Briefing to MPs and Lords on changes to PIP regulations
The narrative that Penny Mordaunt has put forward is misleading and does not withstand scrutiny. Since the end of 2014, the DWP has tried to restrict the application of PIP and exclude a certain category of claimants with mental health conditions.
Her statement that “Recent judgments have broadened the way the PIP criteria should be interpreted, going beyond the original intention.” is extremely similar to the attempted justification that was put forward in March 2016 to justify the controversial cuts to the points for aids and appliances[1].
The timeline below shows the repeated attempts by the government to limit the application of the Following a Journey descriptor to claimants with mental health issues, by the use of a more restricted interpretation of the law in their guidance, which has been definitely put to rest by the MH[2] case. This explains why the government has now changed the law.
Situation with DLA and PIP
The changes from DLA to PIP which show that the PIP standard (lower) mobility award was always intended for claimants with mental health conditions who could not follow the route of an unfamiliar journey alone, as confirmed by the Upper Tribunal
DLA PIP
Lower mobility – was available to someone who needed guidance or supervision to follow an unfamiliar route. This included blindness, some mental health problems such as anxiety, autism, learning difficulty etc.[3] Standard (lower) mobility – 8 points needed. Due to the weighting of the descriptors, these can only be scored by someone who cannot undertake any journey due to distress, or to someone who cannot ‘follow the route of an unfamiliar journey’ alone. Some people who are unable to walk 50 metres who would have received H DLA now also qualify only for standard mobility.
Higher mobility – was available to people unable to walk physically, and some serious cases where people could not go out alone e.g. unsafe behaviour, people who were blind and deaf, and from 2011, people who were blind.[4] Higher mobility – 12 points needed. These are scored from being unable to ‘follow the route of a familiar journey’ alone or being unable to walk 20 metres.
The Government’s response to the consultation on the Personal Independence Payment assessment criteria and regulations, 13 December 2012
The December 2012 consultation[5] on the PIP descriptors made it clear that the ‘following’ descriptors applied to a person who needed someone with them for reasons other than not being able to navigate. There was nothing to suggest that the lower mobility component was being removed from people with mental health problems: if there had been, there certainly would have been significant pushback at the time.
For example, from the 2012 Consultation (but see also points 6.6, 6.10, 6.13): Concern was raised that the activity takes insufficient account of the impact of mental health conditions on mobility. We do not consider this the case. Individuals could potentially score in a number of descriptors in the activity if they cannot go outside to commence journeys because of their condition or need prompting or another person to accompany them to make a journey.
The government tightened the PIP guidance in order to restrict eligibility
In its guidance released in October 2014[6], the DWP starting asserting its new position that the ‘following’ descriptors were not what they had assured people in that consultation and that the standard rate of mobility was effectively only available to mental health claimants if unable to go out at all. This meant that claimants with mental health conditions were scoring 0 point for the ‘following an unfamiliar route’ descriptor, but these decisions, if appealed, were very often overturned.
There were two years of inconsistent tribunal decisions until the MH[7] case, in front of a three-judge Upper Tribunal clarified the position. They held that, essentially, the ‘following an unfamiliar route’ descriptor applied in similar situations to the DLA Lower Rate, which had been understood by everybody to be the case until 2014. Interestingly however, the Upper Tribunal also held that the ‘familiar route’ descriptor did not apply to people unless they could not navigate. This was something of a compromise between the previously understood position and the DWP’s attempt to limit the application
Judicial review of the mobility criteria, October 2015
The physical (walking) aspects of the PIP mobility criteria were challenged in Sumpter[8]. The case was about the selection of 20 metres as the threshold for the higher rate mobility component.
As part of the decision, the High Court and Court of Appeal both reasoned that it was inevitable that the criteria for the walking aspect would be made less generous. This was because part of the reason for the changes in PIP was to ‘re-allocate resources from those with physical impairments to those with non-physical impairments’[9]. This argument had been put by the DWP’s counsel.
This cannot have meant to blind claimants, as by 2011 they were already entitled to the higher rate of DLA mobility, as were claimants with severe behavioural difficulties.
This definitively shows that the original intention of the DWP was not to remove PIP mobility from people with anxiety and similar conditions.
Posted by jeffrey davies [86.17.83.77] on 28 February 2017
Must be hard surviving on £300 per DAY!’ Viewers react with fury as documentary lifts the lid on House of Lords ‘day care centre for the elderly’ : Daily Mail.
BBC Two's Meet the Lords offers access to House in bid to restore reputation
The fly-on-the-wall documentary reveals what life is like in the House of Lords
Lord Tyler describes it as the 'best day care centre for the elderly in London'
Viewers on social media vented fury at Peer's reaction to £300 a day allowance
Members of the House of Lords faced the wrath of viewers as they lamented their £300-a-day expenses allowance on television.
In the first installment of BBC Two's fly-on-the-wall documentary Meet the Lords, cameras were given rare and unprecedented access in the House in a bid to reveal what life is like as a Peer.
However, some viewers were less than impressed as they watched the Lords quaff wine and discuss their allowances.
Scroll down for video
Crossbench Peer Lord Palmer discussed the £300 daily expenses allowance given to members
Crossbench Peer Lord Palmer discussed the £300 daily expenses allowance given to members.
But the comments made by Lord Palmer - who lives in a 110-room mansion - led to something of an outcry on Twitter
But the comments made by Lord Palmer - who lives in a 110-room mansion - led to something of an outcry on Twitter
Crossbench Peer Lord Palmer told the camera: 'If you think that today, a high powered accountant or lawyer is probably charging £600 an hour, that we get £300 a day - the press outcry if we had a tiny rise would be absolutely intolerable.'
But the comments made by Lord Palmer - who lives in a 110-room mansion - led to something of an outcry on social media.
Dean wrote on Twitter: 'Am I seriously hearing Lord Palmer complaining that the TV room was removed from the House of Lords? Give me strength!'
Josephine Formby added: 'If Lord Palmer wants to be paid as much as a lawyer perhaps he should spend years studying, working and earning'.
'It's like the world's poshest old people's home,' another added on Twitter.
Graeme Clark wrote: 'Can't believe what I'm seeing. "A day care centre for the elderly" wholly subsidised by us, the taxpayer'.
Posted by jeffrey davies [86.17.83.77] on 28 Febru
more back stabbing
McDonnell: Murdoch-backed opposition moves into shadows.
PLOTTERS seeking to oust Jeremy Corbyn are involved in a sneaky “dark arts” operation to get rid of him without sparking another Labour Party rebellion, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has charged.
Mr McDonnell said some Labour MPs in alliance with the Murdoch owned media are hell-bent on “destroying” Mr Corbyn’s leadership to reclaim the party for capitalists.
He accused the “covert coup plotters” of wanting to undermine Mr Corbyn through “an exceptionally well resourced ‘dark arts’ operation of the old spin school” in an article posted on the Labour Briefing website on Sunday.
He said the unnamed plotters were so determined to get rid of him that they were prepared to jeopardise their own seats and endanger the very existence of the party.
The warning comes after former Labour spin doctor Peter “the Prince of Darkness” Mandelson claimed last week that he was working “every single day” to drag Mr Corbyn down.
After last year’s failed coup attempt fronted by stool pigeon Owen Smith, the plotters realised a direct attack on Mr Corbyn would provoke an angry backlash from grassroots supporters, Mr McDonnell said.
They are destabilising the elected leader with “constant behind-thescenes non-attributable briefings” to “chip away at Jeremy’s standing” every time anyone in the shadow cabinet made media statements or appeared in Parliament.
The “constant barrage of negative briefings also crowds out any positive initiatives or narrative from Jeremy and his team,” Mr McDonnell said, ramming home their narrative that the Labour Party is split.
He said these tactics led to “fake news” stories in the Times and the Sun claiming Mr Corbyn was about to stand down as leader — which were then perpetuated by copycat media outlets.
And civil servants’ leader Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the non-Labour affiliated PCS union, threw his weight yesterday behind Mr Corbyn.
“Many of those criticising the current Labour leadership were either complicit or silent when public-sector pay and jobs were being slashed,” he pointed out.
Posted by jeffrey davies [86.17.83.77] on 28 February 2017
reply | edit & publish | delete
bbc crapita and the likes
BBC chief savages TV licence bullies as victims come forward to claim they were duped on their doorsteps and spied on through their curtains : Daily Mail.
inspections
The outsourcing firm has been accused of using ruthless tactics to find evaders
Agents are told they can get a £15,000 bonus to catch 28 people every week
One of those targeted by Capita is a war veteran who is suffering from dementia
Vulnerable families risk being picked on by TV licence inspectors, the head of the BBC warned last night.
Tony Hall is demanding 'urgent reassurance' after the ruthless tactics of the officials were exposed by the Daily Mail. He said Capita – the outsourcing firm paid £59million a year to collect licence fees – had 'fallen short of the standards the BBC has a right to expect on behalf of the British public'.
The director-general made his remarks in a stinging letter to Capita's £2.7million-a-year boss Andy Parker. Our undercover investigation revealed yesterday that the firm's agents are each told to catch at least 28 evaders a week – with the lure of £15,000 a year in bonuses.
BBC Director General Tony Hall, pictured, said he needs 'urgent reassurance' over the methods employed by outsourcing firm Capita to encourage their inspectors to find licence fee evaders
BBC Director General Tony Hall, pictured, said he needs 'urgent reassurance' over the methods employed by outsourcing firm Capita to encourage their inspectors to find licence fee evaders
Lord Hall has written to Capita's £2.7million-a-year boss Andy Parker, pictured
Lord Hall has written to Capita's £2.7million-a-year boss Andy Parker, pictured
Staff are told to gather evidence of evasion to drum up court cases.
Vulnerable people targeted in the past week include a war veteran with dementia. An undercover reporter who was interviewed for a job collecting licence fees was told: 'We will drive you as hard as we can to get as much as we can out of you because we're greedy.'
The BBC has ordered an urgent investigation into the findings and in further developments yesterday:
Yesterday's Daily Mail exposed the scandal
Yesterday's Daily Mail exposed the scandal
Dozens of victims contacted the Mail to tell of their ordeals at the hands of licence fee agents;
They included a student nurse, a parish councillor and a pensioner living in sheltered accommodation;
Theresa May told ministers to quiz the BBC about the Mail's probe;
MPs and campaigners accused TV Licensing of being 'out of control' and behaving like a 'doorstep loan shark'.
In his letter to Mr Parker, Lord Hall asked for urgent confirmation from Capita that 'vulnerable people are not targeted by Enquiry Officers'.
The Mail Investigations Unit yesterday revealed that Capita is overseeing an aggressive incentive scheme for licence fee agents.
An undercover reporter was told by TV Licensing boss Ian Doyle that officers must hit a target called the 'magic 28' – referring to the number of evaders they must snare every week. The officials can then claim another £20-£25 for each person they catch over 28. The reporter was encouraged to spy on homes to work out when people come back from work, before trying to take money on the doorstep.
Mr Doyle said: 'Cash, debit, credit card, we'll take anything. I tell people I'll take shirt buttons.'
Lord Hall wrote a stinging letter to Capita seeking answers following the Mail's investigation
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Posted by jeffrey davies [86.17.83.77] on 28 February 2017
