Wednesday 14 September 2011

Lib Dem Bloggers supporting ESA motion


The lovely Caron over at Caron's Musings has been a great supporter of George Potter's ESA Motion and amendment and has kindly allowed me to share her latest blog post here. I really hope that all Lib Dem delegates will get to see her post as well as those of Sophie Bridger, George Potter and Lib Dem Voice. 



Please support Glasgow North's brilliant amendment to the ESA Motion at #ldconf

The Federal Conference Committee has published its Conference Extra which lists last minute changes to the agenda and

If I could choose just one amendment and motion to pass from this year's Conference, it would be the one which, if enacted, would make a huge difference to the seriously sick people who are currently being forced to undergo assessment for Employment and Support Allowance and who face the removal of their benefit after one year.

Glasgow North local party have submitted an amendment to Liberal Youth's motion which really tightens it up and improves it. The text in full is:


After C. (line 25), insert:
D.  That vulnerable cases like this, where a welfare recipient’s income is threatened ,should qualify 
for free legal representation.


Delete 2 (line 35) and insert: 


2.  Liberal Democrats in Government to oppose an arbitrary time limit on how long claimants can 
claim contributory ESA.


In 3. (line 36), after ‘representation’ insert: ‘and expert advice, and for Government to reconsider 
the exclusion of welfare benefits casework such as this from the scope of legal aid.


After 3. (line 36), add:
4.  A presumption that ESA claimants with serious and uncontrollable life-threatening conditions 
should be allocated to the support group rather than the work related activity group.


5  A review of ATOS performance in delivering the Medical Services Agreement contract with 
DWP in respect of the quality of medical assessments.


6.  Effective contract compliance for contractors carrying out ESA eligibility assessments to avoid 
poor performance, and a presumption that in future ESA eligibility will be carried out by the 
public sector or non-profit organisations.


For me, the crucial improvements this amendment makes are:

"Liberal Democrats in Government to oppose an arbitrary time limit on how long claimants can claim contributory ESA" is much tighter wording and would send a very strong message to our ministers about what we expect of them.  If we really are a compassionate society, we do have to ensure that people who are sick are properly supported.

Free legal representation for claimants who are turned down and can't afford to challenge decisions is absolutely vital. I learned in 4 years as an MP's caseworker that Government agencies make mistakes. They are run by humans, after all, so it happens. That's a given. What they do often, though, is dig their heels in and refuse to admit or rectify their mistakes because they know that in the vast majority of cases, they won't be challenged. Often we had to present them with the evidence and be quite robust on several occasions before they would put things right. It's not a coincidence that the percentage of appeals granted goes up to 70% when people have proper representation. You really have to understand some pretty complex stuff and if you are already struggling with a long term condition, that can be very difficult, if not impossible to do. People are being consigned to a life of poverty, unable to work, yet with no support and unable to fight the bad decision that denied them their benefit. That is wrong and we as Liberal Democrats should stop it happening.

A presumption that people with long term conditions will be put in the support group - you do have to look at people as individuals, of course, but there are some people who are clearly never going to get better. It is cruel to keep dragging them in for assessments. I know of a fair few people who were denied Incapacity Benefit (as it was), went through the stressful and lengthy appeals process, got their benefits back and almost immediately were plunged into the whole process again. Putting people under this sort of stress exacerbates their condition and makes recovery less likely. Give them a break.

Finally, the last part, about keeping tabs on ATOS, who, in my opinion, treat people appallingly and make bad recommendations with a flawed assesment tool, is vital. I am very nervous about having such a sensitive system run by a private company anyway. We don't have private companies running courts and the judiciary for a reason. The benefits system should be no different.

I would hope that Liberal Youth, who submitted the original motion, would accept this amendment in its entirety.I think to do so would really strengthen our ministers' position within the Government.

Remember Spring Conference, when Conference put a stop to the unacceptable Tory health reforms? Well, this is just as vital.  Much of the Government's welfare reform programme is to be welcomed, but I can't support and will never even attempt to justify their proposals on ESA. They are unacceptable, pure and simple.

I am really impressed with George Potter who has pushed hard on this issue from the start and is responsible for it being on the Conference agenda. I think the Glasgow North amendment really enhances the motion and I urge every single voting rep to support it. Retweet this button on every 

10 comments:

  1. Caron and george your doing very well and i personally thank you
    Had i been fit i would have joined you on stage to make the case much more valid as what I'm hearing from Ed the labour leader is far to weak in tone and is way to laid back as all of these policies don't affect him at all and never will do and that's how he like all other main stream politicians come across weak weak weak

    ReplyDelete
  2. "After 3. (line 36), add:
    4. A presumption that ESA claimants with serious and uncontrollable life-threatening conditions
    should be allocated to the support group rather than the work related activity group."

    This part is a vital amendment and I don't know how anyone can disagree with it without seriously compromising their morals!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My Father wasn’t allocated to even the WRAG group, despite having small cell lung cancer. We took him to the seaside (along with wheelchair and oxygen) for a day out. This was brought up in his Atos assessment, where he scored 6 points. Dad died 7 weeks later, his appeal not yet heard. If we hadn’t been there to help financially, I can’t imagine what state he would have been in. One person had the gall to refer to him as a benefits scrounger. Atos are vile and sickening, as are the Conservatives for allowing this type of situation to arise, as are the media for stirring up hatred.

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  4. so sorry about your father,
    Are you reading this Mr c and the rest of your cronies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. [QUOTE]Anonymous said...

    My Father wasn’t allocated to even the WRAG group, despite having small cell lung cancer. We took him to the seaside (along with wheelchair and oxygen) for a day out. This was brought up in his Atos assessment, where he scored 6 points. Dad died 7 weeks later, his appeal not yet heard. If we hadn’t been there to help financially, I can’t imagine what state he would have been in. One person had the gall to refer to him as a benefits scrounger. Atos are vile and sickening, as are the Conservatives for allowing this type of situation to arise, as are the media for stirring up hatred.[/QUOTE]

    I'm so very sorry to hear about your father

    you need to see a lawyer and you should have reported this abuse to the police and your mp
    I know the mental pain of what your father has gone through as i have been like this for 30 years myself and it's the hardest life to endure how i have done it for over 30 years is staggering and the battles i have had to fight it's no wonder people say that i look like i have just come out of a prisoner of war camp but like everyone else my battles aren't over at least Hitler would have put me out of my mental pain ?

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  6. Hopefully sue you like i will take note of this death for future reference ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Having made some enquires with regards your fathers death you need to have informed your local coroners office as although his death was from cancer it could also have been expedited by anxiety and stress from the DWP
    You need also to send a copy of what documents you have from the DWP to your mp and also to the prime minister who ultimately under uk law is responsible and will in turn take the necessary action and prosecute all those involved a simple lawyers letter is all that's needed but for all of us it is very important that you find time as get your father the justice he so badly needed
    Even a phone call to publicist max Clifford would be a good thing for advice and good luck
    http://maxclifford.com/contact-us/

    ReplyDelete
  8. what we need is someone from the government looking in on this blog and putting the correct lawful measures in place that offer protection to the sick and disabled

    What we have at this time is far to many blogs and i mean no disrespect to anyone here or elsewhere but there are far to many blogs with the same agenda and that causes confusion all round and lets everyone in the government and DWP off the hook as they would be able to say "i don't read that blog i read this one" in other words i know nothing and just play the devils advocate why ? because that gets them off the hook under living in a so called democracy as the government would be able to say in law i wasn't aware of so and so's death but will look in to it which is to late as the death has taken place

    Personally i would rather have all sick and disabled follow one blog only as i do believe it would give focus and clarity as it is at present I'm finding it a bit of a mish mash hopping all over the web and not being able to keep up with everyone ans with the odd death or to creeping in I'm finding that is not good and am sure there are many others that i know nothing about and in my mind that's just plain criminal

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am one of "the scroungers"who will have his contribution based ESA stopped if they bring in the one year limit.
    I have worked,and paid my insurance contributions,for over 40 years.I now have emphysema and osteoarthritis.I am allocated to the WRAG.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have had to give up work in order to become a full time carer for my wife who suffers from a complex of conditions which include asthma, osteo arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal lordosis, anaemia, anxiety and depression. She was forced to attend one of these despicable ATOS assessments and I accompanied her and witnessed the assessment. Before describing the procedures in the 'consulting room' (sic) I would like to say that, despite the fact that I managed to get her there on time, we were informed that, due to a shortage of 'assessors', there would be a delay. As a result of this she was kept waiting for more than an hour, sitting in pain on a hard plastic chair in the waiting room. When we were eventually admitted to the 'consulting room' it soon became clear to me that the ATOS 'assessor' was not remotely interested in the diagnostics provided by her GP and other medical professionals, all he wanted to do was to instruct her to perform physical exercises that she could not possibly do because of her limited mobility. When requested to perform some quasi-athletic exercises, my wife simply said she was unable even to attempt to do these as she feared she would injure herself. Several days later, she received notification that she had failed to 'earn sufficient points' to have her claim upheld. I would like to suggest here that, as an acronym, ATOS should really stand for 'Administration of Terror on Sufferers' - I say this, not to appear as a clever-dick, but merely to highlight the fact that the primary purpose of ATOS is to disqualify as many claimants as they possibly can by means of the most spurious and disingenous practices. It is vital that, regardless of political affiliation, we should stand together and fight against these evil policies and the automatons who are appointed to pass and administer them.

    ReplyDelete