“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to issue a Government Health Warning when applying for DLA, Incapacity Benefit or their successors.”
Details of Petition:
“Applying for such benefits come at a time when people’s lives have been turned upside down by illness or disability and are already in a vulnerable state. Life becomes incredibly restrictive as no job, limited/non existant social life etc. However, the whole claims process seems to only exacerbate peoples illnesses when they are humiliated by not being believed when they are truly ill and are forced to go to appeal, and even to appeal the appeal because they are not believed by the DWP, even if they have letters from specialists supporting them! This very process hinders recovery and can promote relapses. Therefore before applying for these benefits people should be made aware that ‘applying for these benefits could seriously damage your health’. This is NOT intended to be humorous. Just as smokers are warned how smoking has an adverse effect on their health, so we should be aware of the fact that applying for these benefits may have an adverse effect on our health so that we can decide before making ourselves more ill whether its worth pursuing or not.”
Read the Government’s response
When someone applies for a social security benefit, we want to make sure the claim form gathers all the information we need to assess entitlement. If it does not, the claim will be delayed and the person will still have to provide the information on another form, by letter, phone or in person. To get all the information we need and to cover the individual circumstances of people applying for benefit, different people will have to answer different questions depending on their circumstances. For some benefits, this means that we have to ask a lot of questions. But we take great care to make the forms as easy as possible for customers to complete, even if some appear long. Length should not be confused with complexity.
In relation to Disability Living Allowance, the forms are written in plain English with clear design, and people can provide much of the information we need by ticking a box or writing a short answer. The forms guide people through the questions step-by-step, and clear instructions mean that people can identify parts of the form they do not need to fill in. In many cases, this means that people can skip over a significant proportion of the form. As a final aid to completion, the claim form contains a number of messages about where customers can get help and advice if they are experiencing any difficulty with its completion.
As well as assistance from a friend, relative or carer, the customer can call the freephone Benefit Enquiry Line (BEL) on 0800 88 22 00. The BEL operator is able to offer advice and answer individual questions as well as arrange for someone to call back to complete a copy of the claim form over the phone. The completed form will then be sent to the customer for checking, signing and return. In addition, customers can go to their local Jobcentre Plus office or Citizens Advice Bureau for advice.
In cases where the customer does not want to fill in the self-reporting form, or cannot make use of the other help available, we may be able to arrange for a visiting officer to call to help with the form.
All our forms and other products are constantly under review. We frequently adopt suggestions from all areas, including from the public, and we carry out research on the effectiveness of our products. As a result, we constantly make changes and modifications in the interests of clear communications.
Disability Living Allowance provides a contribution towards the extra costs faced by severely-disabled people as a result of their disabilities. Broadly, entitlement to Disability Living Allowance depends on the extent to which the person needs help with personal care, needs supervision or has difficulties with walking. It is the effects of the condition and the needs arising from those effects that are important, rather than the person’s particular diagnosis.
Our trained Decision Makers consider all the information provided, and supporting letters provided by customers from specialists are a valuable source of evidence, but claims are decided on the basis of the persons care and mobility needs, not simply a diagnosis. There is a well established appeals process which is to an independent appeal tribunal conducted by the Tribunal Service, an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice and completely separate from the Department for Work and Pensions.
With regard to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), we are working hard to improve the service we provide to customers and streamline the claims processes. For example, ESA introduced a redesigned and more customer-friendly questionnaire in comparison with Incapacity Benefit. In order to further simplify the process, the questionnaire that claimants are asked to complete has been redesigned to make it more customer-friendly. This provides an important opportunity for claimants to describe how their medical condition affects them.
ESA was introduced in October 2008 to provide people with a health condition or disability with the support they need to return to work if they can.
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) helps to determine entitlement to ESA and was developed following wide consultation with customer representative groups and medical experts. The WCA looks at the functional effects of a person’s condition, not on the condition itself, as we know that people with the same diagnosis can have very different functional capabilities.
A further component of the WCA, the Work-Focused Health-Related Assessment (WFHRA) looks at the support an individual will need in their journey back to work. The WFHRA is a tool that crucially links health and work advice. It provides the customer’s Personal Adviser (PA) with a report highlighting the customer’s perceptions about work and barriers to work, and any appropriate health related interventions identified.
We recognise that for some individuals the claims process may be difficult, therefore the department has taken a number of steps to ensure this is minimised wherever possible. We are aware, for instance, that there are a minority of people with severe limitations arising from their health conditions. At the outset, all cases are looked at by an approved health care professional (HCP) to identify those with the most severe functional limitation. Once this can be supported by further evidence from the individual’s GP or specialist, advice can then by provided to the DWP Decision Maker to place such individuals directly in the support group without a face to face assessment. These individuals receive more financial assistance and are not expected to engage in work-related activity, but may volunteer to do so.
In those cases where individuals are required to attend an assessment interview we endeavour to complete the process in as short a timeframe as possible. If it is not possible for the customer to attend the assessment there is the possibility of a home visit.
Customers have the right of appeal to an independent appeal tribunal if they believe that the decision on their claim is not correct. If the tribunal decides in the customers favour benefit will be awarded.
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