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#1
2nd March 2020, 17:16
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DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
Something to beware of for anyone claiming any kind of disability benefit. It seems that the DWP are telephoning people who are in the process of appealing a decision about whether they qualify for a benefit etc and offering them a lower amount than they should be entitled to! They are then telling the claimant that they need to make a decision quickly about whether to accept this offer, and they're not telling people that they are still able to go through with their appeal.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ve-it-benefits 
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#2
2nd March 2020, 17:21
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
Yes I saw this earlier, they've done worse things so I suppose they thought why not seeing as they abandoned common decency and acting professionally long ago.
Having said that I hope someone sues them or orders a judicial review because they're actions are quite possibly unlawful.
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#3
2nd March 2020, 17:28
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
^ I would have thought it would be unlawful, because surely there are rates that people are statutorily entitled to....they can't just offer them less, especially when people may be very vulnerable, not able to fully comprehend what they're agreeing to etc.
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#5
2nd March 2020, 18:37
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
Typical, applying the dodgiest, most exploitative tactics of the private sector to what's left of the public sector.
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#6
2nd March 2020, 20:57
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
What is this, Deal or No Deal? FFS.
Utter psychopaths.
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#7
3rd March 2020, 10:38
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
This has been going on for a long time. The people that run the benefits section of your entitled have been stating it for years
 The DWP are all dodgy. When I won my appeal for ESA I had a hell of a job sorting it out, when I finally got to the right person he said to me - do you not want to stay on JSA as it's more money? (JSA with SDP is more than ESA with SDP - so much for supporting sick ppl). I was genuinely shocked and replied - No, I've just been found not fit for work. I think he heard the profound shock and anger in my voice and replied - err fair enough. Why would I fight an appeal for over a year and go before a tribunal only to remain on JSA  . Of course that's exactly what they wanted as it would overturn the appeal I had just won. People that don't understand the system or need support to understand making decisions may well be saying yes to this nonsense, who knows. There is only one word that applies to the DWP it begins with a C and ends in T'S.
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#8
3rd March 2020, 16:11
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
^ It's just unbelievable. Like you say, if they had said the same thing to someone who had less ability to cognitively understand what they were agreeing to, or even less knowledge of the system, they might just have agreed to stay on JSA and then been pressured in to work that they weren't fit for.
The whole system is just completely unethical and devoid of compassion, and people still refuse to believe it until they actually experience it for themselves.
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#9
3rd March 2020, 17:36
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
^^ Last time I had an ESA reassesment the DWP struck out the previous decision about me by an appeals tribunal and decided I was fit to work, despite absolutely nothing having changed with my health during the time from the tribunal to the reassessment.
They then phoned me up and tried to convince me to delay applying for a mandatory reconsideration (which has to be done before you can appeal) and also tried to persuade me to sign up for Universal Credit (Jobseekers). The reason they did that was because once someone has gone over to Universal Credit they can't go back to ESA and the amount paid would have been 33% lower on Universal Credit due to cuts. The simplified version of all of that is they cut off my benefit for no good reason then tried to deceive me into taking a 33% cut. The DWP employee slammed the phone down on me when I pointed it out. The system is a total sham and any entity other than the government doing the same thing would likely result in them being charged with fraud (for starters).
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#11
3rd March 2020, 18:03
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
^^^ Disgusting.
There was a theory going about some time ago that many ppl were getting 0 points on their ESA assessments (people that obviously shouldn't be) specifically to push them onto universal credit. So by the time their appeal (if they appealed) came about they would be stuck on the new system. I was fortunate UC wasn't rolled out in my area until a month after my JSA claim was made so I didn't have to face the dilemma/fight. To be honest I'd believe anything these days about the DWP they just get lower and lower.
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#12
3rd March 2020, 22:34
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Re: DWP offering lower amounts of benefits to people if they drop their appeals.
^ I think they'd just score people 0 points anyway to be honest lol. But yes the timing of my reassessment made it look like the whole thing was just a ruse to get me to claim Universal Credit. Also, once somebody has lodged an appeal the DWP has to pay them ESA again. But the government manipulated the process by introducing a "mandatory reconsideration" with no time limit before an appeal can be lodged. During that stage people get nothing now, unless they claim another benefit.
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