Section 102 and Schedule 11 of the Welfare Reform Act, (Clause 99) – Power to require revision before appeal.
If anyone left in doubt that this Government’s policies are grossly unfair, and are intentionally punishing sick and disabled people – some of whom are amongst the most vulnerable of our citizens – you need look no further than Clause 99 for verification. Currently, claimants who are found fit for work can continue to receive Employment Support Allowance (ESA) at the basic rate by immediately lodging an appeal if they think the decision is wrong. ESA will then remain in payment until the appeal is decided.
That is all set to change, however, under Clause 99 of the Welfare Reform Bill, intended to be effective from April 2013 – and according to the Department for Work and Pensions, from October 2013 that includes ESA and DLA decisions. Under the new rules, claimants who wish to challenge a benefit decision will no longer be allowed to lodge an appeal immediately. Instead, there will be a mandatory revision or review stage, during which a different Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision maker will reconsider the evidence and, if necessary, send for more information, before deciding whether to change the original decision.
There will be no time limit on how long this process may take. The requirement for a mandatory review/revision before proceeding with appeal applies to all DWP linked benefits. During the review, no ESA will be payable, not even the basic rate. However, once the review is completed, those wishing to appeal may claim basic rate ESA again, up until the tribunal. It’s important that people know to request this continued payment from the DWP, once they have lodged their appeal.
The ludicrous claim from Government is that this “simplifies” the appeal process, and “the changes will improve customer service by encouraging people to submit additional evidence earlier in the process to help improve decision making. Resolving any disputes without the need for an appeal will also help ensure that people receive the right decision earlier in the process.”
Call me a cynic, but I don’t believe this is the genuine reasoning behind clause 99 at all. The successful appeals to date provide a growing and substantial body of evidence that the Work Capability Assessment isn’t fit for purpose. People are being wrongfully denied their claims for ESA. Mandatory review will make it very difficult for people to continue with an appeal, since their lifeline income will end for an indefinite period until the review is completed and they can proceed with appeal.
You will also have to appeal directly to HM Courts and Tribunal Services – this is known as “direct lodgement” – as DWP will no longer lodge the appeal on your behalf. DWP has agreed with the Tribunal Procedure Committee to introduce time limits to stipulate how long DWP has to respond to an individual appeal. The DWP is currently discussing what these time limits might be with the Tribunal Procedure Committee. That is assuming, of course, that people manage to circumnavigate the other consequences of this legislation.
From 1 April 2013 you will not be able to get Legal Aid for First-tier Tribunal hearings. Legal Aid will still be available for appeals to the Upper Tribunal and Higher Courts. See appealing to the Upper Tribunal against a first tier tribunal decision here: legal aid act 2012 for more information. So much for the right to a fair hearing.
There are some serious implications and concerns about these changes. Firstly, there is no set time limit for DWP to undertake and complete the second revision. Secondly, claimants are left with no income at all whilst they await the review, and until appeal is lodged. The DWP have stated that there is “no legal reason” to pay a benefit that has been disallowed during the review period. The only choice available seems to be an application for Job Seekers Allowance. (JSA) or Universal Credit. However, we know that people in situations where they have been refused ESA have also been refused JSA, incredibly, on the grounds that they are unavailable for work, (and so do not meet the conditions that signing on entails) or they are unfit for work, because they are simply too ill to meet the conditions.
We know of people who have had their application for JSA refused because they attend hospital for treatment once a week and so they are “not available for work” at this time. Furthermore, the minimum waiting period for a new claim to be processed is 6 weeks. That’s 6 weeks with no income at all.
Moreover, there is some anecdotal evidence of people being told by the DWP that in order to claim JSA, they must first close their original claim for ESA, since it isn’t possible to have two claims for two different benefits open at the same time. DWP are also telling people that this means withdrawing their ESA appeal. However, you have the right to appeal.
Another grave concern is that although most people on income related ESA are automatically passported to maximum Housing and Council Tax Benefit, from the time that the claim ends, (and for whatever reason), eligibility to housing benefit and council tax also ends.
However, I would urge people in this situation to contact the Housing Benefit office promptly to explain the situation – the DWP automatically contact the Council to tell them when someone’s eligibility for ESA has ended. It is always assumed that the person claiming has found work when their DWP related benefit eligibility ends.
You can still claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit because you have a low income, or nil income, but you will need contact the Benefits Section, and will need bank statements to demonstrate that this is true, and also, any other evidence you may have, such as your notification letter from DWP, evidence of your tenancy and ID. If you have no income as a result of your ESA being stopped, ask for a nil income declaration form. (Like this one, for example)
You may also apply for discretionary housing payments if you are likely to become homeless, and if there is a shortfall between your Housing Benefit, and rent costs. It’s also payable sometimes when you have legal costs. It’s certainly worth asking your Local Authority if you qualify for payment. There are limited funds available.
I am informed that when an appeal is pending, providing the Housing Benefit Office is informed of this, there should be some support towards rent and Council Tax. However, this is going to place further strain and difficulty on people who are ill and disabled. Housing Benefit is calculated by taking the work activity or support component of ESA into account, and currently, when basic rate ESA is payable up to appeal, some claimants are not necessarily eligible for the maximum Housing Benefit awards.
It’s therefore possible that Housing Benefit entitlement will be lower, with no basic rate ESA being payable after April 1st. I would urge people to contact their Local Authority as soon as you know your ESA award has ended, because otherwise they will simply close your Housing Benefit and Council Tax claim.
The FOI.
I can confirm that there was no risk analysis or risk register in respect of clause 99 of the Welfare Reform Bill. I sent an FOI to DWP that asked about these issues, together with questioning that Clause 99 contains no reference to a time limit on ESA reconsiderations, although it makes them mandatory. I asked :-
1) When is the intended implementation date?
2) As yet no decisions have been made regarding ESA payment levels
during the reconsideration period which could be indefinite. Can you
give an assurance that this will be announced BEFORE
implementation?
3) What data will you collect so that the effects of this
legislation can be accurately analysed subsequently?
4) Where are the risk assessment, impact analysis and risk register
that show the effect this will have on claimants whose benefit
payments could be affected indefinitely?
The response informed that the planned implementation date is April 2013, and “the DWP will conduct a formal public consultation in line with the Government’s code of practice on consultation. This does not include publishing a risk register or conducting a risk analysis. This is because all aspects of the proposed changes are considered during the consultation process and in the impact assessment and equality impact assessments related to the changes”. There are no plans to introduce a time limit, or to retain payments of basic rate ESA throughout the second revision and leading up to appeal.
The DWP published consultation document “Mandatory consideration of revision before appeal” that could be accessed via the DWP web site under the heading “Consultations”. The consultation concerned issues relevant to the implementation and operation of the appeals reform provisions in the Welfare Reform Bill and invited comments on the draft regulations. I worked on raising awareness regarding the issues that the Government’s draft raised, as well as prompting and garnering responses to the consultation.
I can also confirm that the Government response to the consultation did NOT take into account any of the concerns we raised collectively, in particular, regarding the lack of a time limit on the DWP to produce the mandatory review, and the withdrawal of basic rate ESA to those awaiting the review outcome .
So, the consultation was evidently a sham, nothing more than paying lip service to an increasingly perfunctory democratic process. Given that basic rate ESA is exactly the same amount per week as JSA, we need to ask ourselves why the Government have withdrawn the ESA safety net for those wanting to appeal DWP decisions that they are fit to work. Why introduce another layer of DWP bureaucracy to the appeal process, and why is it the case that there is need for a second revision, if the first response is based on robust procedure and decision making, and yields accurate and fair outcomes?
Of course we know that the outcomes are neither fair, accurate, or based on robust decision making. We know that some 40% of appeals for ESA were successful in 2011 and that this percentage rose to around 80% when claimants had representation at appeal. That is pretty damning evidence against this Governments’ claims that the system is working, and that many disabled people “can work”.
It’s likely that Clause 99 has been introduced to make appealing wrongful decisions that we are fit for work almost impossible. Sick and disabled people are effectively being silenced by this Government, and the evidence of a brutal, dehumanising, undignified and grossly unfair system of “assessment” is being hidden.
More than 10,600 people have died following being told they were “fit for work”, and this presents a significant statistical increase (from 310 deaths over the same period amongst incapacity benefit claimants) that correlates with the current system, and it is astounding that our Government have failed to address this. Instead, they have made the system even more brutally punitive, dehumanising and grossly unfair.
Clause 99 is simply an introduction of an additional obstructive layer of Kafkaesque bureaucracy to obscure the evidence of this. This Government is oppressive and certainly bears all of the hallmark characteristics of authoritarianism.
We need to be pressuring the government for the introduction of a time limit (on both legal and humanitarian grounds) as currently there is none. I did enquire to see if DWP had any internal rules or guidelines yet regarding a time limit but so far they have not. We also need to be pressuring for basic rate ESA to continue. That was a major part of the consultation response, too.
Meanwhile, legal challenges to this unfair and totally unacceptable addition to the Welfare Reform Bill will be going ahead.
Government’s response to the public consultation.
The DWP published a short mandatory consideration of revision before appeal – Government interim response to public consultation which stated that the Department did not propose to make any significant changes to the draft regulations included in the consultation document as a result of the comments received.
The Government’s final response to the consultation included the following:
- There is to be no time limit for the completion of mandatory reconsideration of decisions.
- No decision has yet been made with regard to paying ESA pending reconsideration but other benefits may be available to claimants where ESA has been disallowed.
- It was confirmed that housing benefit and council tax benefit will not be included in the mandatory reconsideration process.
- Where a person makes a late application for revision, the Department will be removing the requirement that an application for revision cannot be granted unless it has merit, and removing the regulation which requires that, in deciding whether an extension of time is reasonable, the decision maker cannot take into account the fact that the individual misunderstood the law or was ignorant that they could request reconsideration.
In considering a late application for revision, the decision maker will look at whether it is reasonable to grant the application for an extension of time, and what the circumstances were that meant that the application could not be made within the one month time limit.
The decision maker will still consider whether an any time revision can be made, or whether the decision should be superseded when considering a late application for revision as they do now.
Where a request for reconsideration is made out of time, and the decision maker refuses the application to revise the original decision, the effect of the draft regulations is that there can be no appeal as the Secretary of State must consider whether to revise the decision before an appeal can be made.
Update: No basic rate ESA will be payable whilst people await the mandatory review, to challenge wrongful decisions. No appeal can proceed until that has been done by DWP, there is no time limit on DWP to undertake the review.
Lord Freud speaking in the Lords about basic rate ESA and the mandatory review :-
“I turn now to ESA. At the moment, if someone appeals a refusal of ESA, it can continue to be paid pending the appeal being heard; this is not changing. What is changing is that there can be no appeal until there has been a mandatory reconsideration. So there will be a gap in payment. In that period—and I repeat that applications will be dealt with quickly so that this is kept to a minimum—the claimant could claim jobseeker’s allowance or universal credit. Alternative sources of funds are available. Of course, he or she may choose to wait for the outcome of the application and then, if necessary, appeal and be paid ESA at that point.”
Later he said:
“Under the current position, there is a voluntary process whereby people can go for reconsideration and the ESA is not payable until the decision is taken to go formally to an appeal.” Lord Freud (Source: Hansard)
GL24 and Appeal information.
From April, you will need to send your GL24 appeal form (DWP leaflet “if you think our decision is wrong”) or a letter directly to HM Courts and Tribunal Services.
How to appeal by letter.
The appeal must contain:
- the appellant’s name, address and National Insurance number
- enough information to identify the decision under appeal (benefit claimed and date of decision);
- the grounds for the appeal;
- if late, the special reasons for lateness and/or why the appeal has a good chance of success;
- the appellant’s signature (or the signature of a person with written authority to act on their behalf).
Update: Guidance on revision and handling appeals for benefits
Note 3: The guidance comes into effect
from 8.4.13 for PIP and from 29.4.13 for
UC, JSA and ESA.
Decision Makers should note that mandatory reconsideration is being
introduced from:
8.4.13 for PIP
29.4.13 for Universal Credit
28.10.13 for JSA and ESA.
However, we are still hearing about cases where the mandatory review is being used already, and this ought to be challenged on the grounds that DWP have provided dates when clause 99 is to be implemented, and so ought to be working to that legal timetable.
The revision process applies to:
1. UC, PIP, JSA and ESA
2. decisions on credits
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/adma3.pdf
Further reading:
Further information from Rethink
ESA – Appeal statistics – before the MOJ spin!
Who is accountable and legally liable for the well-being of those deemed “fit for work”?
Step by step guide to appealing a ESA decision: Good Advice Matters
–
Sign the WOW petition – a call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of all cuts and changes affecting sick & disabled people, their families and carers, and a free vote on repeal of the Welfare Reform Act.
It’s a call for an immediate end to the Work Capability Assessment, as voted for by the British Medical Association.
Consultation between the Depts of Health & Education to improve support into work for sick & disabled people, and an end to forced work under threat of sanctions for people on disability benefits.
An Independent, Committee-Based Inquiry into Welfare Reform, covering but not limited to: (1) Care home admission rises, daycare centres, access to education for people with learning difficulties, universal mental health treatments, Remploy closures; (2) DWP media links, the ATOS contract, IT implementation of Universal Credit; (3) Human rights abuses against disabled people, excess claimant deaths & the disregard of medical evidence in decision making by ATOS, DWP & the Tribunal Service.
Help – potential sources of funding from Charities and Trusts that help people out of poverty and debt:
United Utilities
3000 benevolent funds
Directory of National food banks
Representing yourself in Court
The LawWorks Clinics Network is a nationwide network of free legal advice sessions which LawWorks supports. Clinics provide free initial advice to individuals on various areas of law including social welfare issues, employment law, housing matters and consumer disputes – List of LawWorks clinics
“Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.” – Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights, and Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Pictures courtesy of Robert Livingstone
I don’t make any money from my work. I am disabled because of illness and have a very limited income. But you can help by making a donation to help me continue to research and write informative, insightful and independent articles, and to provide support to others. The smallest amount is much appreciated – thank you.
Politics and Insights 
I am part of a support site for people with spinal injuries. These people also suffer with other neurological symptoms and live in chronic pain. I am unhappy to see that such poorly people are falling through the gaps in this system that is used to assess there illness. It does not provide adequate range to meet these people’s needs. The system is causing harm and un wanted stress to people who are not capable with dealing with the pressure. A rising number of these people are becoming suicide as living with a illness such as arachnoiditis and others related spinal damage is a receipy for disaster. These people already on a daily basis have to deal with uthanasia and whether they can live in such horrific pain. When they said the vulnerable would be protected be aware that these people are afraid and are not being protected. They are in fact being humiliated and treat like rubbish. Any of these people would choose health, any one who is geniunly poorly would its a disgrace. Get the ones off that should not be on and take more care to protect the vulnerable like what was promised.
LikeLike
The dreaded “Decision Maker” The faceless bureaucrats that sit behind closed doors and are accessible to the paying customers that they serve… I say paying as I paid into this system via tax for over 25 years. Recently my partner and I have fallen on hard times. My partner tried to work (self employed) less than 16 hours per week and no profit what so ever. She was hauled before a CLO (Compliance Liaison Officer) back at the end of October 2012. He threatened her that because she had a website and was in a newspaper feature she must be earning thousands and she had to sign off immediately from benefits and apply for tax credits otherwise she would be fully investigated. She applied for tax credits but there was a wait of 5 weeks just for the form and they informed her that she should have stayed on benefits as she did not have a profit. So back we have gone to the benefits and are now trying to make a joint claim as I am on ESA. This has been going on since the beginning of November (2012) and we feel like we have entered “Alice In Wonderland” as all we are told is that “A Decision Maker” is making the decision…. Every time we call we are told there is no decision maker manager we can talk too, we cannot talk to the decision maker as they do not talk to the general public… They are the faceless bureaucrats that the Condems have given power too… I pity all who get involved with the system and am working myself out of this dire mess…. Good day Jason 🙂
LikeLike
Well done Sue.
LikeLike
I am going to reblog this article in full with your permission .. a very informative piece thank you
LikeLike
Yes Ian, a reblog is fine, the information needs to get out there. Many people still don’t know about these changes. Many thanks.
LikeLike
yep they want us gone quietly jeff3
LikeLike
Very thoroughly thought out and researched, you continue to impress me with your thoroughness and leave me glad we are on the same side. I continue in awe of your ability
LikeLike
You always impress me with your articles, ability, analysis and research too, Gina. 🙂 Thank you for your inspiring and positive comment and keep up your excellent work too. Collectively we WILL defeat these evil preying greedsters!
LikeLike
I know someone who was told for over 2 months that they were not entitled to any benefit because their Appeal was at ‘Revision’ and their was not a time limit. They were left penniless and their housing benefit was suspended. I rang up and asked them to clarify that the information on the letter about ‘Assessment’ level of ESA would be payable if claimant appealed was incorrect and suddenly a payment was on the way! So watch out, they are trying to implement this early!
LikeLike
Louise, the system is set up to take benefit from the most vulnerable:it’s a nasty Tory-political way of saving money, regardless of any personal expense or risk to the sick and disabled. This is what the shameful Tory-led Coalition have done. When they re-contracted Atos to undertake the “assessments” they wrote in targets: 7 out of 8 of us to lose our benefits. People are not falling through gaps, but rather, the gaps are deliberately being opened up and people are being crudely pushed through them, at every opportunity
LikeLike
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles.
I will bookmark your weblog and take a look at again
right here regularly. I am fairly sure I will be told plenty of new stuff proper here!
Good luck for the following!
LikeLike
Gill, thanks for alerting us, and raising this issue. I have heard from others that DWP are trying it on and implementing this earlier than the intended date in April. I would urge anyone that DWP try this with to challenge them, because it is illegal to apply a law before it comes into force.
LikeLike
Thanks for this info, I am due to be re-assessed in November after having been on DLA for nearly 5 years in Total….after hearing about people getting refused & are worse than myself, is worrying me sick….This Government need shooting! How much more are they going to take away from the poor & Disabled people in this Country?
LikeLike
I’m sorry to hear about your situation, Tanya. I am in a similar one. Yes, I keep wondering how much more they can take away, and maintain the lie that the system is fair, and that we are found to be fit for work fairly, and honestly. We know that isn’t true. 😦
LikeLike
Kitty, where are your sources for this information please? Specifically what you’re saying about there being no basic rate ESA available while claimants are awaiting a revision. You seem very sure about this and so far as I’m aware there’s been no announcement saying it’s definitely happening. Last I heard officially was from Freud who took three pages to tell me he didn’t know what would happen as they were still developing their policy in this regard. I took that to mean he’d sent out for more fag packets to write on the back of… but you could always show me a link to material to say I’m wrong 🙂
LikeLike
In the original consultation document, the Government proposal was quite explicit, Bill, in that it clearly stated no ESA at basic rate would be payable. Further more, I phoned the DWP and asked if there will be any basic rate ESA payable and I was told no. I also asked about any internal rules regarding a time limit on the mandatory revision, and again, I was told there is none in place, currently. I asked my own M P, who wasn’t even aware of the changes to the Appeal process. The FOI that I referred to also states that there is no provision for basic rate to be payable from the first decision regarding none entitlement, all the way through to appeal.
If the Government are “still developing their policy” then why the hurry to implement this apparently not thought out and incomplete clause in April? Err, what is the rush? Oh yes, appeals with successful outcomes make Hoban, Freud, IDS and the rest look like the liars that they are.
LikeLike
I also found this on the reliable Benefits and Work Site,
ESA appeals system to be effectively scrapped
Employment and support allowance claimants who want to appeal against a decision they are capable of work will be forced to claim jobseekers allowance or go without benefits, possibly for many months, under a clause in the welfare reform bill currently going through parliament. Astonishingly, the government is already consulting on whether their harsh changes to the appeals procedure go far enough. We are urging readers to respond.
Currently, claimants who are found fit for work can continue to receive ESA at the assessment rate by immediately lodging an appeal if they think the decision is wrong. ESA will then remain in payment until the appeal is decided.
That is all set to change, however, under clause 99 of the welfare reform bill.
Under the new rules, which are intended to be effective from April 2013, claimants who wish to challenge a benefits decision – including ESA and DLA decisions – will no longer be allowed to choose to lodge an appeal immediately.
Instead, there will be a mandatory revision stage during which a different DWP decision maker will consider the evidence and, if necessary send for more information, before deciding whether to change the decision. There will be no time limit on how long this process can take.
LikeLike
I’m aware of what’s on the B&W site, I read it when it came out. It details intention, not law. I note you phoned the DWP and while it’s alarming you were told what you were frankly, you can’t believe what you’re told by the DWP at any level. Good grief, remember who runs it!! The FOI answer is concerning though, very much so.
LikeLike
Yes, the FOI response worried me greatly. I have nonetheless hung fire until I was fairly certain that no further addition to that is to be made, concerning the basic rate ESA being payable during and the revision period and wait for appeal. Why are the Government/DWP not discussing this, and why do claimants NOT KNOW if they will be able to claim basic rate ESA? This Clause really has been brought in by stealth. There is no mention of withdrawal of basic rate ESA on the DWP websites either.
It was patently clear to me what the Governments’intentions are when I saw the initial consultation. I am hoping that the debate raised by John will expose these issues, and see them addressed. What kind of Government leaves out discussion (or avoids discussion) of how the most vulnerable members of society are going to survive whilst they await their right to a fair and public hearing regarding wrong decisions and their being treated grossly unfairly?
LikeLike
I suspect the intentions are that there should simply never be any reconsiderations, bar maybe a token handful for appearances sake. Don’t forget this new law applies to all benefit appeals not just ESA ones. People on JSA will be sanctioned just for breathing I’d think, and no doubt that sanction machine they call the Universal Jobsmatch site will feature prominetly in this. Grayling announced shortly after he wasn’t elected that by the end of this government nobody would be on benefits. It’s becoming obvious now how they intend to achieve that.
LikeLike
Yes, Bill, agree. John McDonnell warned us last year that there won’t be any welfare provision left by 2015, and he was urging everyone – from within and outside of the Labour Party – to unite and fight to save that essential support for our vulnerable citizens. It’s the mark of a decent Society- looking after the vulnerable. I know of young people that have already been given a 3 year sanction. The reasons they were provided with were not genuine reasons, of course, but we know that the DWP have sanction targets, and we also know from whistle blowers that people are set up to be sanctioned unfairly. It’s always the most vulnerable that are exploited this way, too. What a positive role model for bullying this Tory-led government are…
“This is how much the law says you need to live on” was on every benefit notification letter, at one time. Seems that is no longer applicable …until a successful legal challenge arises. And it will. You can’t punish someone into none existing jobs, by removing their basic income that was calculated by a body of professionals, once upon a time, to meet basic survival requirements- food, fuel and shelter. Nothing more, unless you live in Daily Mail land. Abraham Maslow will tell you that people cannot be motivated to aspire to anything, or fulfil any other need or social obligation if they are tied to fighting for basic survival. I’ll send a copy of Maslows’ Hierarchy to Grayling, IDS and the rest of the party of inhumane pratts…
LikeLike
Also, if you look at the governments’ final response to the consultation, that also clearly states no decision has yet been made with regard to paying ESA pending reconsideration but other benefits may be available to claimants where ESA has been disallowed. Doncha think it’s getting a bit late in the day?? I can’t help but wonder if they are just hanging back to see if they get away with the removal of basic rate benefit first. I am sure that forcing sick and disabled people, who have a right to a fair tribunal, as a basic human right, onto jobseekers allowance, thus forcing them to be available for work when they are not capable, (that’s before we contemplate the issues with JCP turning their claims down, or forcing them to close their ESA claims and therefore halt their appeal) is itself also a contravention of basic human rights.
LikeLike
I don’t suppose you asked in your FOI what would be happening to claimant’s national insurance stamp while all this is going on? Will it be paid during the reconsideration process, I wonder? I bet no-one at the DWP’s given that any thought at all.
LikeLike
Bill, that’s a good point! I seriously doubt the Government cares about the issue. No I didn’t cover NI, I addressed the main issues and the changes that would immediately bear a negative impact on those found fit for work. I will try to find out what the situation is though regarding stamp
LikeLike
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 16 February 2013. You asked
for:-
Suppose someone is awaiting reconsideration on a WCA decision and
so are not in receipt of ESA or JSA or UC or benefits other than
council tax and housing benefit/LHA while they're waiting to
see if they have to make an appeal or if the reconsideration will
go in their favour. Will their national insurance stamp be paid in
this gap period please?
National Insurance (NI) credits are not awarded during a period of reconsideration. However, if
the reconsideration outcome is in the claimant’s favour, NI credits will be backdated from the
date of the original disallowance.
If the reconsideration outcome is not in the claimant’s favour and they appeal against the
decision, they can receive ESA credits for the period of their appeal as long as they continue to
provide medical evidence.
If the appeal tribunal finds in their favour, NI credits will be backdated from the date of the
original disallowance.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
LikeLike
Super Post Reblogged xx
LikeLike
Thank you Jayne x
LikeLike
More than Welcome, we all nee to get the message out as far as possible – Hope you’re doing better x
LikeLike
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & POLITICAL JOURNAL.
LikeLike
Thank you very much rwlizzie .
LikeLike
Two Words! Conniving Bastards!!!!!!!!!
LikeLike
Agreed! But they have NOT got away with sneaking this in quietly, as they would have liked. John McDonnell has seen this and is going to raise these issues in Parliament. Meanwhile, this article has been re-blogged many times and has gone viral in it’s collective incarnations – and thank you to all of those who have re-blogged this work. 🙂 This means that Clause 99 has a very big spotlight on it. Just goes to show that we CAN push a Government to be accountable for their actions. And we must keep on challenging.
And we MUST vote them out, and hope that people have learned a bitter lesson from experiencing the most evil and destructive Tory Government we have known in our life time. Not that Tories are ever much varied. But we have never witnessed such a vicious attack on our supportive services, welfare, health care, and on our most vulnerable citizens.
LikeLike
Dear kittysjones, really good post – would you mind if we re-posted it with attribution on our site for frontline bloggers http://www.guerillapolicy.org or contact us via Twitter @guerillapolicy – thanks in advance.
LikeLike
Hi Michael, I don’t mind at all, in fact I appreciate it, because it means more people will see what is coming. Many thanks Michael, in advance of your re-posting. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you. The post is now live on our site.
LikeLike
This is monstrous!
Let me see if I’m not misunderstanding anything: from April 1st (someone’s idea of a sick joke), if you fail your WCA your right to appeal is removed and you can only ask for another DM to look at it. They make take as long as they wish during which the only thing you can do is claim JSA which would invalidate your ESA anyway (which also means the claimant count rises)?
LikeLike
That is pretty much it in summary, GW, yes. Though the Government would argue that your right of appeal remains, (in theory), they have made sure that in practice, it’s almost impossible to fulfil that right.
LikeLike
Thank YOU, Michael.
LikeLike
Ghost Writer, Kitty, something to cheer you up – you see, i’m currently in this process at the current system at the present time – After a Government Appointed Quack said and I quote “Given your Medical History, and current condition – You Shouldn’t be Working” – I’ve come to a fast conclusion – either Mr Duncan Smith and his ministers are on the Hotline to God and I’ve been Cured of all ailments (Brain Injury, Cerebal Palsy, Ankylosing Spondylitis) or the dingbats at ATOS haven’t read ANY of the documents issued and ignored the medical profession entirely. Upon being but on ESA(WRAG) – I made the clerk read the file….and he admitted, they’ve dropped the ball – I’ve got skills to offer – I want to work – but NOT without seeing a DEA First…Somebody is wrong – and won’t admit it. Take my case and Multiply that by thousands – and that’s quite a mess for IDS to clean up.
LikeLike
Hi Brian, The system has been set up to take people off benefits. The “mistakes” are because the Government has set targets that 7 out of 8 of us lose our benefit. Those targets exist before you even get to the assessment stage. Atos are not conducting medical assessments, they are conducting work capability assessments as their argument is that disability needn’t exclude people from working. BUT the real reason for all of the “wrong” decisions, as I said, is that the Government are cutting our support and provision
LikeLike
Hey Kitty this clause what is meant to come into affect in April is all ready happening i myself know this first hand. All of a sudden my money was stopped and every time i phone i get told they are making a decision, even my key worker phoned them for me to be told they would phone me back but, they do not. It is going on for 6 weeks’ now with them deciding and all the while they are not paying the basic amount and on top of it my housing benefit is suspended until my benefit is back up and running i need to pay February rent and March this is so worrying as i have a 5 year old and a 7 year old with special needs to look after. I have doctors’ letters’, letter from my key worker and letters’ regarding my son but, they still leave me feeling lost and helpless. It is a awful, worrying time and all i want to do is to be able to carry on moving forward like i was before all of this happened.
Any advice would be welcome as i am at a loss
Kind regards.
LikeLike
Hi Emma,
I am so sorry to hear about your very difficult circumstances. It’s so shocking that this is going on, and that the DWP won’t tell you anything. I’m horrified you have no money in the meantime. I am glad you have a key worker to help.
You can still claim housing benefit with no income and you need to ask the Council for a nil income form, or claim because you have low income if you get child tax credits and child benefit. You will need to tell the Council what has happened quickly.You will also need to take bank statements into their office, and any benefit notifications you have about your ESA claim ceasing
This is from a DWP document and says the change is supposed to happen between April and October. You need to tell them this, and that you know this is the case because you got the information from their own site
“DWP intends to introduce “mandatory reconsideration” and “direct lodgement” for Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit from April 2013, and for other DWP benefits and child maintenance cases from October 2013. However, these dates may be subject to change. ”
They can’t bring it in earlier. It’s against the law.
Here is the site – http://www.dwp.gov.uk/adviser/updates/appls-process-changesl/
Let me know how you get on, Emma. Best wishes.
Kind regardsx
LikeLike
Great Article and bang on the money in my opinion, BUT As a Housing And Council Tax Benefit Assessor, can I just clarify a couple of points: First The Work Related Component and Support Component are NEVER taken into account for an ESA customer, both of these are Fully disregarded as income for the purposes of HB/CTB. If you lose ESA and are pending an appeal your benifit WILL remain the same assuming you have no other household income which takes you above your applicable amount ( the amount of money the goverment says you need to live on (yeah I know))
Also I don’t know how it works in other authorities but certainley in mine, we will never just cancel a HB claim because the customer came off benefits, we will ALWAYS contact the customer and request information about their current income. Only after a month of no contact would we cancel a claim,
Most HB professionals are more than aware of what is happening with the ESA and quite happy to accept a nil income declaration from a customer based on those circumstances, BUT the customer has to tell us, and the sooner the better, believe it or not, most of us want to ensure you get the benefit your entitled to
Anyway, once again great piece, keep up the good work
LikeLike
Hi Damian, thanks for posting here with such a useful comment 🙂
What I meant is that my housing benefit INCREASED once I was receiving the work related component, and more recently, the support component. Clearly there is variation, nationally 😦 What I was speculating about is the fact that basic rate ESA means a little less housing benefit, but I guess that may also vary from area to area.
Thank you so much for the info – especially regarding the nil income declaration. I can share that with people in this situation at the moment, and that way perhaps they get to keep their homes…. the DWP have implemented Clause 99 already in some areas without any prior warning, and I am seeing more and more people having their ESA stopped, and they are forced to await the outcome of the DWP mandatory review before they can appeal. All of them have had their housing benefit stopped, too. My understanding, based on a few peoples’ experience is that you really DO have to notify your local housing benefit office, many councils don’t ask, and assume that the DWP related benefit ended because the claimant found work – the DWP sends an automatic notification when the claims ends to the council. I’m glad your Authority is so responsible and considerate of it’s client population.
I can pass this info on, anyway, and hopefully it will help people going through these dire and bleak circumstances
LikeLike
Hi Kitty Sue, in a slow news day it seems that Parliament itself has been unlawful since the late 90s http://www.twitlonger.com/show/l4qgid and the norms Atos use are wrong from the get-go as the DWP got them wrong in the first place http://www.dpac.uk.net/2013/02/11-was-never-intended-to-be-the-number-of-people-in-the-support-group-dwp-big-blunder-annie-howard/ Other than that, nothing happening really, dunno why I get out of bed some days 🙂
LikeLike
Hi Bill,
Yes I was reading that. Will be interesting to see what the consequences of that are going to be….
Yes we’ve always known that the norms are wrong. But the targets that Grayling denied really do exist and we know from Dr Steven Bick that 7 out of 8 of us are going to be passed as “fit for work” before we are even assessed.
LikeLike
Dr Steven Bick? Who he?
LikeLike
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/steven-bick-doctor-claims-government-1172457
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/britain-on-the-sick-reporter-feature
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/07/27/dr-steven-bick-alleges-dwp-gives-atos-disability-assessors-a-target-for-7-out-of-8-patients-to-be-reclassified-as-eligible-for-work/
LikeLike
Ah, him he. It’s not working out though, is it? There’s only around 40,000 less claimants now than when this all started according to @mylegalforum, who’s been keeping close count.
LikeLike
The mandatory review is a barrier to successful appeals going ahead, and that will alter the numbers, I would have thought 😦
LikeLike
More a barriert to actually staying alive since there won’t be any living benefits available during the reconsideration phase. Of course, as the streets grow thick with disabled corpses IDS will proudly declare them to be ‘off benefits’. The good thing is a lot of Atos assessors will simply quit when they realise appeals are blocked.
LikeLike
Yes, it is a barrier to those of us going through it in meeting our basic human needs, and surviving 😦 I am one of those pesky sick and disabled workshy types: one of the poor that IDSS blames for poverty. If I get through the Atos process, my next survival hurdle is going to be the NHS privatisation, which is sure to have a big impact on those of us that are chronically ill…..ever had the feeling your kind are being persecuted ….that’s the view from here, on Allport’s ladder.
LikeLike
Writing that last comment has made me weep in despair. It’s because I just saw how far down we have fallen, as a society, in just two Tory years. The clocks stopped when the Coalition took office. Now they are losing a decade a day…
LikeLike
A decade a day lost. Good description. So accurate that it hurts. I get in such a rage over their skilful destruction. Not as in the throwing things at the cat, but internally. So frustrating. If they’d had decent upbringings we would have no need to upbraid them with their comeuppance. As it stands my mind boggles that we have allowed them to push us so far. Probably because the sick and disabled are worst hit and we appear to be a soft target. Not being a driver, I balk at the thought of bringing my wheelchair to London at the tender mercies of public transport, so if I am in any way typical, typically do we organise enough to create the change we need? I have too many questions, but not enough answers.
LikeLike
They had public school upbringings, designed I suspect quite deliberately so it produces a steady stream of young men smart in appearance and of manner but emotionally retarded, devoid of normal human empathy. Cameron and, more obviously, Osborne (witness his smirking appearances in the face of hostile questioning) are retards, in the literal sense. Their emotional responses to subjects are not those of mature men as they’ve never developed those responses properly. Who benefits from this? The City of London, whose work it is they do. The City has to go.
LikeLike
Cameron is a genuine psychopath. Harre’s tick box criteria. Yes, I agree. Those who benefit pay in donations, it’s all a mutual thing. Ashcroft highlights how those donors influence policy, though I am personally delighted he is to withdraw his funding from the Tories 🙂 I suspect the real reason is that he didn’t get his own way in something.
LikeLike
We’re approaching the Fourth Turning Kitty. Darkest before the dawn and all that. It’s going to get a lot worse yet but it’ll get better, in the 2020s if past experiences are anything to go by. Read more here http://www.fourthturning.com/ One hopes present company will still be here to witness this, of course 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks 🙂
LikeLike
i refer to a comment that ppl on jsa will be sanctioned unfairly well my brother was sent on a work placement and recieved a latter to attend job center he thought this was there mistake because how can u send someone on a work placement for weeks then expect them to just take a day off it he missed is appointment and was contacted by dwp he told them and explained put is appeal in was was sanctioned for 5 weeks so this is also happening becareful
LikeLike
Sorry to hear about your brother, Deborah. It’s quite deliberate too, they have to find ways of sanctioning people that are unfair, because they have the sanction targets set by Government. It’s a nightmare for people like your brother, who don’t deserve this kind of treatment. 😦
LikeLike
This is the third time I’ve been to your website. Thnx for sharing more details.
LikeLike
Thanks tender, the information needs to be circulated, because the government have not been honest about the changes they have inflicted on us.
LikeLike
hi,
i just got my decision yesterday after my ESA was turned down in dec 2012, then put appeal in an d they wont changes their decision. they now send my letter that i appeal for to tribunal, does that mean that i will have no income until i went to tribunal. the other thing is my gp does not want to write a report for me and keep saying my fit note he gives me is more than enough. should i keep asking for it and show the letter i got they want DWP more information on my illness.
LikeLike
Hi Myriam. You can claim basic rate ESA up until the Appeal outcome, but you have to inform the DWP that you wish to do so, and that you are appealing (even though they know!) . If you don’t tell them you wish to claim, they won’t give it to you..
After April, it is not possible to claim basic rate ESA whilst the DWP are doing their review of the decision, but you can reclaim once they have done that, and again, up until the appeal.
It may be worth asking your doctor to print off copies of your medical notes for you. The letters between consultants and GPs are often detailed and useful. That’s what I used for my appeal and it was sufficient evidence. Hope this helps, and good luck .
LikeLike
Is it after April Kitty or after October? It looked to me in the recent guidance that PIP and UC decisions require mandatory reconsiderations from the 1st and the 28th of April, I forget which way around, and with other benefits that starts from October. I don’t have it to hand now to check.
LikeLike
Some areas are implementing this now, Bill. I suggest people use the information on the DWP site to sidestep that. But I think April was for other benefits and it’s best that people are aware that DWP will try and sneak this one past them and try to withdraw their entitlement. Meanwhile I will ring and ask again about the ‘official’implementation date
LikeLike
Good if you have a reliable source. I’ll pick it up if you comment here with the answer.
LikeLike
Here is the information I have been given, Bill.
Guidance on revision and handling appeals for benefits
Note 3: The guidance comes into effect
from 8.4.13 for PIP and from 29.4.13 for
UC, JSA and ESA.
Decision Makers should note that mandatory reconsideration is being
introduced from 8.4.13 for PIP
29.4.13 for Universal Credit
28.10.13 for JSA and ESA.
(However, I am still hearing about cases where the mandatory review is being used already 😦 )
The revision process applies to
1. UC, PIP, JSA and ESA
2. decisions on credits
Click to access adma3.pdf
LikeLike
What does it mean, I wonder? This is the problem with the DWP, it speaks in riddles. Do ESA reconsiderations start from April or October? What’s the difference between a review and a reconsideration, any idea? Are they the same? We’re really none the wiser.
LikeLike
My understanding is there isn’t a difference between “review” and “reconsideration” in this context, both terms are used inter-changeably. According to this doc, review for ESA is recorded as due to start in October. But that doesn’t explain why it’s going ahead already for some. Also the Decision Making part of the doc muddles the issue further by saying all benefits to be referred to the guidance doc on decision making from April. Does that include for review??
It’s deliberately confusing I suspect. I am an analytic kind of person, and I am struggling to make sense of that waffle, imagine your average DWP employee having a go on a bad day…I do hope they all get training.
The Press Office didn’t answer any questions I asked, and Hoban doesn’t respond to emails, so I have found. Seems to me that anything goes, Bill. All bets are off.
LikeLike
IDS is a malignant narcissist. The narcissist will abuse with the double bind, no win situation. If a person finds a way out of this sick situation they will be punished. Kitty have you studied the Narcissistic Personality Disorder? They keep people in a constant state of flight and fight. Stress kills!!!!! It is terrible this country is run by Narcissists. People should be aware of this terrible disorder. Our country was meant to be safe? I noticed you have some psychology knowledge. Maslows hierachy of needs. Yes a person will never reach their potential if they do not have basic needs, such as food and shelter. This catch 22 will drive people mad. We must all come together, share knowledge and check everyone is ok, I hate the fact people are being driven to despair and dying. Its really starting to upset me. More scary how the general public are blind, and falling for the sick lies the papers dish out . They really are sheep, no internal locus of control. There is the odd person who speaks out and questions this vile attack on the sick and disabled. What happened to the Equality Act??? Government Narcissistic smear campaigns. Vile scapegoating on the weakest of society. Kitty you are a very empathic person, reaching out and helping people. Thank you.
LikeLike
Yes, thanks, and very good, thought -provoking comment, Jenny. I agree. Yes, I studied psychology and sociology was interested in the “abnormal”field and how that links up with Society. I’m something of a Langian, with a view that much mental illness is a sane response to a insane society. This said, narcissism and the other personality disorders that frequently overlap, such as psychopathy. (used to work in mental health services, once upon a time) are different from other mental health problems,in that they are difficult to treat effectively. We do seem to have a high concentration of narcissists and psychopaths high up in banking, private business and certainly in the conservative party. They all seen to look after each other very well, too.
I share your despair regarding the mass and very deliberate blindness and looking the other way from the horror and persecution that groups are having inflicted on them. I keep thinking of Milgram… My approach is to keep on getting the information out as best I can, like many others are, too.
The Government have dismantled some of the Labour Equality Act, and have been unclear on where we stand with regards the content, now. It’s also clear that the Government are ignoring and circumventing our Human Rights. These are matters that are being challenged, but slowly, the Coalition have cut the funding drastically and very strategically to the ECRH, so there’s a massive backlog of cases due to severe under-staffing now.
This vicious, comprehensive, well coordinated attack on the most vulnerable MUST have been planned and calculated for some time by the Tories.
LikeLike
I could tell you have studied psychology. Such an interesting subject. Yes I too am interested in Psychopathology. After a family of Narcissists, had to find out what was wrong??? I am currently doing a degree in Counselling and Psychology. Not sure I can carry on though, my health is bad, have Chronic Osteo Arthritis in my ankle after bad accident. Need a joint replacement op. I am terrified!!!. Money is now so low. You know the story. Atos deemed me ‘fit for work’, Yes, NPD is not easy to treat, the person who has it thinks they are great and it is YOU who is the crazy one. Interesting that you worked in mental health. Sorry to hear you can no longer work, what health problems to you have?. I really want to work as a therapist but am thinking I am doomed with this chronic complaint. Yes high level narcissists and psychopaths thrive in positions of power. Power, control, and adulation their ultimate buzz. They do all certainly help each other, their narcissistic golden circles, the elite. They look down on people who are beneath them, They despise weakness.
Yes I too was thinking Milgram and his conformity studies. People do seem to do as a leader tells them, and believe they are not responsible for their own actions. People loose their Autonomy. Everyone says “how did people let Hitler get so bad?” Well really!!! Brainwashing is very scary stuff.
I cant believe the Equality Act 2010 has been dismantled. I knew it!!. Only last week this came up in tutorial. We were learning about the’ protected characteristics’ and I was thinking Rubbish!!! .
Absolutely do I agree with you government have planned this vicious attack on the most vulnerable. April this month, taking away legal aid, bringing in bedroom tax, and a counsel tax bill, DISGUSTING!! on top of peanuts being halved!!! ESA assessment rate, peoples incapacity benefit being abolished!!! who would have believed it. Have the government any idea what it does to a person to loose mobility, suffer pain on a daily basis? what it does to a persons mental health. The struggle people have. Its outrageous that on top of illness people think they are scroungers and liars. Massive tax breaks to the rich though, as’ they are doing the right thing’ working. Omg! feels good to have a rant. I am livid!!!. Thanks Kitty, you are doing a great job.
LikeLike
am in tears. so stressed after reading this. Ive been following a lot of sites lately but only just found out from here about the fact ppl will receive no money with no time limit before they can appeal. I had first atos assessment November 2011 and then in January 2012 my money suddenly stopped with no explanation. Of course the 2nd class post letter arrived the day after I was due to receive my esa. I had help from a lady in the council to appeal and I won and was put in the support group as none of the questions I was asked at the atos assessment were about my mental health. all about whether or not I could raise my arm or walk a certain distance. It didn’t take long after I won my appeal before the atos form came again. I won in april and it had to be submitted by the beginning of July 2012 but it has taken until now for them to respond and give me an appointment. Its in a few weeks time and im dreading it. I suffer with depression, stress and anxiety due to constant bullying from family, so called friends, work colleagues when i got older and even general members of public because of my rather large size (all since age 9). I managed to work until I had my daughter 10 years ago and ballooned in size even more. when she was a few days old I fell apart partly due to hormones, partly due to the depression I was suffering with and partly due to a very stressful situation I was in with my now ex husband who was using me for a visa, as he is Kenyan, and who on top of everything else he was putting me through had also told me he no longer fancied me because of my body size.
Since then I haven’t managed to shed hardly anything and I yoyo up and down by about 7lbs and ive tried everything. im so unhappy and live everyday with an aching blackhole deep down inside me that cant be filled with anything. and ive tried most things. im only getting worse as I get older and reached the stage a couple years ago where I can’t bear leaving the house because quite often I experience people shouting abuse at me from their cars as they drive past me. This has happened my whole life but is worse now as I often have my daughter with me and she is now old enough to understand. its mortifying. most days I can’t leave the house at all and have friends who do the school run for me and pick up shopping for me. It also got worse during an abusive (in both senses) relationship with a Fijian man whose final blow was when he punched me in the face breaking my nose in January 2012 for asking him (very nervously and politely, as I still had a black eye from the week before for wanting to go to bed when I was tired, to please be a bit quieter so that he didn’t wake my sleeping daughter) my nose is still throbbing. ive been told it might never stop because of nerve damage so all I can think about most of the time, because of the constant reminder is being punched in the face and abused. and its driving me mad. I did press charges and he got arrested and then handed to immigration, but after immigration got the police to ask me to drop the charges so that they could automatically deport him by a certain date, which fell before the court date, they messed it up and he wasn’t put on the plane in time. then in October last year he got released on temporary admission, because he was being unlawfully detained, while he waits for a high court date (appealing the decision to deport him as he doesn’t have a criminal record) and I now have a panic button in my house after a friend of his rang me to warn me that he was ringing round people trying to get a gun to come and kill me. I was already having issues leaving the house and now this.
I believed I had an atos appointment a couple weeks ago but when I got there I was told the GP was sick and it had to be rescheduled. I burst into tears as it had been so traumatic going in the first place plus it meant wasted taxi fares in a week where I already couldn’t cover some bills. They said they would send me a new appointment for a few weeks time and im now waiting for it. Im dreading them finding me fit for work again based on the fact I can walk and raise my arms especially now I wont have any money while they reconsider their decision. what am I supposed to live on? and I know they will find me fit for work because that’s what they do. How is it they are being allowed to continue after that documentary that went undercover and exposed them was shown? Plus last time this happened I got told I couldn’t claim JSA because my GP said I wasn’t fit for work. But DWP and ATOS saying I was so couldn’t claim ESA. I fell to pieces last time and the stress is now building in anticipation of what is to come. I cant cope with anymore. I read a story on one site from a lady who said she witnessed a jobcentre worker telling a young mum, who was in tears, that if she didn’t have any money to feed her child then her child would have to be taken into care and did she know anyone who could adopt her child. The woman said at that point everyone in the jobcentre turned round and started chanting ‘sack her’. I don’t know the outcome for the young mum tho. But this has really upset me because with no money how will I feed my daughter if I can’t claim either benefit? will she be taken into care? shes the only thing in this world keeping me alive. if it wasn’t for her id jump off a bridge and end the horror that is this life. I used to work and even had a mortgage on my own but after a lifetime of abuse taking their toll i couldn’t cope anymore and lost everything. im now JUST a benefit scrounger. been for counciling before but I only ever get a few sessions and only after months and months of waiting. and just as I start to cover a few things the sessions end and im left no better.
also with regard to sanctioning, of which im sure ill find myself on the receiving end of at some point in the future, HOW IS THIS LEGAL? when the benefit letters say that the money you get every year is the amount you need to live on by law? they are deliberately forcing people into debt, starving and freezing them.
And is it true that under universal credit they will introduce payment cards and vouchers for people on benefits? how will we pay for EVERYTHING needed with those? taxi’s and buses spring to mind. And what about internet subscriptions when you HAVE to be online nowadays to apply for jobs, as there aren’t any computers at jobcentres to use and if your library hasn’t closed it now charges for use of very slow computers (at ours you get the first 30 minutes free and by the time the internet loads its 27 minutes and then its £1.20 for every 20 minutes thereafter!!). I was on JSA until a couple of years ago and having the internet was ESSENTIAL as it took hours and hours everyday looking for jobs online and then if i found any it would then take hours to fill in lengthy application forms. i also discovered that you can ONLY apply for jobs in the hospital by using their online system.
this is just all TOO much. O one more thing what does it ACTUALLY mean when they say they have abolished legal aid for first tier tribunals? What is one of those? is that what i went through last year? no-one tells you anything. and does it mean you have to pay to appeal? and if so… how much?
Many thanks to all who read my essay. Love and peace to all
LikeLike
Natashia,
Sorry to hear you are having benefits cut. I am afraid everyone on ESA with ill health is. DWP has changed totally in every way including who runs it. Its not a safety net any more I am afraid. Kitty here is very informative on it all. I am in the same boat, a single parent, very bad health, and no money for food. This is terrifying single parents are being treated like this. Your daughter is only 10, you must stay strong for her. You must fight and get better for your little girl. It sounds to me you are getting involved with bad people. Many times when we have not had a supportive family, or even an abusive family, we tend to repeat these abusive patterns later in life. Read some books from the library about healing your inner child. When you talk of the empty hole inside, that will be it. Alice Miller has some excellent books for this. Research on the internet , Alice Miller has a website. Create some healthy boundaries for yourself and child. Perhaps go a do a course at college, to help you get your confidence back, and meet nice people who are in similar situation to yourself. Depression is horrible I know, but you can heal from this. Never allow anyone to be abusive to you. Perhaps research Narcissistic mothers. You say your family were abusive, not sure how your relationship with your mother is, but hey its good to research. Relationships with our mothers and fathers usually determines our future relationships. Look after yourself and I wish you luck with your benefit.
LikeLike
i totally agree with what’s been written here. thank you for providing and sharing the post. lista de email lista de email lista de email lista de email lista de email
LikeLike
Useful info. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I am surprised why this accident did not took place in advance! I bookmarked it.
LikeLike
I just want to mention I am just new to blogging and truly loved your blog site. Very likely I’m going to bookmark your blog . You surely have terrific writings. Thanks a lot for sharing your blog.
LikeLike