Re review dates for transfers from IB to ESA

Hi all,

My sister is currently receiving IB with a due review date due of April 2013; it's worrying her as to when she will be transferred to ESA. Are the DWP generally sticking to transfers being done from IB to ESA at due IB review dates as was originally advised? Her DLA was awarded to her indefinitely and we're guessing that the DWP are possibly intending to kill two birds with one stone and do her IB to ESA transfer and assess her for PIP at the same time, i.e. in April 2013, which is when I believe PIP is due to come in and take the place of DLA.

Were you transferred to ESA earlier than at your due IB review date even though you weren't in a geographical area that the DWP chose to initially 'pilot'/target IB to ESA transfers?

Would be most grateful to hear of your experiences.

Many thanks,

Nofuss

nofuss wrote:

Her DLA was awarded to her indefinitely and we're guessing that the DWP are possibly intending to kill two birds with one stone and do her IB to ESA transfer and assess her for PIP at the same time.

I agree that it sounds logical to do the two assessments at the same time - especially if the brief for both is, "Just say No".

However, the two benefits have different qualifying conditions. ESA is first and foremost about your ability to work. DLA (and presumably PIP) is about the support you need for daily living, regardless of your employment status. This distinction seems to be a tough one for ministers, civil servants and journalists to master but we should understand the difference!

As it happens the WCA often uses daily living tasks as one of their basic ways of testing if you are able to work - which is confusing. Still there should be some difference between the qualification for the two benefits - and two different computer programs for measuring them.

This means that ATOS (who have the contract for PIP already, I think) will have to see anyone applying for both benefits twice. It also means two lots of forms, two lots of medical evidence and - in so many cases - two lots of appeals.

I would approve of this if it were not for the fact that the ESA descriptors seems remarkably similar to the sorts of things asked about DLA - handling drinks, cooking, using a washing machine, looking after pets etc, plus mobility questions. They do not measure your employability, just your ability to carry out the tasks of daily living. I'm not sure what they will put on the PIP checklist that does not already appear in the ESA50 form.

However, since we don't yet have a final set of descriptors for PIP (IIRC) - they haven't worked out which set of descriptors will give the right number of successful claimants - it's impossible to be definite about this.

I think it very unlikely, however, that there will an overlap so significant that one test will do for both benefits.

At least not this time round.

I've just posted a comment here about ATOS having the contract for PIP - it appears this is not a done deal.

B & W news item

Apologies

i have just been through this experience this week,esa wca assesment on monday at a assesment centre, home visit by Dr for dla on tuesday the stress this has caused has been torturous,

Thanks very much for all the information and your thoughts about this, Carruthers.

We got suspicious about them possibly intending to 'kill two birds with one stone' because, up until this last time of being awarded DLA, my sister had always been given a renewal date for her to have to re-apply for DLA - sometimes DLA was awarded for two years and other times for 3 years...but this time it was given 'indefinitely' (without her medical conditions/difficulties having altered at all). We shall just have to wait and see, given that nothing's been finalized about PIP.

Thanks again,

Nofuss

Hi ks

I sympathise greatly with that - both things in just one week is bad enough but having to attend an assessment centre one day and have an ATOS doctors visit the very next day - awful!

Did they assess you for your transfer from IB to ESA circa what was due to be your review date for IB or did they start the transferral process earlier than that?

Thanks,

Nofuss