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Food bank referral because of problems with disability benefits were highlighted both in in-depth interviews and among clients seen by the welfare rights adviser based in Tower Hamlets Foodbank. The most common were problems related to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA41_).

Around 9-16% of food bank users included in the additional administrative data collection reported that they had had their ESA stopped because they were found ‘fit for work’ (9% for Epsom and Ewell, 11% for Tower Hamlets and 16% for County Durham – see Appendix B, Table 5). For County Durham, the only food bank where sufficient cases were collected to enable further analysis, 53 out of 74 food bank users who had had ESA stopped had asked for the decision to be looked at again.

The additional data collection only captured those whose payments ended because they were found ‘fit for work’; however, analysis of the welfare rights caseload shows many other reasons why ESA payments might end. It is therefore likely that the proportion of those whose primary reason for using the food bank was cessation of ESA payment is actually higher than this headline finding.

41 _{ESA is a benefit paid to people who suffer from a health problem such that it would be unreasonable to expect them to work (see Appendix C3 for}

full details). Food bank users also reported problems with delays to Personal Independence Payments and reductions in rates of Disability Living Allowance. These were less common and so are not covered in detail in this report.

Why do difficulties with ESA occur?

Analysis of the caseload in Tower Hamlets Foodbank reveals a number of points during the process of establishing and maintaining an ESA award where particular difficulties can occur, all related in some way to decisions or evidence regarding whether a person has or can be treated as having ‘limited capability for work’ (Appendix C Box 3.1 explains what this means). ESA payments could cease for the following reasons:

•

Medical certificates not being logged by the DWP during the ‘assessment phase’42 _{or when an appeal is}

pending (a common problem).

•

Claimants failing to return a form or attend a medical, because such claimants’ entitlement cannot be established by providing medical certificates.

•

Claimants seeking to challenge a decision through ‘mandatory reconsideration’, a process which can take months,43 _{during which ESA is not paid; and for those refused mandatory reconsideration delayed payment}

where an appeal is submitted because of the time taken for the DWP to receive notice of an appeal, and then to act by reinstating payment.

Missing medical certificates

Analysis of the welfare rights caseload at Tower Hamlets Foodbank revealed a number of problems regarding missing medical certificates, including:

•

Claimant not being able obtain an appointment with their GP in time (see Client 18 below), or their GP not being in a position to provide a medical certificate for the full claim period (either for the start of their claim or when the period covered by an existing medical certificate had expired).

•

Medical certificates submitted to the DWP by post, only for the claimant to find several weeks later that their medical certificate had not been married up to their claim.44 _{In some cases, several original copies of}

medical certificates were submitted but none were linked to the file.

In an effort to ensure their medical certificates reached the relevant section of the DWP quickly, several clients took them to their local Jobcentre Plus and requested that the office scanned and emailed them to the section dealing with the issue. Their experience was variable: in some circumstances this worked, but in others clients were told they had to post their medical certificates. This was despite it being known that certificates would take at least ten days to reach the relevant section, and that payments would not be made until they arrived.

Two experiences from the Tower Hamlets Foodbank caseload are illustrative:

•

Client 16 had been without benefits for a prolonged period because the severity of his mental health problems and his lack of support network meant he had been unable to maintain his claims. He was assisted at the food bank to make a claim for ESA. On visiting his GP to get his medical certificate, he reported that she deliberately gave him two signed copies and explained that this was because she had seen so many cases where the DWP mislaid certificates, leaving her patients without income for long periods.

•

Client 18, a lone parent of one child, who had made a claim for ESA when her child turned five (bringing her entitlement to Income Support to an end) had been without this income for four weeks (having only Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit to live on – i.e. £83.86 instead of £156.27 each week for her and her child) as

42 _{First 13 weeks and for a longer period in cases where the assessment has not been conducted by the DWP.} 43 _{http://www.cas.org.uk/publications/voices-frontline-mandatory-reconsideration}

44 _{All mail is sent to a central mail-processing site from which the DWP then disperse it to the teams dealing with a particular claim (which for Tower}

Hamlets residents could be in Glasgow or in Hackney). Even in the best case, it appears (from cases seen at Tower Hamlets Foodbank) that it takes about ten working days for the medical certificate to arrive at the correct section and be actioned.

she could not obtain a medical certificate. The reason she could not obtain the medical certificate was that she had recently moved to a women’s refuge due to domestic violence. This had also necessitated changing GP. Her new GP had not provided a medical certificate as they were waiting for receipt of the medical records from the previous GP.

Failure to return forms and attend medicals

Many of the people seen in this situation at Tower Hamlets Foodbank had very severe health problems (typically mental health issues) which were themselves the reason they had failed to manage to attend the medical etc. The rules on this area are complex (see Appendix C Box C3.1 (4)). In some cases, people had been seen only when they had already had zero income for several months. For example:

•

Client 24 suffered from depression. When he was seen in March 2014, he had managed to abstain from alcohol for the last three months, following a long period of homelessness and alcoholism. His ESA had ceased payment in late December 2013 as he was alleged to have failed to attend a medical without a good reason. He had attempted to reclaim ESA but that was refused as there was no evidence his health had worsened. A request to reconsider the decision had been refused, but the client had not received a copy of that letter and thus could not easily make an appeal. Client 24’s Probation Officer gave a witness statement to the effect that, in her view, her client was scrupulous in attending appointments and that she was aware of postal problems for other of her clients who lived at the same large hostel. CPAG emailed this witness statement with a request that the decision be revised. Twenty-one days after sending this request (during which CPAG made repeated phone calls to encourage the DWP to look at the matter promptly, in view of the fact that Client 24’s health appeared to be further deteriorating and there was some risk that he would relapse), the DWP reversed the decision and ESA was paid. The client had by then been without any income four months. Had the DWP been able to speak to his Probation Officer at an early stage, it is likely that no refusal of benefit would have occurred.

Being found not to have limited capability for work; and mandatory reconsideration

For some food bank users seen by the welfare rights adviser at Tower Hamlets Foodbank, the new ‘mandatory reconsideration’ procedure,45 _{introduced during the course of the fieldwork, had caused significant periods}

of no payment of either ESA or JSA. The reasons for this were various:

•

Some people simply could not manage to transfer their claim to JSA or attend appointments because of the severity of their health problems (Client 20).

•

Others had attempted to claim JSA, only to find themselves subject to a sanction because they were judged to have failed to actively seek work, with no allowance made for their significant health problems (Client 19).

•

A smaller group were simply unwilling to claim JSA because they felt it would negatively impact upon their chances of winning a subsequent challenge to the ending of their ESA.

•

Even when benefit should commence following an appeal being made, delays in the DWP actioning this are normal (Client 20).

For example:

•

Client 19 attended the food bank in early May 2014. He had been receiving Income Support on the grounds of ill health (the predecessor to ESA) up until February 2014; he suffers from diabetes and intermittent

45 _{Since October 2013, such claimants must first seek a ‘mandatory reconsideration’ of their case within DWP. During the period whilst the mandatory}

reconsideration is carried out, ESA is not paid. Claimants can instead claim JSA, but to be eligible must show that they are actively seeking and are available for work. Only if ESA payment is still refused by the mandatory reconsideration procedure can they then submit an appeal and re-establish entitlement to ESA pending appeal.

severe back pain. In February he had been reassessed to see whether he could qualify for ESA but failed to achieve sufficient points to be regarded as having limited capacity for work. He had claimed JSA and been paid for about one month. However, he had then suffered a significant flare-up of his back pain and had been unable to attend an appointment to sign on in early April. He contacted the Jobcentre to explain and was told to reclaim ESA. That was refused, as the Jobcentre had not advised him that he would also need to provide evidence of a significant deterioration in his health. Client 19 then obtained evidence from his GP explaining his condition. The GP added that he was concerned Client 19 was at increased risk of diabetic coma (he wrote, ‘I understand his benefits have been stopped and he has not got money to buy appropriate food and consequently his diabetes is becoming dangerously out of control. His benefits need to be reinstated immediately otherwise he is in danger of diabetic collapse, even diabetic coma.’). That evidence was provided to the DWP in early May. The DWP reversed its decision and made payment of ESA in mid-May. Client 19 had been without any income for over a month.

•

Client 20 had also been receiving Income Support on the grounds of ill health and failed to qualify for ESA. Payment of her benefits had stopped towards the end of December 2013, leaving her with no income whatsoever. She suffers with diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and arthritis. When seen at the food bank in early February 2014, having lived without income for over a month, she was visibly struggling to stand, even supported by a walking stick. The client had phoned the DWP in January and said she wanted a mandatory reconsideration of the decision. In late February, the client received a notice that her request had been refused. The next day CPAG assisted her to complete an appeal form which was submitted to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). HMCTS confirmed to CPAG that it had sent acknowledgement of receipt of the appeal to the DWP eight days after it had been posted. The welfare rights adviser called the DWP the same day (12 days after the appeal had been posted) and explained that HMCTS had received the appeal, and asked for ESA to be reinstated pending its resolution. As the section of the DWP dealing with the issue had not received the acknowledgement at that time it refused to reinstate ESA. Three days later HMCTS finally agreed to send an email to the DWP confirming that the appeal had been received. CPAG also faxed the DWP the copy of the client’s letter from HMCTS confirming an appeal had been lodged. The DWP refused to act on this evidence. In late March, some 26 days after the appeal had been posted, CPAG received the papers for the appeal from the DWP (meaning that they must have received confirmation of the appeal from HMCTS). The client was finally paid ESA in early April (35 days after the appeal was posted to HMCTS).

•

Client 21 suffers from uncontrolled diabetes and significant depression following the recent death of a childhood friend. He was seen at the food bank in late February 2014. He had been found not to have limited capability for work following assessment, and his last ESA payment had been made ten days previously. He had asked the DWP for a mandatory reconsideration on the same day as his last payment, but received the ‘refusal to reconsider’ some 36 days later. On this occasion, CPAG sent the appeal letter by recorded delivery. The next day it obtained proof from Royal Mail that the letter had been received at HMCTS. CPAG then immediately emailed scanned copies of the appeal form and other relevant documents, together with proof of receipt of the appeal by HMCTS, to the relevant section of the DWP (benefit claimants do not have access to these email addresses; they would have been required instead to post this proof of having made an appeal to the mail-handling site, from where it would take about ten days to reach the relevant section). CPAG also made a lengthy phone call to the DWP team leader dealing with the matter (again, a claimant would have had no access to this number) where the view was put forward, with reference to the relevant law, that there was now sufficient evidence for the DWP to accept that an appeal had been made. The claimant was paid three days later.

The difference in experience between Client 20 and Client 21 shows that significant input from a representative can reduce a lengthy delay between the submission of an appeal by the claimant and acknowledgement of this/payment by the DWP. However, claimants would simply not be in a position to do this for themselves.

In document Modelo de gamificación inmersiva utilizando Unity 3D y VrBox para mejorar el proceso de aprendizaje caso: personal social (página 114-144)