DWP

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So for the sake of arguement lets consider two examples
1. where genuine claimants get their eligibility for benefit turned down
2. where fraudulent claimants get their benefits despite not being eligible.

Two very different outcomes. What's the common factor here? Both are the results of poor assessment.
And that of course is the danger. If assessors are wholly unqualified as the OP's appears to have been, how can they be relied on to weed out the scammers, who are generally I suspect good at dealing with the system? (unless of course they are turning everyone down). My mate who was faced with the same situation as the Op reminded me yesterday that his assessor had stated in her report that he had demonstrated his ability to propel himself in a wheelchair for a distance of over 50 meters. He never in his entire life had used a wheelchair or ever sat in one. Demonstrates what genuine claimants are up against. Actually in other areas it would be regarded as fraud.
 
a. That was over a 15 years period.

b. He was only convicted for fraudulently claiming £250,000 during this period. The £500,000 figure is an estimate of the total amount he conned, but the other charges remain 'on file' so not proven at this stage.
He claimed to be a quadriplegic whilst pushing his wife to the doctors in a wheelchair, apparently noone examined him just took his word for it!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 
He claimed to be a quadriplegic whilst pushing his wife to the doctors in a wheelchair, apparently noone examined him just took his word for it!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
Benefit cheats are very good at what they do... you may find that the most common ailments in the UK are depression and back pain... and one wonders if these are not simply the 'whiplash' of the benefits system.

(All are very real and not uncommon medical conditions, and I have no doubt that many people do suffer from them, but my point is that these conditions are also open for abuse by fraudsters)
 
I'm also interested in yer..............................................................................................................Vito!
 
So, DWP says I'm fit for work and have stopped all payments to me, even though I suffer from an incurable degenerative disease, depression, anxiety, heart problems, liver problems, cant use my hands properly due to CTS circulation problems in my legs cant walk very far due to back etc etc.


I told the assessor I regularly had suicidal thoughts due to my long term health issues. But I'm fit for work apparently. I can't imagine a single job I could competently do. I feel like topping myself. I honestly believe that is what they want people in my situation to do.
End it all and be one less problem for them.
My heart is pounding in my chest at the moment due to this stress I feel. My arrhythmia is kicking in badly and I just want to be sick. ****s sake, what have I done to deserve this?

oh and the eye disease that has robbed me of sight. How would any of these ****ers like to live a day in my life and then declare themselves fit for work?

I know this may split consensus on here. But I'm just sat here almost panicking not knowing what to do and where to go from here. There is no way I can sleep. Oh and that's another thing, insomnia. Another thing totally ignored in the decision to stop all help to me.

I don't know what to do
Stu , I’m truly shocked and gobsmacked to read this - I had no idea , and can’t offer much of practical help beyond my sympathy.

Having read through the thread , it seems that you’ve had some great advice and I’m glad that you’re going back to have another go at them.

One thought I had on reading your post , and I think only touched on by one other poster is , besides going back to the DWP and challenging this decision - also make an appointment to go and see your Member of Parliament about this .

Your MP is there to help and represent you and your interests : that is his/her job and what he/she was elected to do . Members of Parliament also have a lot of clout with government agencies and have a lot of power to help you .

Another thing worth remembering is that public opinion can be a powerful thing and the press just love to run stories on injustice. I know your situation is both personal and private, but if you can bring the way you have been treated into the public eye it might help - a phone call to one of the national newspapers would be all it would take to get a reporter out .

Don’t leave any stone unturned, and use every avenue open to you .
 
In the middle of this representing my youngest son who was sticken by poor health about a year ago. Ultimately will be OK but right now and for the next year or so his ability to hold job will vary between none and none at all.

I had read about the claimed horrors of the system but it doesn't really sink in until you encounter the dull evil of an uncaring, unthinking and fundamentally deeply flawed bureacracy at work.

Long story short "assessed" over a 22 minute period by a cretinous woman who turned out to be a physiotherapist, did not know what his condition was and had clearly not read any of the documents.

Her "report" was plain wrong, misrepresented facts and I would say a lot of it was cut and pasted. There were in fact outright fabrications in there. She even managed to spell his name incorrectly. Twice.

Requested Mandatory Reconsideration as required. Or as it should be called Mandatory Rejection. The response simply repeated the nonsense and wholly ignored all the points made.

Appeal to First Tier Tribunal heard in February. That was adjourned on the day becasue the DWP representative simply did not turn up and another date due in May.

Overall, the whole thing is a vastly expensive farce, as recently (and yet again) pointed out in Parliament

"Central to the lack of trust are concerns about the ability of the Department’s contractors
to conduct accurate assessments. We heard many reports of errors appearing in
assessment reports (which may or may not effect eligibility). Such experiences serve to
undermine confidence amongst claimants. So does the proportion of DWP decisions
overturned at appeal."

"The Department maintains that high overturn rates of its decisions at appeal reflect
the presence of new evidence that was not available to its decision makers. It has
displayed a lack of determination in exploring why it takes until that stage for new
evidence to come to light. This is all the more striking because by far the most common
form of “new evidence” is oral evidence obtained from the claimant. It is difficult to
understand why this evidence was not, or could not have been elicited and recorded by
the assessor."

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmworpen/829/829.pdf

https://www.homecare.co.uk/news/art...etent-at-best-and-actively-deceitful-at-worst

DWP spends £39m defending decisions to strip benefits from sick and disabled people

Lob in the Mandatory Reconsideration request and don't be afraid to go into great detail about the failings of the assessor and correct any errors.

If you dont already have it request a full copy of the Assessors report.

Just bear in mind everything you do is really about building a case for the Tribunal: the MR request is likely to be automatically rejected by a "decision maker" who will be a junior being in a remote office and simply doesn't care and it is alleged has a 85% rejection target to meet.

In meantime get thee to the Job Centre and explain. If you are going through this process they have discretion not to make you jump through the job seeking hoops whilst the appeal progresses, so JSA etc. is available if you otherwise qualify. They are clearly pretty pissed off with the DWP and fully understand what toxic games they are playing simply for their own statistical purposes.

 
Update. Sorry for the delay.
Appeal went in, instantly rejected as expected. It was blatantly obvious they had not even read my reasons for appealing. So it is now going to tribunal. I have also now got a letter from my doctor totally rebuffing everything the assessor said in her reasons for stopping my benefits. It kind of makes her look stupid and incompetent to be honest. I can only hope the tribunal panel think the same.

Another twist to this debacle. I got my first bank statement yesterday since all this started. They have still been paying me, even though, according to them(DWP) all benefits have been stopped !!! :confused:
 
...Another twist to this debacle. I got my first bank statement yesterday since all this started. They have still been paying me, even though, according to them(DWP) all benefits have been stopped !!! :confused:

Be careful with that... technically speaking you are committing an offence, even though you did not initiate these payments.
 
Be careful with that... technically speaking you are committing an offence, even though you did not initiate these payments.
Indeed. My first instinct was to ring them up to tell them of their mistake. But I'm going in to the CAB on Monday to ask for their advice on how best to handle the situation.

It just makes me wonder, how many millions of £ are being paid wrongly to people in this manner? People who would have no qualms about saying nothing and happily accepting this money.
 
Good luck getting this sorted, it’s another ridiculous way that the Tory govt show their utter contempt of the masses, and how they bully those least able to fight back, it’s a disgrace.
 
stwat good luck with your actions.
I believe that you're entitled to the money while the appeal is in process? I hope so & again try not to stress your self to much mate.

I had a problem had to have emergency spine surgery after the MRI showed I had broken my spine in 5 places in 2016, it stopped me going to the toilet for 10 days , the inside of my ankle felt like it had a bomb going off inside it, I was on liquid Morphine etc for 7 days ,jaust a haze .. It took me 7 mths to learn to walk again & obviously has left me with complications as a dropped foot & damaged nerves in my left leg /hip. I have a blue badge & people look at you when you "Skip" out of the car...oh another one with a bad back... let them have 1 day of that pre op "Back pain" ...I wonder.
 
I had a problem had to have emergency spine surgery after the MRI showed I had broken my spine in 5 places in 2016, it stopped me going to the toilet for 10 days , the inside of my ankle felt like it had a bomb going off inside it, I was on liquid Morphine etc for 7 days ,jaust a haze .. It took me 7 mths to learn to walk again & obviously has left me with complications as a dropped foot & damaged nerves in my left leg /hip. I have a blue badge & people look at you when you "Skip" out of the car...oh another one with a bad back... let them have 1 day of that pre op "Back pain" ...I wonder.

Motorcycle accident?
 
"I believe that you're entitled to the money while the appeal is in process? I hope so & again try not to stress your self to much mate".

This is my view too. Due process must be exhausted before a final decision can be implemented.
Keep the money in a separate account if you feel you need to, but do not worry about receiving it.
Good luck with your fight.
Regards
John
 
Good luck getting this sorted, it’s another ridiculous way that the Tory govt show their utter contempt of the masses, and how they bully those least able to fight back, it’s a disgrace.
I don't think that this issue can be attributed to any single political party, but I do agree that some attempts at benefit system reforms seem to be avoiding anything that can have a detrimental effect on votes. This can explain why historically the waste through mismanagement and fraud keeps getting bigger and bigger over past decades, often at the expense of vulnerable populations without significant political influence.
 
Motorcycle accident?
No,
I used to be a car transporter driver & I fell off the top deck in the rain, safety guard was faulty & down through the deck. The back was hurt but then deteriorated over the years (hence me getting auto AMG's), it became very brittle & the discs went flat due to leakage & cracks in bone splintered when I was, like an old fool, gallivanting around with my daughter.
 
No,
I used to be a car transporter driver & I fell off the top deck in the rain, safety guard was faulty & down through the deck. The back was hurt but then deteriorated over the years (hence me getting auto AMG's), it became very brittle & the discs went flat due to leakage & cracks in bone splintered when I was, like an old fool, gallivanting around with my daughter.
Hope you’re ok now?

Sorry to hear this
 
So having a read through the war and peace sized papers the DWP have sent me in the run up to the tribunal, I notice that the woman who 'assessed' me, is a physiotherapist ! How the hell is/was it possible for her to have assessed how my incurable degenerative disease and subsequent mental illness affects my ability to work?
 

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