UC and terminal illness

We are due to go full service next month and I’m not sure how it works for new claims for UC under Special Rules for terminal illness for clients that are not aware of/do not wish to know their prognosis. Without implicit consent I can’t contact UC to advise them of my clients prognosis and provide a DS1500 which is what I do now for ESA. Has anyone got experience of how this works? If I post or take a DS1500 to the local JCP will it be scanned onto my client’s journal?! Any advice gratefully received so that I can sleep at night!!

I’ll query that via stakeholders - I fear they are not very clear on how to deal with terminal illness…

At Wrac the other week the feedback was that if people ask to claim UC under special rules they are asked if they are terminally ill - ask Tom for more details

That’s no good for people who cannot handle their diagnosis though, there needs to be a way of making a special rules claim without the claimant knowing. It can be harmful information for some claimants.

Thanks Daphne.

Some patients have been told their prognosis and are in denial as a way of coping and other patients just don’t want to know and refuse to discuss it.  These patients will tick no to the terminal illness box on the claim screen and I have no idea how to go about sorting it out with UC.

Rather shockingly I have been told that UC doesn’t have a process in place for a third party to provide the DS1500 without permission from the claimant!!! The reason given isa that in UC the claimant is responsible for their information.

We were told the way round if is for the claimant to give consent to the third party to liaise to discuss their health condition - but clearly this is going to raise questions for the claimant as to why that is needed.

I am pursuing this as it is so clearly unacceptable but it can be slow progress. I think it would be good to raise via an MP as well. I may write to David Gauke myself!!

Daphne - 26 October 2017 11:09 AM

Rather shockingly I have been told that UC doesn’t have a process in place for a third party to provide the DS1500 without permission from the claimant!!! The reason given isa that in UC the claimant is responsible for their information.

We were told the way round if is for the claimant to give consent to the third party to liaise to discuss their health condition - but clearly this is going to raise questions for the claimant as to why that is needed.

I am pursuing this as it is so clearly unacceptable but it can be slow progress. I think it would be good to raise via an MP as well. I may write to David Gauke myself!!

That is one of the most willfully absurd and possibly dangerous approaches I can think of.

The whole idea behind third party submissions of DS1500’s is to avoid the person with the terminal illness from being made aware of the severity of their condition (and likely life expectancy) because of fears about how they might react if they do find out.

It’s even noted in this DWP guide to completing medical reports:

“2.7.5 Specific Questions
DS1500 –  parts 1 to 3

•Diagnosis and other relevant conditions
•Whether the patient is aware of their condition and/or prognosis.
o If unaware, the name and address of the patient’s representative requesting the DS1500

Cut the 6-week waiting period and it’s all going to be wonderful eh? Grrrrrr…...

It appears to me the only way to get around this (at least for the present) is for there to be an appointee to make the claim. That may be difficult because the DWP will not normally agree to there being an appointee unless the Claimant is incapable of handling a claim themselves.

Well, there is another way around it, which is for the DWP to stop being so stupidly inflexible about so many of these “awkward” issues….

Many thanks everyone. Looks like UC is going to be even more difficult than I had anticipated!

One of the many reasons UC needs to accept implicit consent. 

I have been taking the route of advising the client that I need to correct a UC underpayment mistake and best done over the phone.  I ask them to give explicit consent for me to discuss their entitlement to extra benefit on the journal. 

Usually this works fine if I advise the phone line that there is a DS1500 and LCWRA is awarded reasonably quickly.  But I do worry each time that someone will think it ok to mention special rules or worse terminal illness when communicating back to the claimant on the the journal.  I have asked each time that this is not done and mostly they are shocked that I would even consider it a possibility BUT I worry each time and would feel a lot happier if there was a set procedure rather than depending on the good sense of the claim manager.

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK - 26 October 2017 12:00 PM

DWP guide to completing medical reports.

Thanks Paul. The link didn’t work. The DWP guide to completing medical reports is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/619528/medical-reports-completion-guidance.pdf

Thanks Ash.

After you’ve phoned UC to advise the client is Special Rules how do you submit the DS1500, by post or at the JCP?

Robbie Spence - 30 October 2017 04:07 PM

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK - 26 October 2017 12:00 PM

DWP guide to completing medical reports.

Thanks Paul. The link didn’t work. The DWP guide to completing medical reports is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/619528/medical-reports-completion-guidance.pdf

Thanks Robbie.

I’ve included this issue in a letter to David Gauke from NAWRA - http://www.nawra.org.uk/index.php/letter-to-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-on-major-problems-within-the-operation-of-universal-credit-failure-by-dwp-to-act-within-the-legislation/

S Taylor - 02 November 2017 03:59 PM

Thanks Ash.

After you’ve phoned UC to advise the client is Special Rules how do you submit the DS1500, by post or at the JCP?

Sent UC freepost but I have also directed them to check PIP records and sent a copy if I have one.