Wednesday 8 June 2011

Benefit Claimants - Saints or Sinners?

The force of nature that is Dr Eoin Clarke over at the Green Benches has produced this enlightening research on unclaimed benefits. What a shame it is that no-one in politics is prepared to so the kind of hard work to dispel obnoxious myths that Dr Clarke is turning out daily on his unique blog. 


Whilst Eoin concentrates on those benefits that can be quantified, sickness and disability benefits are a much greyer area. We can't say how many people do not claim DLA, ESA, Carer's Allowance or any other benefits designed to make our lives more equitable. 

We can, however look at the system as it stands. The government would like us to believe that sickness and disability benefits are an easy option. That there are few controls or checks and that claimants can look forward to a life of ease once a claim is successful. 

This is absolute nonsense. 

Initially, a claimant must fill in forms that run into 40 or 50 pages, detailing every last effect of their conditions in terms that often lead to despair and depression. The descriptors are now so tight that unless you have an advocate or know the terms to use, you will be unlikely to qualify no matter how bad your disability or symptoms. 

Once the form is completed, it must be sent off and a long wait ensues. How do people survive in the meantime? 

Next, a claimant will be called for an assessment. The assessment is degrading, impersonal and inadequate. Claimants are bullied, judged and patronised, leaving them feeling worthless and guilty, whatever their genuine need. Around 40% of claims are abandoned during this stage. The government would like us to believe that this is because claimants were "trying it on". I think the most pro-reforming reader would accept that a system this harsh is bound to deter genuine claimants and lead to people in genuine need giving up. 

Once the claim is processed, it is very likely to be turned down. 40% of claims then go to tribunal with up to 80% being upheld with advocacy. This however is not the end. Within weeks of a successful appeal, another brown envelope falls through the door and the whole process begins again. 

Anecdotally, I don't claim DLA though I do qualify. It is too dispiriting, too badly designed and made me feel like a fraud when I did claim it. My husband refuses to claim Carer's Allowance or other benefits as he wants to support his family through work. 

Any politician with any integrity would challenge this system. They would be concerned that those in genuine need are not getting the help they need and deserve. They would make plans to increase take up, not reduce it and combine these with policies to actually help those sick and disabled people into work who would like help. Work Programmes are an abysmal failure, because politicians have focused solely on the stick with no thought at all for the carrot. There are no flexible working schemes that could actually fit around our disabilities, educational alternatives are rarely offered at the point of claim, entrepreneurs are not supported, co-operatives have not been developed - we are simply expected to fit into an existing work system that does not want us and cannot or will not accommodate us. 


Over to Eoin.....


Stop Bashing Benefit Claimants when £66 billion goes unclaimed per parliament
The graph above shows the amount of unclaimed yearly benefits in billions of pounds. The total unclaimed for the current year is £13,25billion.  The graph above is based upon my own calculations. I took the top end 'take up' rates recently published by the DWP of each of these five benefits. I then calculated those who did not 'take-up' the benefit by the average yearly entitlement of each benefit. For example only 86% [top end] took up Housing Benefit. The average HB weekly payment is £84.50.  So you multiply the c.744,844 non claimants by £84.50 times 52. That gives you c.£3.45bn in unclaimed Housing Benefit Payments per year. The same exercise was repeated for all five benefits. Sources: A host of DWP statistical bulletins and cross tabulations as well as ONS data]


12 comments:

  1. Not directly related to the content of this (excellent) post, but I'd like to point out something: why do benefit claimants have to be "saints" to be worthy? Why is it that if someone is too sick to work, they have to conform to some stupid "suffering angel" stereotype in order for people to believe they are worthy of money for food and rent? Why is it that if the person gets frustrated and "ungrateful", or gets fat, or smokes, or is in any way a normal, less-than-perfect person, they stop being entitled to the money they need to buy enough food to stay alive?

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  2. Well I can completely agree with you the dla form was bad and then they went asnd asked the doctor why didn't they just ask my doctor would of taken a lot of stress out of it

    The flexible new deal far from flexible no training offered me, infact the new deal provider couldn't cope with my needs and palmed me off to an even less worthwhile organisation beacon for the bind. they were useless to me.

    I kept on asking why cant i go back to action for mblind people who were looking after me 2 placements 1 paid job, A4E and beacon useless travel 30 mins wait 5 mins getform to get travel expenses sign it wait about 10ins for the cash and then clear off how is that helping me.

    Action for blind people did extended job searches helped me with interviews, did interview practioce, did loads

    the answer came down to money you cant go to action because we haven't got a contract with them

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  3. Wow this is so odd I was thinking about unclaimed benefits today! Glad to have the figures to show people now :).

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  4. Reffering to kyrons comments above. This was simialer to my appointments with the so called support networks.

    Employment Psycologist 5 mins looking for appropriate person to deal with travel expenses, 20 mins waiting time for those travel expenses. During which time is taken on looking over my paper work (mostly silence during that time) he then goes to see if the expenses are ready. This happened time and time again.

    Employment support services (3rd party organisation) I can count the minutes on one hand to how long they lasted. 3x organisations same each time.

    The other things people don't take into account is how much the government takes in taxes when one has a gambling addiction as part of there health issues. This is not just those that claim benifits but those that actually work as well. Thankfully if not done any gambling in the past 3 years as I learned through help from the hospital that the gambling I was doing was actually apart of self harm and that once I could control the spontanuous acts I would be able to over come that part of life. Success.

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  5. Great post, Sue. For myself, I remember having a look at the 50+ page DLA form and despairing- there is no way I'd be able to successfully claim it on my own, and my severe social anxiety makes it extremely hard to approach anyone else for help with it (even my CPN, believe it or not, I'm terrified she'll think I'm not sick enough!) Not to mention the thought of claiming ESA and having to go through that horrible unfair assessment makes me so terrified I've not even contemplated it as an option (I wrote a blog post about it last week- http://www.thiscompassionatelife.com/2011/06/not-fit-for-work/)

    It's horrible the way the system does nothing to help people who are in genuine need get access to sickness and disablity benefits and in fact actively discourages it by making the process so difficult and terrifying.

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  6. Hi nice post thankyou .

    I suffer from multiple illnesses bed bound most of the day.
    Now I have been forced to move me and my family out of our home they have lived in 18 years because i cant use stairs and have to go in a chair full time when I am awake.
    My brain specailist has told my wife and doc i can't be left alone at any time.
    Yet I dont look ill all the time.
    My wife is a 24 hour carer for me and does every thing for me .
    She had to leave work to look after me she had that job 8 years plus.

    I am scared and worried and i shouldent be I am slowly dyin I have enough problem than worry about me re claimin DLA.
    But its up for renual and my welfare rights worker says we shouls get full personal career I get mid at the moment.

    No one says this but even if sumone takes notice of my 9 specalists and says I'm just a lazy git.

    It wont make me get better will it.

    My family will still be left to carer for me with alot less money.
    I will not be able to go to my opointments as we won't be able to aford to go.

    Why should i be scared and worried sum reading this may ask ?
    I have been ill for along time i will not get better my docs tell me I havw to a live the best I can and juat be. As cumfortable as I can.

    But every time I renewel my dla i am turned down had my DLA taken away then had a letter saying i am well.
    Then my wife is sent a letter 3 weeks later saying as you no longwr look after a person with problems your carers allowance is now not needed . Realy ?
    One doc comes in to my home asks a few questions for ten mins then says all the specialists are wrong all the tests brain scans reports blood tests operations Ea admissions and pills. Morphine is all crap.
    Wat it realy means is the dla docs are Jesus ... cool the government employ a xtain god.

    I have been turned down for dla 5 times went to apeal 5 times.

    As a ill person i should.have dignaty.
    My wife who saves the country thousands a week should have dignaty .

    If i had the money I would go to sweden to dignatas .soery if its spelt wrong.

    As i find it hard. to think wats comin for me and my family as it affects us all.

    Suicide seams to be a option at least insted of my family suffering becase they care for me.

    Keep up the good work with the blog its a honour to read it

    Gno

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  7. Another excellent post, Sue. My husband is a welfare rights advisor for disabled people, he helps people to fill in their forms when they are too ill to do it themselves, or when they are simply too overwhelmed by it all.

    I try and stay positive most days, so when those dreaded forms arrive, it is soul destroying and sometimes traumatic to be focusing on how different your life is to everyone elses, to have a spotlight on just how ill you are. It starts off a grieving process for the life that you have lost, even if you have good things in your life too.

    I would recommend that anyone having difficulty with their form, goes to an advocate. There are free centres around the UK, you don't have to pay anything to get the help, and whilst you still have to go through the form, you are supported through it and they can help you to stick to the relevant questions and make sure that you're answering honestly the points that are needed, without doing yourself harm if you don't fully understand a question.

    Having said all that, with Cameron and his cronies making all these cuts, unfortunately so many of these centres around the UK are being closed, with many more uncertain about how long they will be around. If this was simply about making cuts, then it would be done more fairly and evenly. To cut benefits so dramatically and then to cut funds to the people that are trying to help the most needy.. it speaks for itself. Disgusting.

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  8. Sue as always good blog. As for form filling you do that at your peril as you are not qualified to do so. All you end up doing is making a rod for your own back because if you can fill the form out there cant be that much wrong with you and that is how the DWP looks at it and that's a fact

    My health worker fills my forms out and we do battle like i have battled over the past 30 years with no end in site. I have been treated worse then most over that time but the battles go on and as i say there's no end in site

    I currently owe £5500 in over payment but it's not a overpayment it's £5500 that should have been paid over a 2 year period on carers allowance and not on the personal add on on my incapacity benefit in which they are blaming me for the error so i have to appeal this and probably go to court if the first appeal fails if i wont to see some justice handed out

    Your probably thinking 30 years your doing OK battling hard every year and winning well the truth is I'm winning in some ways but as i have got older my body is vanishing fast and the DWP may well end up killing me as i may not be able to battle with them much longer

    But i still have a few tricks up my sleeve in the event that i don't make it but i must cross that bridge as and when

    My wife and my care team over the years have been wonderful so we press on with the constant abuse that I've had over the years and as the saying goes my the best man win

    As for my quality of life well yes the DWP robbed me of that by continuously making my life a misery

    If anyone is thinking benefits are just handed out there not and if you do think that i would say your just playing the fool with the sick and disabled and should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking it or your just mentally sick like so many in the sun and daily mail

    It's a pity the panorama team haven't helped me out over the years i never thought they would but it would have been nice to have had a little help now and then

    Sue your doing a grand job and if you can bring about some change any change in my eyes you will end up the true hero of our time
    Only the very greatest of people can bring about change for the sick and disabled just to fight their corner is a most noble act as it is such a very rare thing and has been throughout history for a person to reach out to the vulnerable and considering that you yourself are ill makes it so much more noble

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  9. I've just seen the DWP's survey on ESA claimants.

    `Employment and Support Allowance: Findings from a follow-up survey with customers`

    http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2011-2012/rrep745.pdf

    I'm pretty shocked. There's a section detailing what happens to `ESA Leavers`, and particularly those declared Fit for Work.

    16 months after their initial claim, the survey found that 43 per cent of those declared Fit For Work "were neither working, nor claiming an out-of-work benefit."

    The report continues that "in these cases it was unclear what the customer’s source of income might have been. These destinations are currently being explored by a qualitative study which will be reported in the DWP research report series shortly."

    I wouldn't want to second-guess the DWP's forthcoming report, but it does seem to me that what many predicted has come to pass: many sick and disabled people declared fit for work are NOT fit for work, and are unable to face or fulfill the conditions of jobseeking benefits.

    Consequently, they are truly abandoned - and not in the Chris Grayling sense, but REALLY abandoned.

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  10. [QUOTE]Anonymous said...

    I've just seen the DWP's survey on ESA claimants.

    `Employment and Support Allowance: Findings from a follow-up survey with customers`

    http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2011-2012/rrep745.pdf

    I'm pretty shocked. There's a section detailing what happens to `ESA Leavers`, and particularly those declared Fit for Work.

    16 months after their initial claim, the survey found that 43 per cent of those declared Fit For Work "were neither working, nor claiming an out-of-work benefit."

    The report continues that "in these cases it was unclear what the customer’s source of income might have been. These destinations are currently being explored by a qualitative study which will be reported in the DWP research report series shortly."

    I wouldn't want to second-guess the DWP's forthcoming report, but it does seem to me that what many predicted has come to pass: many sick and disabled people declared fit for work are NOT fit for work, and are unable to face or fulfill the conditions of jobseeking benefits.

    Consequently, they are truly abandoned - and not in the Chris Grayling sense, but REALLY abandoned.[/QUOTE]

    Well that's easy there like a neighbour of mine a few years back working for British airways who fell ill lost her job couldn't get job seekers allowance or whatever it was called at the time and starved to death despite my utmost to help her she was just 35
    I could write a book if i was skilled like sue on the sheer horrors i have come across caused by the DWP over the years. They may not have killed you with a gun or gas but they still killed you none the less

    As i say where was panorama you may ask ? well like most horror stories it's always best to turn a blind eye and they certainly did that
    When you have lived to my age you know who to trust sad thing tho there isn't anyone in government or local council there all out for themselves

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  11. Brain Haemorrhage, Glasgow Scale 3 (4 days), Partially sighted, 3 months in hospital. Help from CAB and still turned down from DLA on first attempt...

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  12. If the Sick /Disabled /Unemployed did not receive any welfare benefits would the powers that be still pretend to make efforts to return them to work? The answer is no, it is some kind of reverse envy.They seem to think we are getting some thing for nothing and they arn't.
    The politicians have been conned by the likes of UNUM and Atos H who are only interested in profits.
    The LIES cannot continue forever.

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