ESA Appeals – Where You Live Can Slash your Chances. PIP Claims Mystery. Money off membership. Dear jim, This is the first newsletter since we took a break throughout August, so we do apologise for it’s length – there’s been a bit of catching up to do. In this edition we look at the extraordinary difference where you live can make to your chances of winning your employment and support allowance appeal. We also have the welcome news that the United Nations is investigating the work capability assessment for ESA and other welfare reform issues – and they want to hear from you. Meanwhile, in Parliament Square a service is to be held for the 10,000 people who activists claim have died soon after an Atos work capability assessment. The service will be led by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. We’re also highlighting the mystery surrounding what has happened to all the PIP decisions. Apart from decisions relating to people who are terminally ill, almost none seem to have been made. In addition, we ask what has happened to all the PIP assessment centres Atos said they were going to create? Plus, the timetable for rolling out PIP has been delayed by three weeks whilst the DWP tries to decide how to handle the crisis over the mobility component. The bedroom tax also continues to give the DWP a headache, with four of the first five decisions in first-tier tribunals finding in favour of claimants. Plus, a UN envoy has called for the bedroom tax to be scrapped, sending former dodgy internet entrepreneur and Tory Party chair Grant Schapps into an incandescent, though factually inaccurate, rage. Universal credit , meanwhile, is falling apart before our very eyes as IDS is accused of misleading parliament and, in turn, heaps blame on his civil servants. Finally, as the government tries to keep the spotlight on benefits claimants and off tax avoiders by announcing stiffer penalties for benefits fraud, we take a moment to remember the punishment handed down to the Right Honourable David Laws, the government minister who dishonestly claimed £40,000 in housing payments . ESA NEWS The latest quarterly tribunal statistics for April to June 2013 reveal an astonishing 86% increase in ESA appeals, compared to the same period last year. The 93,000 ESA appeals in the last quarter make up 70% of all social security appeals, whereas DLA appeals make up just 11%. An average of 41% of DLA appeals and 42% of ESA appeals were won by the claimant. However, there are huge regional variations in the success rate for ESA appeals, as revealed by another government document. The highest success rates are in the south east of England and in London, where a massive 47% and 45% of appeals, respectively, are successful. In the West Midlands and North West England, this drops to just 31%. This means that claimants in London and the South East are 50% more likely to win their appeal than claimants in the West midlands and North West. No attempt is made to explain these huge variations, though the quality of decision making and differing attitudes towards claimants in different regions may play an important role. The success rate for appeals relating to different conditions also varies dramatically, from just 25% for pregnancy and childbirth related conditions to 48% for diseases of the nervous system.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2365-huge-variation-in-esa-appeal-success-rates?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Benefits%20and%20Work&utm_content=17+September+2013+newsletter
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:11:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015