Hi everyone,i thought I would post this.Its something my wife said to me last night.Yesterday morning I received a letter from the DWP about transferring me over from income support to the new employment and support allowance benefit.On the letter it said about trying to give disabled people the opportunity to work.Well last night,i had a bad episodic attack,and remembered to get my wife to video me.Straight after finishing the video,she said to me."Why cant this stupid government spend more time and effort into trying to find abled bodied people work,and leave disabled people alone"......its true though.the uk government haven't a clue what there doing.........folky..........
OK! I know exactly where you are coming from!
Recently I had my ESA stopped as it was alledged that I had not rerurned an ESA50 capability for work form. Long story short, I did send the form and as soon as the DWP informed me that they had not recieved it I phoned them to work things out and was promised a duplicate ESA50 to fill in and return - I never got it.
After something in the region of ten to twelve telephone to fourteen calls to the DWP both before and after my ESA was stopped, I have finally had my case 'elavated' to the correct department and now await word back.
Why do I find this somewhat funny? The thing is that as stressful and harmful to my well being that this whole ESA cancellation has been, a few days before my ESA was stopped, I got a letter from the DWP stating that my claim for DLA was successfull and 'indefinate' (will continue unless there is a change in reward).
So! On one hand the DWP has cancelled my ESA as they assumed I was capable of work due to not getting an ESA50 that I sent them and have cancelled my ESA (I have a strong case for it to be put back in place) and on the other hand the DWP have accepted that I am disabled and unlikely to get better and granted me DLA! The mind, as is said, boggles!
I keep being told that 'it's all in the machines' or 'computer errors occur' but surely some real person can look at my records and use a bit of common sense!
Good luck with the transfer! I'm off for a break - it has taken a good forty minutes to write this and the pain is setting in!
EDIT: Just to say to our international friends that this is a gripe about the efficiency of a certain department of the UK government. It is not always this bad with that department but a web search will show many similar gripes. :(
Cheers! :)
The wonders of modern systems are great! We were told years ago that 'everything in the future will be better because it will be computerised!' The sad fact is that, although technology has become a fantastic help to us humans, technology has become something of a 'fall back failsafe' that can be blamed when noone wishes to take responsibility.
Though I'm not very well educated, I did manage to drag myself to HND level in 'Computing' and I know only too well that not only is a computer only as clever as the user but a technological system is only as good as it has been made to be and then as good in practice as those involved in its implementation! As much as a pair of fine comedians would have us believe to the contrary, the computer does not say 'no'.
I still await word from the DWP and will ring them if need be but at least I had some encouraging feed back when I last called them (operator and team leader assured me of some details).
Take care (all),
M.
I cannot fill their forms in and I am fed up with not getting though to the DWP anyway.I get fed up with The Four Seasons by Vivaldi .
Vivaldi 'Spring' is one of my favourite pieces of 'classical' music. However, after hearing an extract of that tune on a loop so many times whilst on hold with the DWP, I'm starting to feel a bit like Alex from 'A Clockwork Orange'!
Anyways! I got a call back today from the DWP about my complaint and case in general. To cut a long call full of DWP apologies, explanations and (to my suprise) a lot of sympathy regarding my case, I can now say I am happy that the issues are put to rest and my ESA is to be restored in line with correct dates and missed dates will be corrected.
The problem, I'm told, was due to a crossover of computer systems and that I should not have even recieved the ESA50 that ATOS / DWP said I did not return (I did) and a 'glitch' where because the ESA50 was sent (in error) my claim was seen as a new claim instead of being continued as it should have been.
So! Yes the DWP do get things wrong and cause unwanted issues that can have a bad affect on the claimant (my ataxia is affected by stress) but they do, in at least some cases, put things right.
Well! There goes one less thing to worry about! :)
I deal with the Social Security department in the US, so the forms and things yall are talking about are different, but when I filed for my disability for my back ( they totally ignored the SCA and didnt' even explore it ) I did find a way around that " lost paperwork" thing I had heard others going through. I sent EVERYTHING to the disability department or the Social Security office by registered mail. Yes, it cost me a little each time I did that, but then they couldn't say I hadn't sent something, because they had to sign to get it !