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Customer in assessment phase - WF interview?
Claim for ESA made, in payment with medical scheduled to take place in 2 weeks. DWP have written to her advising that she must undergo work focused interview over the telephone this week, before she has medical.
This is the 2nd customer (both have mental health problems) who have received letters advising of telephone interview although the other had already had medical and was in the WRAG. The letter issued to this lady was far from clear, DWP officer had scored through the one hour, replacing it with 20 minutes and made no reference to a telephone call, so she attended JCP.
We are in the pilot area for engagement with customers with mental health as main condition who are claiming ESA., linked to that?
Clearly in the first case this telephone interview should not take place until there is a decision regarding which group customer should be place in if accepted as having limited capacity.
People in the assessment phase can be forced to participate in work-focussed interviews. The exempt groups are:
*Support Group
* Reached the qualifying age for Pension Credit
* A lone parent of a child under one
* Only Entitled to national insurance credits
The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, regulation 54
[ Edited: 12 Aug 2014 at 12:00 pm by iut044 ]These exemptions are for claimants who have undergone the WCA not during the assessment phase. My officer passed between ESA and JCP when she queried it today..was advised telephone call was to allow the customer to ‘get to know’ their personal adviser!!
[ Edited: 12 Aug 2014 at 10:21 pm by FIT Advisor ]Sorry but iut044 is completely correct, the regulations clearly allow for WFI’s to apply once someone is being paid ESA, regardless of whether they have undergone a WCA.
It has been part of the policy intention from the outset that the first WFI would take place around the 8th week of the claim.
Sorry but iut044 is completely correct, the regulations clearly allow for WFI’s to apply once someone is being paid ESA, regardless of whether they have undergone a WCA.
It has been part of the policy intention from the outset that the first WFI would take place around the 8th week of the claim.
You are correct Paul, but i think the thing that can flummox us is the fact that there is absolutely no consistency regarding how such regs are applied.
Ive only been doing this job for about 5 years but in that time i havent encountered a single person being sent for a WFI before their WCA. And i have a LOT of ESA casework on me books
Sorry but iut044 is completely correct, the regulations clearly allow for WFI’s to apply once someone is being paid ESA, regardless of whether they have undergone a WCA.
It has been part of the policy intention from the outset that the first WFI would take place around the 8th week of the claim.
You are correct Paul, but i think the thing that can flummox us is the fact that there is absolutely no consistency regarding how such regs are applied.
Ive only been doing this job for about 5 years but in that time i havent encountered a single person being sent for a WFI before their WCA. And i have a LOT of ESA casework on me books
It seems unfair because the person may eventually be deemed to comply with the support group criteria.
Yes, these points were made when the Welfare Reform Act 2007 was going through Parliament as a Bill i.e. the WFI would be of no practical use to many people at that stage of their claim, whether because they would be placed within the support group ultimately, or because they were still adjusting to a new health condition or impairment for example.
Government countered that getting in early would help concentrate claimants’ minds before they became overly dependent on ESA, to summarise from memory, and help to identify what possible support they might need and so on.
Of course, there was still something called the Work-Focused Health-Related-Assessment as the third part of the WCA then, which was also intended to make assessments of what useful support JCP might be able to identify to assist people to move into, or closer to, employment.
Now we’re left with a system which is more or less the same as it was before ESA was introduced (remember the PCA anyone?), except for the fact that the assessment has now been made ruthlessly severe, is very badly assessed and administered, and is practically used as little more than a means to throw sick and disabled people off benefit, when and wherever possible, regardless of their circumstances.
Oh, and claimants are required to undertake nebulous work-related activity arising from the WFI’s and sanctioned if they miss the interview or fail to achieve the activity as well (7,507 sanctions for ESA claimants in March 2014 alone).
[ Edited: 13 Aug 2014 at 02:03 pm by Paul_Treloar_CPAG ]Had a bit of a dig about and finally found the explanatory notes for the WRA 2007 as originally envisaged (be warned, it’s a large pdf file).
Para’s 79 and 80 deal with WFI’s from the date of claim:
79. It is intended that there would also be a work-focused interview during the assessment phase which would be for the first 13 weeks of entitlement to an employment and support allowance. This interview would have the purpose of, where appropriate, explaining the benefit and conditionality regime to the claimant and helping them think about what activities they may want to do to help them to return to work. It is intended that regulations will allow interviews to be deferred for those with serious health conditions who may be in the support group after medical assessment.
80. Claimants would be provided with the date and time of their work-focused interview. Regulations would provide that if the claimant cannot attend the work-focused interview, then in certain circumstances it would be able to be moved and take place at another date or time. It is intended that regulations would allow the flexibility to hold interviews in various places subject to circumstances, with particular reference to interviews being able to take place in the home.
Very interesting. We sit in the Durham and Tees Valley Districts which are now piloting advice to ESA claimants who have mental health problems, just wondering if this has caused the department to also engage with those in the assessment phase as part of it. But good to see that it should be fairly easy to have the interviews rearranged or indeed carried out in the customer’s home.
Bit ironical when we still have customers who have had no contact, no medical and still in assessment groups well aftert 13 weeks, even after 52 weeks!
[ Edited: 14 Aug 2014 at 11:35 am by FIT Advisor ]What you say Paul is all well and good, and have informed DWP of a Clt with Catatonic Schizophrenia couldn’t attend or take phone call because they go Catatonic daily, sometimes for seconds sometimes for hours. The knew even responded with a letter stating new date, but still went ahead and sanctioned Clt, of course I appealed and am waiting for Ftt date still.
On the second occasion he was ill we informed the DWP with all the necessary medical evidence as in the first instance, they gave a second date, and then sent another letter sanctioning clt - I am still waiting for the Mandy on this one.
Regardless of the rules, they just wish to sanction people and get them off stream to improve the figures
See, I think that’s the far bigger issue here sanwyp. It is clear that as originally envisaged, even where a claimant was required to attend the 8 week WFI and DWP wouldn’t defer, despite the client stating that it wouldn’t be suitable due to health problems, etc this would be the absolute limit of requirements where they were then subsequently placed into the SG.
With the situation now, you do effectively have a situation whereby ESA claimants who should be in the support group can, and do, get called for repeated WFI’s and in some cases, even referred to the Work Programme, with all the attendant risk of sanctions, and very little that they can do until such time as a WCA is arranged and the decision as to LCW/LCWRA is made.
Further of course, you also have people who will leave ESA before having the WCA and who will be unable to claim any arrears for the appropriate component that they should have been paid since week 14.
It really is shambolic and quite outrageous in my opinion.
What you say Paul is all well and good, and have informed DWP of a Clt with Catatonic Schizophrenia couldn’t attend or take phone call because they go Catatonic daily, sometimes for seconds sometimes for hours. The knew even responded with a letter stating new date, but still went ahead and sanctioned Clt, of course I appealed and am waiting for Ftt date still.
On the second occasion he was ill we informed the DWP with all the necessary medical evidence as in the first instance, they gave a second date, and then sent another letter sanctioning clt - I am still waiting for the Mandy on this one.
Regardless of the rules, they just wish to sanction people and get them off stream to improve the figures
I hope you’ve sought advice re EQA issues for that one Bryan…
It really is shambolic and quite outrageous in my opinion.
and very possibly unlawful
Hi all,
I have seen a few similar posts on this sort of issue.
I am bringing discrimination cases against the DWP for imposing inappropriate conditionality for WFI, WRA and WCA. It would give them further cause for pause if I could turn the trickle of claims into a torrent.
Based on the derisory responses I have received so far I think there is prima facie discrimination in the way many ESA claimants are being handled.
Please feel free to contact me, on 0845 456 6820, to discuss this further. I am happy just to chat things through and suggest some tactics.
I think we could really get an important result with some of these cases that could be applied nationally.
I don’t like to tout for work but this is an issue close to my heart and I really would like to help out wherever I can.
[ Edited: 14 Aug 2014 at 06:16 pm by Ryan Bradshaw ]What you say Paul is all well and good, and have informed DWP of a Clt with Catatonic Schizophrenia couldn’t attend or take phone call because they go Catatonic daily, sometimes for seconds sometimes for hours. The knew even responded with a letter stating new date, but still went ahead and sanctioned Clt, of course I appealed and am waiting for Ftt date still.
On the second occasion he was ill we informed the DWP with all the necessary medical evidence as in the first instance, they gave a second date, and then sent another letter sanctioning clt - I am still waiting for the Mandy on this one.
Regardless of the rules, they just wish to sanction people and get them off stream to improve the figures
Just to be clear Bryan, I’m not seeking to justify any of this, but to clarify the rules as they stand, and hopefully Ryan and others might be able to challenge the lawfulness or otherwise in relation to the associated delays and the problems these are causing sick and disabled people.
Further of course, you also have people who will leave ESA before having the WCA and who will be unable to claim any arrears for the appropriate component that they should have been paid since week 14.
It really is shambolic and quite outrageous in my opinion.[/quote]
Paul, I have a case where after 52 weeks still no WCA., started work but had to reclaim ESA after 3 days, we are now 6 weeks into this new (but linked) claim with no sign of a WCA. Customer has put in a formal complaint.
I can think of at least two clients who are still waiting after 18 months.
Incidentally, the story of the catatonic client is quite shocking (though not, of course, surprising). Presumably he receives DLA? I’m sure than nice IDS wouldn’t leave him without resources to cover his rent…