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“Claimant Representation Panels”
Has anyone heard of the above? Penny Mordaunt referred to them yesterday, when questioned in parliament about the farce of MR. She seems to think they are a way to help claimants through the MR/appeal process, but I have not heard of them.
Interestingly, she also confirmed that only 3% of MRs result in a changed decision. She claims this indicates the high quality of original decisions (stifles laughter!). Would love to hear her explanation of why 65-70% of these “high quality” decisions are subsequently overturned at Tribunal!
News item today.
The explanation for the 65 to 70% of decisions subsequently over-turned is clearly because of the poor quality of tribunals 😊
ROFLWAS
“ROFLWAS”? I can understand the “ROLF” but not the “WAS”?
“ROFLWAS”? I can understand the “ROLF” but not the “WAS”?
Sorry, “with aching sides” :)
This may be the relevant exchange (concerning assessment of claims though, not MRs..). It seems that service user panels will be “shortly introduced”:
It’s a theoretically interesting idea but I suspect we all know how it’ll pan out in practice.
- problems with recruiting claimants with disabilities beyond those who make a point of participating in everything.
- problems with recruiting the less articulate claimants.
- problems persuading people to participate because people believe it’ll impact on their benefits.
- some people attending because they believe it’s compulsory and will impact their benefits if they don’t.
- at least one person will be sanctioned for attending said panel.
- agenda wholly defined by DWP et al so basically the panel gets used as a justification for existing plans and to legitimise things where there is supposedly no alternative.
I always thought it was summed up nicely by https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/feedback-companies-shopping-online-theatre
More details from Penny Mordaunt in a written ansewr yesterday -
‘We want to reach as many people as possible across the country. Contributors will be able to participate as little or as much as they want, rather than commit to being part of a joint Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) panel for a fixed period. Participation will be entirely voluntary.
We aim to run a panel approximately every 8 weeks, totalling around 6 in the next year. We will be exploring different approaches to reaching people, including working with charities and representative organisations to draw on their expertise.’
“Claimants thank us for being sanctioned.”
Oh yes, didn’t you know? Jobcentres are overwhelmed with “thank you” cards for their kindness and generosity in handing out sanctions. It’s official, Neil Couling said it, and like Brutus, “he’s an honourable man”. Why, some clients even “offend” on a regular basis because they enjoy sanctions so much! (removes tongue from cheek!)