Revised esa support group criteria

[AlisonB]

In the changes to the ESA suppprt group criteria, as indicated in

http://www.ssac.org.uk/pdf/esa-amend...tions-2011.pdf

Page 89, section 7 'Maintaining Personal Hygeine'

The dual column page appears to show that 'Maintaining Personal Hygeine' has been dropped as a support group
item and replaced with a criteria about understanding communication Am I reading this correctly ? Is this document mean't to be read in this way.

and item 10 ' Personal Action' appears to have been replaced by 'awareness of hazard' ?

as for item 13, this is of particular interest

'Coping with Social engagement;

Engagement in social contact is always precluded due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the individual.
;
When they mean 'social engagement' I wonder if the claimant manages to attend the appointment and answer the
doctors questions (even with a companion) will this likely disqaulify them ? 'social engagement' is a tricky one, what abiout the person who whilst under the essential circumstances of co operating with assessment, or who manages occasionally to see their CPN.. or their GP, or the agorophobic who trembles their way around the supermarket at 10pm when its almost empty.... is social engagement being able to speak to others at all, even with difficulty

The wording says ALWAYS precluded, and this presumably means thaat anyone who gets a in person assessment
by ATOS and doesnt 'fasll apart' at interview, will not gain access to SG this way

I'd wonder what folks think.

[saintjanet]

I don't know the answer but i would be very interested to know, my husband is agoraphobic and avoids any contact he can with other people,except when forced too, even our own family most of the time, yet they keep sending him for i b medicals, let alone not making him exempt, every time they say "I CAN SEE THIS IS UPSETTING HIM" yet they still demand a medical every time, even though i even put on his ib50 that my family hardly ever visit us now due to his behaviour.This is under the old system, the new one is supposed to be worse!!

[SpeedEvil]

In the changes to the ESA suppprt group criteria, as indicated in

http://www.ssac.org.uk/pdf/esa-amend...tions-2011.pdf

I'd wonder what folks think.

Worrying, generally.
The broad thrust seems to be to ignore compound disabilities, by eliminating most of the 6 point descriptors.

For example.
Currently, I'm probably reasonably described by (p145) descriptor 18c, or arguably 18d.
'for the majority of the time/frequently' unable to get to a place I'm familiar.
Due to concentration and energy problems.

The proposed descriptors do not mention time.
On good days, I probably can, and hence this descriptor would seem unlikely to apply.

Also - currently (p139) 14(d) - Frequently forgets or loses concentration to such an extent that day-day life can only be managed with pre-planning.

This is replaced by the much, much harsher wording for descriptor 13 - 'cannot due to cognitive imparment or mental disorder initiate or complete at least 2 sequential personal actions without requiring frequent verbal prompting by someone in the claimants presence.

I can see no way anyone who lives alone could ever pass this test.

[saintjanet]

Speed Evil, If one is agoraphobic it is impossible, at least in my husbands case, to get to a familiar place, or any other place, for that matter, alone ever.I have to go to all his appointments with him, this must enter the equation too, surely.As i have said before, where do they expect people like this to work, even if they did not have many other problems too? mind you as he would not attend a WFI regardless, even if they stopped his benefit, i don't suppose they care!!

[belvederebabe]

This is replaced by the much, much harsher wording for descriptor 13 - 'cannot due to cognitive imparment or mental disorder initiate or complete at least 2 sequential personal actions without requiring frequent verbal prompting by someone in the claimants presence.

Makes me laugh what to actions ( scratch my face, put the cooker on, put washing machine on)

This is stupid....my memory is such that I can do one thing one day and not the next.. may chuck the stuff in the washing machine, but I forget to turn it on, I may put the cooker or hob on but forget to turn it off, of leave stuff to boil dry, the other day, I put the grilling machine and because my husband on this occasion forgot to check, and had been engrossed in something...I pulled the wrong plug out and left it on for 5 hours...and they my friends is just a tiny example of a few days living with me.nit to mention the time I pulled the plug out with wet hands and got a massive electric shock and then did the same thing 2 weeks later .Would you employ me ......that is only a tiny part of my health problems...

[saintjanet]

Sue, i hope you read my other posts today, i wanted to pm you but it seems it can't be done now, i'm sure it could be on the old site, anyway, i just wanted to say i hope you are feeling better and i think that the whole transfer system may be delayed, as they are so far behind, or so my friend at the "people that should know office" tells me, i'm now becoming past being worried as i can't do anything to improve our situation and me being miserable, will not help with his medical on monday.

Good night, God bless, Jan xx

[belvederebabe]

Hi Jan....

I too looked to see if they have a PM service on here and was disappointed that they didn't. Was going to PM you yesterday


I would like to say I am feeling better, I keep trying to tell myself the same as you but I suffer from anxiety and depression and just can't stop thinking about it... It just goes over and over in my mind...

That is good news that it might be delayed, my biggest worry is that I thought I would be one of the last so spent money on my credit card due to this. Now they have possibly changed that...Just annoys me that they keep playing god with us ...giving no regard to how this all effects our lives... Swapping and changing the rules at a drop of a hat and not telling us what is going on.

I was so annoyed at the papers yesterday making out that almost everyone on sickness beneficent was lying