1in5 JSA claimants now claim disabled status!

[Scouser]

An FOI request has revealed that since 2010 the number of new JSA claimants who declare themselves as 'disabled' has gone up steadily, was 16%, now at 20% (1 in 5) !

There has to be a link with the inhumane ATOS 'Work Capability Assessments'.

Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants by self - declared disability status:

May 2010 16%
May 2011 17%
May 2012 18%
May 2013 18%
May 2014 20%

Edited March 9, 2015 by Scouser

[retro2807]

I remember when labour were looking like losing the general election to the conservatives. At that time I told myself right, it's going to get very hard to claim.

Couple of months later I had all my payments for disability stopped and was told all of a sudden I'm fine to go back to work after 7 years!!!

Disgusting way to treat someone. I still can't work, but can't claim. Not nice.

[Mattyd]

Surely this figure is supposed to increase year on year because they are getting able people back to work.

[Hughie Green]

No the figure increases because of the number of people taken off sickness benefits that are still ill or disabled but no longer qualify for those benefits due to the descriptors that cover mental illness in particular being made deliberately inaccessible and extremely difficult to complete.

They are getting nobody back to work just cutting the unemployment figures by whatever means necessary and pretending that unemployment is down due to jobs gained rather than the increase in sanctions to make it appear so.

[wildbill]

The figures will start rising faster in three weeks when changes in the rules for claiming ESA come into effect. Many disabled people will be faced with the stark choice of either claiming JSA or hardship allowance once their claims are reassesed by Maximus.

Edited March 14, 2015 by wildbill

[The lone stoner]

I've literally just lost a DWP tribunal and had to claim JSA again,was at jobcentre yesterday.

I have chronic back pain,and the odd mental state which tends to go along with having spent years with intractable pain.On my best days I am simply in agony from waking to falling asleep,on my worst my back goes into spasm and I lose proper control of my limbs and 'other things'.It's horrible.I'm on a shedload of pills which make me look and feel totally out of it.Employers love that look.

I have to go to the jobcentre daily to use their computers (because I don't feel happy accessing universal jobmatch from my home computer and said I don't have one)

They reckon they've done me a favour by limiting my jobsearch activities to 20 hours a week .This entire system has actually made me feel like I am a malingerer.

I'd love to get back into work,I mean I would dearly,really,love to get back into fulltime work.I own a leasehold flat which has 'service charges' and ground rent fees,if I can't afford to pay them I'll lose my investment into this place and the lease will be determined,this flat is my only asset.As such it wasn't an easy decision to stop doing something I loved for a living.

I hope I can get the help I need from the jobcentre to start my own business as I feel it is my best chance.

[smoky2004]

Here's a interesting video for anyone facing an esa assessment.

youtube.com/watch?v=R4WkZ7GyyF4

[Raven313]

The worst thing is if you're under 25 and need to go on ESA it's still absolutely piss poor (£5 more than JSA) and the assessment is stupid. These office cubicle ATOS workers have literally no right to judge someone's health, mental or physical, they're not even qualified nurses or doctors?? First time having to deal with the Jobcentre, and hopefully my last when I'm done.. :/

[Intelligentsia]

The figures will start rising faster in three weeks when changes in the rules for claiming ESA come into effect. Many disabled people will be faced with the stark choice of either claiming JSA or hardship allowance once their claims are reassesed by Maximus.

Bill what are these changes?, I have not heard about recent changes. My google-fu is weak and turned up nothing recent.

[wildbill]

Bill what are these changes?, I have not heard about recent changes. My google-fu is weak and turned up nothing recent.

Afair, now if a claimant is initially turned down (which has been almost standard practice) it is now pretty much final. The option of appealing, waiting for 6 months and then claiming at the assessment rate has been removed unless the DWP approve it (which is rather unlikely).

This is from Benefits&Work on the subject:

"New reclaim rules

In just 18 days time the rule which allows you to reclaim ESA at the assessment phase rate 6 months after a refusal will be abolished for most claimants, though there are some important exceptions. For example, if your condition has got worse or you have developed a new condition, then you may be able to get the assessment rate again - provided the DWP accept that this is the case.

The change is particularly likely to hit people who are too ill or unsupported when they first make a claim to make a proper job of it and who try to claim again later."

[smoky2004]

The worst thing is if you're under 25 and need to go on ESA it's still absolutely piss poor (£5 more than JSA) and the assessment is stupid. These office cubicle ATOS workers have literally no right to judge someone's health, mental or physical, they're not even qualified nurses or doctors?? First time having to deal with the Jobcentre, and hopefully my last when I'm done.. :/

I thought ESA benefit paid exactly the same as jobseekers allowance regardless of age?

[Guest Rex Mundi]

Many years ago I did some research on the levels of disability in the UK and EU, specifically disabled drivers, so not all disabled, it was a blue badge issue and not a benefits issue.

What I found was, going by the number of blue badges given out, the average for all the EU states was around 5% of drivers, but for the UK it was around 20%, which suggests a bit of abuse. I know the BB scheme has become a bit more strict on this recently, so the figure today is probably lower.

So more generally, what is the % of disabled people in UK and EU?

[Stoned Whale]

Got any links for any of that Rex?

Quick google shows around 8% UK drivers have a blue badge.

Can't find any statistics for anywhere in Europe though.

[Digit]

On 09/03/2015 at 10:29 AM, Scouser said:

An FOI request has revealed that since 2010 the number of new JSA claimants who declare themselves as 'disabled' has gone up steadily, was 16%, now at 20% (1 in 5) !

There has to be a link with the inhumane ATOS 'Work Capability Assessments'.

I liked it better* when there was "incapacity" benefit.  I hate the shifted goalposts of theirs that I'm now disabled.  and not without fighting them for my life.     monsters.  >120,000 killed, last I heard the figures were up to.  A very British genocide.

 

* not to mention it was simpler, and it worked much more stable and reliably (loathed as it was back at the time, not knowing the future where the monsters at the DWP look tame compared to the foreign corporate assassins hired.)

 

Bring on a genuine universal basic income, so we (the now popularly phrased in the media "most vulnerable in society") never need go through that nightmare torture again.