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Investigate the inequality of disabled persons claiming benefits

“This Association in Conference urges Her Majesty’s Government to look at the inequality of disabled persons claiming benefits.”

East Herts Association,

2015

The new benefit for disabled persons, the PIP (Personal Independence Payment) replaced the previous Disability Living Allowance.  The start of the process was, we understand, a telephone call to DWP to assess if the claimant may be entitled to the PIP, this takes on average 20 minutes to complete. Once agreed you may then make a claim, a booklet is sent by post to be completed and returned. Until recently the claimant then received a text message confirming receipt of the claim, this then becomes the claim start date and any award backdated to that date. The text message informed that ‘you will be contacted by a health professional if you need to attend a consultation and it can take 26 weeks or longer for an assessment. You do not need to contact us unless your circumstances change’.  The claimant then had to wait a further 8 weeks once they have been assessed for the claim to be processed.  Existing claimants we note will be invited to swap over to PIP over a two year period depending on their postcode, as is detailed on the timetable for PIP guidelines on the DWP website, but for new applicants especially, our research shows that the whole claiming process is too long, so long in fact that there has been a High Court case in June 2015 regarding PIP application delays (for 2 test cases) or 9 months or more.  It was ruled that the delays were unreasonable and unlawful but had not breached their human rights.  The Government reaction to this was to state that there had been problems with the initial rollout of the PIP’s but the DWP was looking at where it could learn lessons.  According to the website forms should be received within 2 weeks of the initial call but they no longer give any time frame for the progression of the application.  Disabled claimants are waiting longer to complete the process and for the PIP benefit to be awarded than other state benefits.  Waiting times given for some other benefits range from 9 to 11 working days. In addition many other benefits may be applied for concurrently this is not true for disability related benefits. A successful award of the PIP must be obtained before application for additional linked benefits such as Carer’s Allowance or a blue badge.

Reply from:- Department of Work & Pensions
The Department is committed to ensuring Personal Independent Payment claimants receive high quality, objective, fair and accurate assessments.  Since its introduction, this Department has been closely monitoring all aspects of the process including the performance of the assessment providers.  PIP has been introduced in stages so that, if necessary the Department can slow down the rollout to enable further improvements to be made, and be assured that the assessment providers are able to deliver both in terms of quality and time taken.  The number of clearances by providers and the Department rose continuously in 2014 and the number of outstanding claims has continued to fall each month, back to business-as-usual levels.  The Department is now operating at a normal level of work which means it generally clears at least the number of claims it receives each week.  The average claimant wait for an assessment has reduced by more than three quarters since June 2014 and claimants are now waiting 5 weeks for an assessment, which is well within the 16 week target.  There will always be some cases which naturally take longer to determine due to complicating factors (eg: the claimant repeatedly cancels their face-to-face appointment). However the Department works closely with providers to identify such cases and ensure they are dealt with as a priority.  Furthermore any delays experienced in the new claims process will not affect the date from which the claimants are paid; successful claims will be paid from the date the claim was initially made.  It should always be noted that, while people are waiting for their claim to be processed PIP is not the only means of financial support from the benefits system.  There are a range of other benefits including Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit.

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December Update

2020 is a year none of us will forget in a hurry but as it draws to a close we would like to update you with the current situation as far as Head Office is concerned. The office is now closed until after Christmas but Claire, our secretary, is working from home.

It has been a very strange year with no events, no clubs, no getting together. All our events had to be cancelled, and though we are no different to any other organisation it has been such a pity because this is what we are about friendship, education and fun. On the positive side we have worked hard getting out letters to as many members as we could with the help of club officials. They have been brilliant keeping in touch with their members through emails, ‘WhatsApp’ and phone calls they all deserve a star!

With the moving into different tiers it sometimes gets very confusing and loneliness has been talked about a lot on the television and the media but we hope through the clubs this has not affected our members too much. With the hope of a vaccine it might not be too long before we are back and enjoying our club life again and remember after December 21st the days start to get longer and Spring will be around the corner.

Here at Head Office Eleanor retired at the end of September, Eleanor had told us of her plans at the beginning of the year so we had plenty of notice but of course we could not have the retirement party she was entitled to. However, we are hoping she will come to conference next year and we can say farewell properly. We did send flowers on the day and Mary, our treasurer made her a collage of all our good wishes, and it was beautiful.

If you are looking at our website for the first time look at the list of clubs and see if we have one near you, they are friendly places to go to. Most meet once a week with speakers, demonstrations and outings. Each club is different and if there isn’t one in your area, why don’t you start one!  We honestly think our sort of club is just what the women of our country needs right now.  We are a non-political, non-religious and non- sectarian group that offers friendship and interest. Take a look at this website and see what we have to offer.

So Christmas is coming and what a difference to the one we probably envisaged, but remember ladies we might not be able to party as we have in the past but if we keep safe we can celebrate next year with family and friends. 

So on behalf of The Committee to all our members and whoever is looking at this website, we wish you all a Merry Christmas, keep well and let’s look forward to a better New Year.