Work Provider forcing poorly ESA claimant back into work

Hi

I was wondering if anyone had come across ESA claimants on the assessment phase being railroaded back into work? I have been dealing with a client with severe anxiety problems who told me:

Basically in less than three weeks my life has been turned upside-down with the work provider ignoring the fact that I am still on the assessment phase, forcing me into an interview and a job that lasted all of two days whilst also managing to get me signed OFF from the job centre. The job lasted two days as I could not cope (Outbound Call Centre) and could not face going back there.

So bottom line is no ESA for the last 2 weeks. I’m scared to leave the house again, am seriously worried about the rent again. I do not know where I am up to with anything financial / housing related.

Shazz - 18 May 2015 09:35 AM

I was wondering if anyone had come across ESA claimants on the assessment phase being railroaded back into work? I have been dealing with a client with severe anxiety problems who told me:

No, but check out page 4 & 5 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/424544/wp-pg-chapter-2-v13.pdf

I know I’m a broken record in this regard but there is possibly an Equality Act breach here and it would be worth assisting your client to seek legal advice.

I have found that Enployment Tribunal claims tend to quell the ardour of Work Programme Providers very effectively…

Thanks for the feedback Mick and Dan. Much appreciated.

Hi

I thought I would update what happened with this case. My client ended up dropping off the radar for some weeks due to his anxiety and depression. It turned out that he was coerced into taking a job in a cold calling centre which lasted all of two days and his ESA stopped. He had no ESA for 8 weeks. I saw him today and investigated the matter by first calling DWP and was told that he had previously been in the WRAG group (for a previous claim before dropping off this benefit and putting in a new claim) and that his files had been sent to The Work Capability Team. Adviser said I would need to put in a rapid reclaim but she could not tell me anything else as they didn’t have access to the system and gave me another number to call to discuss where things were up to with the Work Capability Team. This number just looped back to the same number I had called (Benefit enquiry line). Luckily, my client had with him the details of his work capability adviser. When I spoke to the WC adviser, he told me that they had received a PO7 form from DWP which is when someone has been assessed and put in the WRAG for work focussed interviews. I explained he had not had a Work Capability assessment and when he looked at this he said this was correct and that what looks like has happened is they bypassed the WCA and shouldn’t have been sent to him. They treated this case as through his previous benefit claim was still open but it wasn’t, it had been closed. Previously he’d had no benefit for 7 months, which was the reason why I’d helped him put in a new claim and complete an ESA50 form with him.

I called DWP back explained this, was given the address to appeal and then asked to put in new claim and take his FIT note over to Job Centre to scan over for claim. We put in new claim and benefit advance over the phone. I was planning to draft appeal letter this afternoon but the client has just phoned me to say he has received a call to say that they have awarded and backdated his ESA from when it stopped 8 weeks ago. What a load of messing about. This case and taken me the best part of a day to deal with. I’m really pleased the client has got his backdate today, but this should never have happened. A complete waste of resources but more importantly, untold anguish and hardship for my client.

They shouldn’t have bypassed the WCA. This client is so vulnerable, he has had nothing for 8 weeks and when he dropped off his benefit last year, he went 7 months without benefit. Has anyone else come across this?

Received call from client this morning saying that he’s received a letter from Work Provider saying he needs to take part in a mandatory work focussed interview otherwise his benefit will stop. I despair!!!