Just wow!
When I received my ill health retirement award and wanted to discuss it I was strongly advised to keep my head down and say nothing on the basis that the mysterious and all-powerful ‘they’ (you are sooo right Tot - The Wizard of Oz springs into my mind) might decide to start from scratch and reassess my award. I was too tired to argue .
The whole system is based on the assumption that applying for ill health retirement is somehow wrong and anybody who applies is to be viewed with extreme suspicion. Parkinson’s is also not generally well understood by occupational health services/ benefits assessors/ pension scheme advisers… ( the list is endless) so we really are fighting an uphill battle for most of the time. But as you say, possibly the only thing to do is to keep smiling and keep fighting.
I am very curious to hear what happens next.
Good luck🤞J
It’s good to see that your still sharing your thoughts and your opinions on this topic.
There does seem to be some confusion over the type of assessments though - there is one for employment and support allowance and one for PIP. They’re assessing very different things so we don’t think it’s fair for the same info to be used for both assessments as one is assessing your ability to work and one is about your daily living activities. However we’ve suggested in our response to the Green Paper that where someone consents to the info from assessments being shared it should be.
We do believe that both assessments need to be improved so they take a better account of the fluctuating nature of Parkinson’s and that assessors knowledge should be improved too.
I just thought it would be worth adding this point to the conversation.
@Jackson@Tot@Reah So a bit of an update on my ongoing challenges and numerous interactions with government departments.
Firstly the good news, which I will caveat with that my PIP application included not only mr parky, but my x3 degenerative spinal conditions, my osteoarthritis (both hips, wrists and ankles), PTSD & hearing loss with tinnitus. I received the confirmation letter on 10 November that I had been awarded both elements at the enhanced rate, with a review date set for 10 years time.
Now the frustrating part having been told I did not need to be interviewed by the job centre, I received a telephone call, about 1 hour after receiving the PIP award, that I did need to attend a meeting to agree the ESA claimant commitment form which they would like to have at 3pm on Friday 12 November. I am pleased to say that at the start of the call, I was informed it was not about getting me back to work but to agree several statements, covering making myself available for future meetings, to maintain contact with DWP and to notify any changes of circumstances. It was explained that I would have a date arranged for a medical professional to carry out a work capability assessment (WCA).
I was informed that the WCA assessment uses different criteria to what has already been used to assess my ill health retirement from the Civil Service, (I had to have 2 assessments as due to pension rule changes I was in 2 Civil Service schemes) , meeting the criteria for HMRC severe ill health retirement (contained within the 2 ihr reports) and for the PIP claim.
Now come on 3 assessments by the privately contracted out companies to assess ill health and my ability to work already completed, what on earth do they still need for the WCA to decided upon my ESA claim. The decision makers are all civil servants so why they cannot share data on medical evidence but can share other parts with each other I guess no body knows
I was also informed on the job centre call that I had not yet uploaded my fitness to work certificates from my GP. I explained that they DWP have all ready received x2 ill health retirement certificates and x1medical report for the PIP claim and I did not have any fitness to work certificates as I am no longer working, as I have been retired due to medical reasons. It was suggested that I might need to get these from my GP for the claim to proceed and someone from DWP would contact me if I did.
So future update yet to come on the enjoyment of making claims for being ill. Still smiling despite the metaphorical jump over hurdles and through hoops of the minefield of making claims.
I am really interested in your situation but I’m slightly confused as well. I retired early due to ill health and received the maximum pension I was entitled to.
My understanding is that because I am 10 years short in terms of National Insurance contributions, my state pension will be reduced by about £20 a week under the president rules (though who knows what changes will happen in the coming years-) but: I have no dependents, there is nobody in my life who is going to take me on when I need a higher level of support and I have already had my diagnosis for 9 years and have no idea what state or situation I will be in in 10 years time so the state pension reduction is not something that bothers me - but I understand that people’s situations are different and having a partner or children definitely has an impact.
Just out of curiosity, I have checked my benefits entitlement and every online benefit calculator available ( Age UK/Moneyhelper…) gives me an entitlement of £0 in terms of ESA. As far as I understand it, and to be honest I don’t really , the new style ESA takes into account a workplace pension which will either reduce or negate this payment and in my case it negates it.
If you are in the same position, I don’t understand why you are being asked to jump through hurdles to claim a benefit that you’re not going to be entitled to. I cannot see how they could possibly do so but if the DWP/ESA fitness for work assessment goes rogue and makes any suggestion that you have any capacity for work at all, could this not mess with your workplace pension?
I would be very interested to hear how you get on; I hope you get an outcome that works for you - life with PD is certainly challenging!
Jx
I was advised to claim ESA as though I will get £0.00 payment, once approved they would pay my missing NI stamp (7 years in my case) in order that I am entitled to the full state pension when I reach 67. Personally I can not see them placing me in the work related group, where they would assist me in finding work, but they should put me in the support group where you are not expected unless your condition changes to find work.
In regards if it goes rouge, it will not affect my work place pension as the pension scheme medical advisors, (both companies HML & CAPITA) have issued separate certificate for the 2 pension schemes, stating I meet the criteria of the schemes for upper tier ill health retierment and I meet the HMRC criteria for severe ill health. This I think was @Reah point that all these schemes assess using differing criteria which I think is absolutely rediculous and a waste of public money.
I will come back regarding ESA once it has run its course and I receive a decision letter. I am also like you confused by all the differing benefits and entitlements and it would be helpful if it was all listed in one place. One benefit I will be exploring once we have moved in to our bungalow, hopefull, fingers crossed in 3 weeks is a reduction in council tax. In our case, (couple), as we understand the local council website, we could recieve a 50% reduction or have the banding level reduced by one band. If I have read it right on the local concil website a single person could get 100% relief or eing rebranded to the lowest band.
you should certainly apply for the council tax reduction. I receive that and with the single person discount my council tax is currently £27 per month so it makes a huge difference.
I also claim ESA and they do credit my NI contributions although I had in any case enough qualifying years for full pension.
You are right though, the whole system is complicated it is hard to know what you can claim and claiming involves long winded processes often at a time when you can least cope with it.
I hope it all gets sorted soon apart from everything else it is exhausting
Really interesting information - thank you for sharing. I was so tired after the pension battle that I couldn’t face anything else but I’m thinking I need to read up on this.
It’s not a subject that it’s easy to find clear info on!
I am 58 years old and get free prescriptions, but only because I take diabetes meds which qualify for them. I was astonished to discover that a progressive and incurable condition like Parkinsons does not qualify. I find this outrageous. If we cannot do what seems to be possible in the rest of the UK and scrap prescription charges in England entirely, then certainly any progressive and incurable condition should qualify for exemption?
I am also 58, was diagnosed 10 years ago and do not get free prescriptions.
I completely support the cause for free prescriptions for Parkinson’s.
I have just re-read this entire entry because I am about to submit my response to a PIP review and looking to understand how the benefit system works!
Does anyone fully understand the various benefits (PIP, ESA, UC), their different variants and the way that they interact with each other, interact with regular retirement income, early medical retirement income and savings?
It’s a big ask I know but can anyone point me to a definitive guide to these benefits?
Of course everyone’s situation is different and often subject to medical assessment but there can still be a description of how they are all supposed to work.
I was given a whole load of Parkinsons info in a number of booklets that the Parkinsons team gave one. One of these is about Personal Independence Payment (PIP). In my locale there is a charity called Helping Lives Plymouth whom the jobcentre directed me to who specialise in helping with PIP claims. I have an appointment with them tomorrow. It might be worth making enquiries as to whether there is anything similar near you,
But reading the booklet PIP is awarded on a points system. There are two rates - a daily living component standard rate of £61.85 per week, or enhanced rate of £92. 40 per week. There is also a potential mobility component in addition with a standard rate of £24.45 per week and an enhanced rate of £64.50 per week. Reading through the booklet it seems your condition needs to be fairly severe in some way to qualify for the enhanced rates.
There is too much in the booklet to post here, so will supply an example of the sort of questions you are dealing with…
Taking nutrition. Which ranges from A, can take nutrition unaided which scores 0 points right up to F, cannot convey food or drink to the mouth without assistance which scores 10 points. As a further example of one of the intermediate questions is D, needs prompting to be able to take nutrition which scores 4 points. There are other similar sets of questions where you can also score points.
You basically need a total of at least 8 points to get the standard rate and 12 points the enhanced rate.
You can find more detailed information about it here…
.
, the new style ESA takes into account a workplace pension which will either reduce or negate this payment and in my case it negates it.