The government intends to eliminate Universal Credit fitness for work evaluations when granting PIP and replace them with an updated Universal Credit health element.
DWP Unveils Proposal to Revamp Disability Assessment for Employment Support
In a newly released green paper, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) outlines the change. The Department for Work and Pensions asserts this is “to help more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work.” It continues: “We think an assessment based on condition would require a greater emphasis on the provision of medical evidence of a diagnosis, and we would need to consider the requirement this would place on the NHS and health professionals.”
In March 2023, the government released Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, which set out our vision to help more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work.
DWP Proposes Unified Disability Assessment and UC Health Element Replacement
The White Paper outlined the government’s intention to phase down the existing Work Capability Assessment, resulting in a single health and disability functional assessment, the PIP assessment. The existing Universal Credit (UC) limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element will be removed and replaced by a new UC health element.
The survey will look at the impact of PIP changes on the gateway to the UC health component. MP Mel Strideclarified: “My priority as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is to make sure our welfare system is fair and compassionate. Fair on the taxpayer by ensuring people of working age who can work, do work, and fair on those who are in most need of the state’s help. Welfare at its best is about more than just benefit payments; it is about changing lives for the better.
“That’s why this government has introduced a series of reforms that have brought greater fairness to the welfare system whilst supporting the most vulnerable. We have overhauled an outdated and complex legacy benefit system and introduced Universal Credit, a new modern benefit that ensures people are better off in work than on benefits.”
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I totally agree with John smith it’s terrible targeting disabled people it will lead to poverty deep depression and people taking there own life’s because they can’t cope the pip helps them to cope with everyday life I’m 70 and I am one of them that depends on it with having a lung desease I have to keep my car on the road as I can’t walk far and this helps it’s awfull of how many people this is going to affect and cause more problems everyone
Am scared by the new reforms 63 and deemed unfit for work having to find work at my age makes me ill 🤢
Knock on effect I suffer from sleep deprivation insomnia which causes me to suffer from anxiety, clinical depression and then for illnesses on Top as well as a frozen shoulder and a hip replacement and then prone to infections I’ve been through this since with this government and its assessments has been going on for me since 2013 they say they help you with an assessment to get you and then saying they’ll help you that only goes on for a year due to me keeping off, they sacked me from two jobs straight away three months and they could not be dealing with me being off but there’s always someone worse stuff out there and then there’s people schizophrenia who can turn on a knife edge either on their selves by hurting harming their selves or others it will be alright if we was slumped up billionaire Richie Rich if it is family insured up to the nines so if anything goes wrong with their health they do not have to worry there’s nothing wrong with being rich but them in glasshouses should not throw stones because the shoe could be on the other foot one day it could be his wife, his children suffering from illness and I would not wish that on anybody up to 50% of Pip claimants are working anyway and that’s why he’s trying to get everybody on universal credit treating everybody like we’re the same and it doesn’t come down to we’re all the same because you don’t ask to be ill. You don’t have to be disabled or mentally ill. Each person is individual so what are you doing? Cutting the jobs like for the people who work in the benefit by putting everybody on the universe roll like you going to shops, they’re all self service
What happens to your lcwra benefit will you automatically qualify for pip
This is going to cause so many more problems it is going to make the disabled evenmore poor than that are know I’m so worried about loosing my benefits I have a heart condition ie pacemaker I’m epileptic and have osteoarthritis I struggle in pain most days so don’t go out much have bad anxiety and depression if I loose my benefits I’m homeless
And who will carry out the assessments because if it is anything like pip the person carrying out an assessment Is under qualified to understand illness and they twist words making it look on paper that someone is capable of doing something. E.g know someone that was told they are capable of peeling veg because they have only 1 hand working. How is soneone meant to cut and peel veg with only 1 hand? Or another example, someone has suffered crippling and severe anxiety disorders and ptsd symptoms due to trauma and because of that they stay at home due to fear of leaving the house but have had to attend an important hospital appointment once in the year and because of this it was used against them to stay they are fully capable to travel. Again an under qualified assessor making wrong presumptions. The people at the top who make these desicions do not have a clue what real life is. I’m sure if the people on benefits had the wealth they would pay for private health care, be seen quick, have suffient successful therapy and want to get their life on track but sadly NHS leaves people suffering going back n forth to a GP asking for help only to be medicated which doesn’t work for everyone and then battling it out waiting on waiting lists for 12 month only to get a few therapy sessions which doesn’t even scratch the surface. It’s the heath care system that’s a mess and that is why people are not getting better.
I Have been awaiting knee replacement surgery now for both of my legs for 3 years now. I have been past from pillar to post.
With the system NHS 3 years down the line I am still now were near getting the help that should have been available to me. I have severe Osteo Arthritise and am In pain every minute of the day.
Tear 3 weight loss Clinic has past me around the country side .from one hospital to the other. With waiting times of three years and surgeons that have no empathy with their patients .
Please could Mr Sunak explain ? Why His Government have decided to target the extremely Vunerable.
And are not addressing the main problem maybe if the NHS was working properly ,I would have not lost everything that I had worked for. By getting the help that I needed. I self employed with my own workshop. As my work required me to stand all day . This became impossible I looked to get some help. That took two and a half years to go through the entire process .
NOW in your infinite wisdom you are now going to put people like my self through another assault course . I did not ask for this to happen to me but the Governments failed system has had a hand in putting me were I am now.
All you are going to achieve from this attack is, to cause a lot of disabled people stress ,
And pain. These people who are genuinely ill need help and do not need the Stress that
They are being put under.
I don’t expect that any one is going to reply to this I just wanted to let the powers in Government know that there are really vulnerable people who need the help that they have been receiving.
Goverment want these money saving ideas to affect the up and coming election .unfortunately people are not that stupid enough to swolow these proposals to save money all it will do is give labour an overwhelming win.
It’s always the weak they pick on it won’t save money cause anything saved will go on foreign wars that’s nothing to do with us