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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Work capability issues and ESA  →  Thread

Increase in cases awarded WRAG under reg 29 substantial risk but not Support Group under reg 35

Den DANES
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DIAL Lowestoft and Waveney

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Has anyone else noticed an increase in these cases, especially in relation to mental health. Hardly ever had this before in years of doing ESA and appeals but 3 since December - all worth fighting for SG. To quote one decision ‘the evidence suggests that her mental health remains very fragile and if found fit for work there is still a risk to her mental health…client was found to meet the criteria for Limited Capability for Work OR Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work related Activity’. Yet DM went for the lesser of the two. All clients placed in WRAG on ‘renewal’ after being on SG

[ Edited: 9 Jan 2017 at 05:45 pm by Den DANES ]
John Birks
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Welfare Rights and Debt Advice - Stockport Council

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Ask for a correction - the ‘or’ is likely to mean ‘and’ from the quoted text.

stevejohnsontrainer
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A quick comparison of the ESA re-assessment stats comparing info to March 2015 and March 2016 does not suggest an increase in WRAG entry (actually an increase in Support Group entry!). However, a comparison of outcomes on NEW claims reveals that Support Group entry deceased from 65% (data to March 2015) to 39% (data to March 2016). I do not remember that percentage ever going below 40% before. I seem to recall the DWP attributing this to amended guidance in relation to regulation 35, but so far as I can see the case law on regulation 35 has generally been helpful to claimants in the last few years.

A recent exception of course is the fairly recent MP v SSWP - it now seems that third party assistance can be counted in assessing the ability to do WRA (!), assuming it is available etc.

Den DANES
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DIAL Lowestoft and Waveney

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That’s what is surprising. It is OR

Daphne
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stevejohnsontrainer - 10 January 2017 10:34 AM

A quick comparison of the ESA re-assessment stats comparing info to March 2015 and March 2016 does not suggest an increase in WRAG entry (actually an increase in Support Group entry!). However, a comparison of outcomes on NEW claims reveals that Support Group entry deceased from 65% (data to March 2015) to 39% (data to March 2016). I do not remember that percentage ever going below 40% before. I seem to recall the DWP attributing this to amended guidance in relation to regulation 35, but so far as I can see the case law on regulation 35 has generally been helpful to claimants in the last few years.

A recent exception of course is the fairly recent MP v SSWP - it now seems that third party assistance can be counted in assessing the ability to do WRA (!), assuming it is available etc.

In the statistics to June 2016 - http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/news/item/number-of-esa-claimants-placed-in-support-group-on-initial-assessment-conti - the number getting into the support group dropped still further to 33 per cent which, as you say Steve, the DWP concede is because they changed the guidance on reg 35.

There’s a bit of conflicting case law on third party assistance - addressed in the case law commentary on the LCWRA page on wcainfo - http://wcainfo.net/issues/substantial-risk-lcwra