Re: voluntary work and transferring on to ESA

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for your reply, please could I ask you for some clarification on a couple of issues below you have helped me with, as I'm getting a bit confused.

DLA and ESA are seperate benefits, however, there are areas of overlap. In terms of the ESA transfer, I see no issue, with the possible exception of you starting a DLA claim and then having the ESA transfer start. To be clear, this would be by conincidence, rather than the DLA claim triggering the transfer.

Are you saying that the only problem would be a trigger in the ESA transfer start or that it would be a coincidence if this happened?

Also with reference to:
DLA is not an out of work benefit such as IB or ESA, so volunteering should have no relevance to DLA, however, as with any benefit, if your volunteering is in conflict with your stated limitations, this may cause problems.

If vounteering has no relevance to DLA, then could you explain how the volunteering could be in conflict with stated limitations.

Also, I've read the spotlight article on PIP and will this be a computerised assessment from Atos and will it be much stricter and harder to pass then the original DLA?

I'm yet to get face-to-face advice as I've had a bad week, so sorry for late reply as well!

Angelcake

Hi Bro,

Thanks for your reply!
May I ask you what sort of thing you mean regarding your comment below, in terms of what could be contradictory to the award of another?

The only situation where DLA could have an effect on ESA, or vice-versa, is if there was anything contained in your application for either, or indeed a medical report for either, that was contradictory to an award of the other.

Thanks
Angelcake

angelcake wrote:

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for your reply, please could I ask you for some clarification on a couple of issues below you have helped me with, as I'm getting a bit confused.

DLA and ESA are seperate benefits, however, there are areas of overlap. In terms of the ESA transfer, I see no issue, with the possible exception of you starting a DLA claim and then having the ESA transfer start. To be clear, this would be by conincidence, rather than the DLA claim triggering the transfer.

Are you saying that the only problem would be a trigger in the ESA transfer start or that it would be a coincidence if this happened?

Also with reference to:
DLA is not an out of work benefit such as IB or ESA, so volunteering should have no relevance to DLA, however, as with any benefit, if your volunteering is in conflict with your stated limitations, this may cause problems.

If vounteering has no relevance to DLA, then could you explain how the volunteering could be in conflict with stated limitations.

Also, I've read the spotlight article on PIP and will this be a computerised assessment from Atos and will it be much stricter and harder to pass then the original DLA?

I'm yet to get face-to-face advice as I've had a bad week, so sorry for late reply as well!

Angelcake

Hi AC,

A simple example of where there may be a conflict.

"If vounteering has no relevance to DLA, then could you explain how the volunteering could be in conflict with stated limitations."

A claimant who is in receipt of Higher Rate Mobility Component of DLA, then does voluntary work which involves delivering leaflets on foot.

bro58

angelcake wrote:

Hi Bro,

Thanks for your reply!
May I ask you what sort of thing you mean regarding your comment below, in terms of what could be contradictory to the award of another?

The only situation where DLA could have an effect on ESA, or vice-versa, is if there was anything contained in your application for either, or indeed a medical report for either, that was contradictory to an award of the other.

Thanks
Angelcake

Hi AC,

Similar to the work scenario, if you were assessed as being capable of carrying out aspects of the ESA Works Capability Assessment, and this was recorded on an ATOS medical report, and was contradictory to mobility limitations or care needs that may entitle you to an award of DLA, then the ESA report could be used against you by the DWP DM in not allowing you an award of DLA. (Or vice-versa)

With regards to PIP, there is a sample "Self PIP Test" that you can do here, just to give you an idea of what it may be like :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip

bro58

Hi Derek,

Thanks for your reply, sorry for my late reply too!, I've had a really bad week and I'm finding this situation quite stressful and complicated.

I'm going to get some face-to-face when I feel up to it. In the meantime, I've spoken to the volunteer place and I can put the volunteering on hold. However, I rang the employment office to find out if they knew when my transfer would be and they said all original review dates no longer apply and it will be totally random when people are called and the process could go on into 2014!

So the idea of me delaying the volunteering until after my assessment might mean I've got a very long wait. I've sent an earlier post about possibly applying for DLA and a couple of the mods have kindly replied. Could I possiblly have your take on it please?

Where the DLA has come in is for a long time I've been thinking about putting in a claim but always worried about it effecting my IB. However, I've heard about people doing voluntary work and permitted work no probs and I've always wondered how this can be and keep their benefit. I now realise it's because the other benefits are about yor ability to work, whereas the DLA is not.

So I'm wondering if to apply for DLA, not only the obvoius reason to claim a benefit that I may well be entitled to but also it might give me a bit of reassurance if I get awarded the DLA, that it might give me the confidence to take up the voluntary work. However, I don't know if there would be problems on transfer to PIP.

Like you said, you can't second guess how they are going to view the voluntary work it but I'm suffering with anxiety as it is so any risk of my benefit being affected is causing me more anxiety and quite frankly I feel trapped.

I've spoken to the volunteer place and he said they've had this problem before. He was dead understanding and said I could put it on hold. However, he did come up with an idea - in the near future they need some volunteers for a online group and a forum. He said that this might put my benefits less at risk as I would be doing this at home. Please could I have your thoughts on that idea?

Back to a prevoius post, thanks for clearing this up:

"No descriptor can be invalidated simply because your voluntary work appears to conflict with your disability, you need to explain any potential discrepancy.
So it's not really a question of whether they can argue that you do not fit the descriptors, but whether they can justify their argument".

I am going to get face-to face advice, although I'm not entirely confident that they are going to be able to help me any further than the great help you get on here!

Many thanks

Angelcake