Quote:
Originally Posted by nomadking
The ESA WRAG is meant to be for those "temporarily" sick/incapacitated. Any extra money for IS/IB didn't happen until after a year.
I referred to "form of compensation", the term seems to be "earnings replacement".
There is nothing in the IB/ESA conditions that is connected exclusively to extra costs. That's covered by DLA/PIP.
Link
Managing is no different to those just on JSA. |
Those quotes are out of date, Severe Disablement Allowance was abolished and claimants were moved onto Incapacity Benefit years ago under the Blair Government.
Re: DLA/PIP. The care components are intended to cover personal care needs eg by employing a carer. The mobility components are intended to help people unable to get out and about unaided, unless there is no 'enhanced facility for locomotion', so someone in a coma would not qualify.
The regulations don't specifically state that DLA/PIP
must be used for their intended purpose, so many disabled people can and do use these payments for other things that they need help with. For example, some use the money to employ a cleaner even though, strictly speaking, the Severe Disability Premium* is intended for this purpose.
*With the transfer to Universal Credit, the Government had hoped to phase out the Severe Disability Premium, however, test cases have been brought that have prevented them from doing this in many cases.
The Government definition of long term disability (as opposed to temporary) was originally six months (defined by the Thatcher Government regulations). To cut costs, this was later revised to a year. Those not in receipt of certain benefits e.g. DLA were, as you say, only entitled to the disability premium after a year had passed.
Those in the WRAG are expected to start taking steps to obtain employment when appropriate. The problem is that the apalling level of assessments and decision making has not only led to those clearly not fit for work being deemed to be so, but has led to those who should clearly be placed into the Support Group being placed into the WRAG.
Incapacity Benefit, ESA etc are/were indeed intended to help towards income replacement. As I explained earlier, the poorest who rely on means tested benefits, were entitled to the Disability Premium. This was part of the Thatcher plan to simplify the welfare system from 1988 and replaced the 'Addition Requirements' e.g. extra heating, special diet that had existed within Supplementary Benefit.
The Blair reforms to cut down on those not working due to illness/disability replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support with ESA. The two ESA group's each originally had a top up payment.
WRAG had a top up to reward those taking steps to find work (in essence the Disability Premium). This was not awarded or removed if they failed to take appropriate steps to secure employment. The Cameron Government scrapped this for new claimants, meaning that these people, for the first time in the history of the welfare state, we're not provided with extra money to help with the additional costs associated with disability or sickness.
The Support Group had an extra payment to reflect the fact that they were never realistically going to work again (again, in essence, a replacement for the Disability Premium). The original idea was that, once the savings from getting those able back into work that were able to, this extra payment would be increased above inflation.
You won't find a specific reference to payments for extra disability costs within Contrinution based ESA/IB as this was covered by the means tested elements of Income Support, which was subsequently renamed Income Related Employment & Support Allowance, which has subsequently been changed to Universal Credit. Any additions for Incapacity Benefit were based on the age that incapacity began.
There is absolutely a difference between someone on completely frozen JSA and partially or fully frozen Income Based ESA as they now no longer receive extra money to help with the extra costs that disability attracts. In addition, they are in a much worse position when it comes to securing employment than those on JSA.
As you can see, the welfare system has become convoluted because of years of tinkering by various Governments, but Cameron in particular is the worst culprit. A disabled person may be now be on one or more legacy benefits (with or without transitional protection) and all this is dependant on what happened to them in the past, often years ago.
This, when coupled with the shedding of DWP staff and the loss of experienced staff (many who had worked there for many years), it's no wonder that the DWP is no longer fit for purpose.
The mere mention of Supplementary Benefit to an an often young and inexperienced member of staff results in a blank stare! I suspect that this lack of training/experience is the reason why the former Thomas Cook employees are complaining about the service that they received:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50885242