It’s hard to know which of the numbers in this newsletter is the most appalling. The fact that 31% of disability living allowance (DLA) claimants get absolutely nothing when they transfer to personal independence payment (PIP). Or that just 45% of new PIP claims are successful, if you don’t include people with terminal illnesses. There’s the staggering 92% drop in employment and support allowance (ESA) appeals since the DWP brought in mandatory reconsiderations. Then there’s the revelation that the PIP waiting list is still getting longer, in spite of promises by ministers to fix it. There are now 323,000 people waiting for a medical, meaning an average wait of at least 35 weeks. Or is it that just 19% of claimants who made a new ESA claim between October and December 2013 have so far had a decision, again largely because of long delays in getting a medical? The only mildly entertaining number in amongst all the latest statistics is that, after all this time and money, there are still fewer people receiving universal credit than have season tickets for Watford Town FC. IDs may claim that universal credit is going exactly to plan, but he must be the only person left who still believes it. Finally, we reveal that the DWP is still refusing to say when it will publish one set of statistics that campaigners have been pursuing for a long time – the ESA death statistics. But we haven’t let them off the hook that easily. benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2884-24-september-2014-newsletter
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:38:28 +0000
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