Stop further harassment of ESA claimants! There is only a month to get this proposal changed! At the end of October mandatory reconsideration is due to be introduced, under the Welfare Reform Act 2012. Currently, if people disagree with a decision about their ESA entitlement they can appeal the decision right away. They will continue to be paid ESA at the assessment rate pending the appeal. For a single person this is £71.70pw- the same as JSA - hardly a fortune!! There are so many people appealing it can take up to a year for the appeal to be heard. When mandatory reconsideration is introduced in October any disagreement will first have to be reconsidered by the DWP before it can be registered as an appeal.There will be no payment of ESA while the decision is reconsidered. There is no time limit on how quickly the DWP have to complete this stage of the process. This means that, for an indeterminate time period, very sick, vulnerable people will be left without any money. Their only option will be to apply for job seekers allowance (JSA). But to qualify for JSA they must be available for work. Many of them are, genuinely, too sick to be able to work. Consequently, they may be refused JSA because they do not meet the entitlement criteria. So how are they going to survive with no money??? Far from helping people to get better, and ready for work, this will compound their problems, with money worries and result in further, serious, deterioration of their health. It is of note that 40% of ESA appeals are successful, even higher if they seek advice (the success rate for our advice agency is over 80%). This policy will be harming the most ill and vulnerable in our society. All this could be so easily rectified by allowing people to continue to be paid ESA during the whole of the dispute process. Please ask Iain Duncan Smith to show some compassion by introducing this simple measure. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ian-duncan-smith-targets-the-sick-vulnerable
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 14:48:26 +0000
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