constant battle.
12. Appeal Judge, Medical Expert and Disability rights person confer for a few minutes, I'd left the room by that point as I was quite unwell. Mind came back in with the news I'd won the appeal. I didn't get the mobility part of PIP because the Government had at the point removed psychological distress from the descriptors.
13. Then you have to wait 28 days for the DWP to appeal the Tribunals decision. They can only appeal on an error in law. Which there isn't as the Tribunal tends to ensure everything is done correctly (the head tribunal judge is quite annoyed with the DWP and the poor quality evidence it presents).
14. Either the DWP waive the appeal or they make you sweat it out. Eventually they will send a letter confirming how much you will get going forward and of course how much they have to pay in backdated payments.

Put simply the Tribunal service is basically doing what the DWP should be doing, looking at the medical evidence and asking appropriate questions about a person's mental health and physical disabilities.  I wouldn't be shocked to see the Tribunal service refusing to accept the DWP's evidence in future, given it's of such poor quality. They may even charge the DWP for the cost of the appeal (something the tribunal service is considering I believe).