benefits

[jelly1981]

hi there i claim low rate dla care and mob for my depression and anxiety and i get esa support group last year i had to claim carers for my mother as she has end stage copd we both help eachother with our illnesses anyway ive just been sent a form from atos to fill in to go for assesment for my esa but as my mothers carer also would i have to go for the assesment ?

[Bananas5]

Simple answer is...YES.

You are being reassessed to see if you still meet the criteria which allows you to claim ESA.

Is you Mum getting DLA care middle or higher rate or does she get attendance allowance?

Being a carer has nothing to do with it. However AtoDWP may see this differently. If you can look after another person they may decide you can return to work.

Be very careful.

There are also rules governing which benefit you can claim while in receipt of ESA support.

x

[RAYJAYC]

Are you asking if you'll have to go to two separate assessments; one for you & one as a carer?

RJC

[Cb1963]

atos will soon be a thing of the past,and are being replaced with another firm from America called Maximus who I believe are receiving approximately £400 million for this new government contract and I presume bonus related top ups for people who they deem fit to work,or reduce payments for people claiming benefits,so you are definitely going to be looked at carefully which I totally disagree with,as otherwise if you or your mother had to source outside help from the social work department it would probably cost the taxpayer more money in the long term,and ultimately even filling these forms can have a negative effect with people who have a history of depression,I recently received the same form but I don't have any dependants who I have to look after and I was so upset having to document my illnesses it put me back to a place that I don't really want to discuss(PTSD) there's nothing that I can do to change my situation and yet I've been to hell and back,and I feel a victim here,so no amount of money can put your mind at rest,and on top of depression I have other health issues so I'm under no illusion that a medical will be offered to me(that the wording now) and of course you'll find if you can swallow and move your neck and of course breathe you'll find a that you'll be possibly in a different group,so hope for the best,and I'm already getting geared up to fight my own personal battle with the DWP and Maximus in the not to distant future and not looking forward to it,so hopefully if you've got enough evidence and a support worker to help you with your claims it might be enough to keep you in the group that you feel you should stay in,good luck

[NFDK]

How true Cb1963 ! People who suffer depression are meant to keep a Positive Mental Attitude.

Filling in their hellish forms means, for the benefit of the DWP, focusing minutely on our depression, our trauma and all of the things that we CAN'T do.

Next comes the often ridiculous and humiliating assessment itself, normally by a bully who has had 5 minutes of training - AND who sometimes has NO knowledge about our conditions 😔

I mean to say - if all of the people who suffer CRPS + the smartest consultants are just learning about the condition... then what chance does some health assistant have of getting it right during our assessments?

It's a brutal system.

(Don't mean to offend anyone who has ever worked for the DWP...it's just my opinion...)

Take care, Wendy x