There has to be an alternative

I inflicted 3 hours of torture on a dying man last week. 

He was desperate to ensure his family was sorted with benefits and unfortunately he was in a full service area.  It took 3 hours to make a joint claim - with medical interruptions and difficulties with the internet.  I was unable to assure him that otherwise the claim would be sorted and he was determined it needed to be done.  There is an option on the form for him to declare he is terminally ill so that they could ring him back but this was not an option I could openly discuss in that context. Nor did I think he could deal with a phone call from the dwp in return either. 

There HAS to be another way. 

The claimant and his wife and children should not have had to spend his precious family time with me and a computer screen.

I should have been able to log a claim and arrange to fill in the details later.  I can do that with PIP special rules claims and we used to be able to do this with legacy benefits.

I’ll feed that in via stakeholders Ash - they are keen to hear about issues around terminal illness - I’ll feed back as soon as I get anything…

This is in line with the official policy on terminal illness it seems, according to Mr Couling’s recent letter.

When the claimant makes their claim online and indicates they have a terminal illness, they can request a callback to discuss their terminal illness. This may include explaining about a DS1500 and the WCA process. - so presumably, that’s intended to deal with people who haven’t already got a DS1500?

It’s also entirely silent on how to deal with situaitons such as Ash’s in the o/p.

It may not be clear if a DS1500 has been issued. This could result in a difficult conversation with the claimant must be treated sensitvely and with empathy [sic]. A DS1500 may be requested and be sent in by:

The claimant must never find out if a DS1500 has been requested or completed on their behalf by a GP or a third party. They must never find out about their condition or prognosis from DWP.

Given that it appears to be impossible for any third party to make a UC claim on behalf of someone else, the “policy” isn’t worth the paper that its written on.

as depressing as this is, there ought to be online DS1500’s now - which might streamline the claim process?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJkha7Ke__M

Some hospital professionals do already use electronic DS1500s, but they are also needed for other purposes - Blue Badges, Macmillan Grants etc - which can be delayed because there has only been an electronic DS1500 issued. But for the DWP upper echelons to have no knowledge/comprehension/expectation of difficulties for DS1500 eligible claimants beggars belief.