Vicky receives DLA at the higher rate under special rules as well as ESA from when her SSP finished although she is still technically employed she doesn’t receive a salary. She has mets in most bones, liver, lungs & brain her treatment finished some time ago and the cancer is now running its course.
Anyway, she has received a questionnaire about her suitability for work from the jobcentre. Standard questions as I’m sure you know relate to medication + side effects; mobility, etc. I have told her to take it in to the hospice today and get some help in filling it out but I’m not impressed that it arrived in the first place. You would have thought that given they have the information regarding the DS1500 that they might have realised she isn’t going to get better and return to work.
Rant over but I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has received the same joke sheet.
Stuart
How dreadfully insensitive! Sometimes the people who push the buttons to send out forms just don’t realise the implications of that button-press.
I hope you and Vicky get the assistance you need from the hospice, I’m sure they’ll be very happy to help her deal with yet another hoop they want you to jump through.
I’ve just done a change from JSA to ESA because of surgery last Monday and I’ve now got another massive piece of paper to deal with. They even want to see proof of identity so I have to find a birth certificate somewhere - I have NO IDEA where my birth certificate is, so I’ll have to pay out to get another one. FFS, can’t they work out that I’m the same person that stopped claiming JSA last week? They’ve written it on their flipping forms after all!
I think I might have to give them or Macmillan a ring to see if I can get some help to fill the form out - I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t bloody told them!
Stuart That really is uneccesary to put you through all that. These people seem not to have joined up computer systems at all. Hope the hospice/ MacMillan centre can help you out. The last thing you need is to be dealing with is these insensitive jobsworths.
I had yet another form from ATOS threatening me again with a medical for continuation of ESA.A different joke sheet from yours. I stopped claiming that when I returned to work and have written to JobCentre place, sent fitness to work forms in etc and phoned repeatedly to tell them .I wouldn’t mind but my employers have ATOS for their OCC HEalth provision and have had OCC Health phone consultation already with them.
All this takes so much energy and time that you need for far more important things for yourself and Vicki.You really are entitled to rant over this. Jackie
Just write on the form that a DS1500 has been issued under the special rules for DLA.They can information share.
Write what the condition is but do not fill the rest in. Get her to sign it (obviously)!!
Currently going round the houses on the phone. Holding for ATOS Healthcare for 10 minutes after talking to someone at Jobcentre Plus and they have also requested a call back from BDC within 3 hours.
After all the waiting, ATOS was just the number for making an appointment for the medical assessment Looks like I’ll be sitting by the phone waiting for the call back then and there’s no certainty that they’ll even talk to me as I’m not the claimant.
Vicky has DLA under special rules DS1500 and if you check the pamphlet from Jobcentre Plus DWP1001 regarding ESA on page 15 it quite clearly mentions special rules and terminally ill.
Well, I’ve had the call back and an apology. Vicky won’t have to complete the form and definitely won’t be required to attend a medical assessment. Now all we have to hope for is that the information is entered correctly so that they don’t cut her ESA.
Please don’t let the matter rest. Horror stories abound about the DWP/Atos situation. I have involved my MP who is aware of Atos’s methods and is gravely concerned about them. But of course, they act under the ospices of DWP - so nobody is to blame for distress, misrepresentation, wrong decisions … Atos have been awarded a 3 year contract by this present administration. This is of concern to MP’s of all parties. BCC in response to my plea for them to act on behalf of those affected by this have responded in full that they are fully aware of the situation. See Employment and support allowance for some dialogue.
I would suggest that, in your situation, that you are entitled to not just an apology but compensation. Contact a Welfare Rights Officer from CAB, or MacMillan CAB, or your local cancer centre. Definitly contact your MP. If they are unaware of these abuses, the cannot act upon them. Also encourage your circle to badger your political respentatives.
Good luck my dears, and please seek a bit of justice.
PS Jobcentre + staff are to stage a 48 hour strike because hte conditinos are so oppressive, they are not at fault for the crisis they and we are facing. Ergo - make your MP aware of your concerns, if you are concerned!
Looks like I’ll be sitting by the phone waiting for the call back then and there’s no certainty that they’ll even talk to me as I’m not the claimant.