Why am I the mediator for ESA and UC?
Having phoned ESA a couple of days ago, today I phoned UC to tell them that ESA had told me that they needed to send a form to ESA to say...
top of page
Search
Aug 28, 20183 min read
ESA and UC aren’t talking
Phoning ESA again. It has a long spiel followed by ‘please press 1 to continue’. Why not just carry on without having to press 1? After...
Aug 27, 20183 min read
Universal Credit and ESA transfer
I started my claim for UC on 16th July. I told ESA on the same day, or possibly a day or two before, that I had moved house, no longer...
Aug 24, 20182 min read
Universal Credit and Support for Mortgage Interest loan
I’ve received from Universal Credit a form that I am supposed to complete and send to my mortgage lender so that I can get a Support for...
Aug 20, 20183 min read
Universal Credit standard shenanigans
After getting a letter from ESA last week, this week I logged on to my UC journal and found that I had – at last – got an award...
Aug 15, 20182 min read
What they don’t tell you about council tax
Applying for council tax support is nearly as much hassle as Universal Credit. They too want my most recent bank statements, and they...
Jul 26, 20185 min read
What they don’t tell you about the JobCentre
Yesterday I had three (!) JobCentre meetings. • One to show my housing details – the one that in my last blog I’d had to ask my housing...
Jul 24, 20184 min read
What they don’t tell you about (applying for) Universal Credit
I didn’t know when I applied for Universal Credit that they would require three meetings to be arranged within that week, let alone why....
May 25, 20183 min read
Work is not a health outcome
A couple of days ago I saw this tweet on Twitter: “Work as a health outcome is a fundamental principle for us. There must be a shared...
Jan 27, 20183 min read
Not another job miracle: the mirage of full employment
Another quarter-year, another labour market release. Cue the DWP praising itself for record numbers of people in work, and record rates...
Mar 10, 20172 min read
Chronically sick people don’t matter to the Conservative party
I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted by six years of chronic illness and seven years of Tory rule. It seems like every time I go on Twitter – and...
Feb 27, 20174 min read
Governments have no right to be ignorant
The government still doesn’t know what its talking about. But this time it’s almost seven years on from when it gained power, and its...
Dec 12, 20159 min read
The government’s rationale for PIP shows it doesn’t understand disability
On Thursday the government released its response to the consultation on Personal Independence Payments (PIP), the successor to Disability...
Jul 5, 20142 min read
How successful is the Work Programme?
Compared to previous programmes, the Work Programme is not helping more people into work or keeping them in work longer. As we move into...
Mar 27, 20142 min read
Atos to leave WCA contract early
On Thursday the DWP announced that Atos is withdrawing from its contract to run Work Capability Assessments, the controversial assessment...
Jan 3, 20142 min read
Benefit Fraud Hotline
Today the government launched its most recent benefit fraud campaign. They’ve had these before and it’s unclear what effect they had. Did...
Dec 21, 20133 min read
Government vs Reality – the big society
Dear government, Let’s stop talking about what you think happens in theory and start talking about what is happening in reality. In...
Dec 14, 20134 min read
Evidence-based review of the WCA
The government has been carrying out a study of suitable descriptors to use for assessments for ESA. The results were supposed to be...
Oct 12, 20132 min read
Ministers don’t get it. Policy should be based on reality, not on misinformation
Ah Bah. I am sick of hearing about what politicians think, or about what they think the public thinks, or about what the public thinks....
Oct 3, 20133 min read
The Contributory Principle
There is a debate continuing around the social security system on whether those who have paid in more should get back more when they need...
bottom of page