Remember – the deadline for submitting your response to the DWP on the PIP Consultation (assessment criteria) is Monday 30th April!
For help to respond to the PIP consultation, see our PIP Consultation Guidance and Simplified Documents
Responses should be emailed to pip.assessment@dwp.gsi.gov.uk; we would also find it very helpful if you copy your response to us at pipresponse@spartacusforum.org.uk
Progress update: Monday 30th April – 45 responses
Sometimes you come across something that inspires and uplifts you. I have struggled all day to write something uplifting, something inspiring that would spur you into action, not only to respond to the Government’s consultation on PIP but to take it further and inspire others too.
I was shattered and ready to go to sleep after nearly 15 hours of hard slog, preparing to launch the documents on which the small but dedicated team of volunteers have been beavering away, when I stopped to read a post. The bone weary tiredness vanished and I was inspired by this:
“Please, please, please, please, please, please…. let this be the way for advocacy. We have waited so long for a consolidated effort.“
How true. Each of us has our own reason for being involved or wanting to make our voice count. Perhaps this is the first you’ve heard about what’s happening and can’t quite believe it; maybe like many you’re scared and feel so powerless that fear translates into a worsening of your condition.
The internet gives access to information, support, friendship and a sense of community, in a way that perhaps you only appreciate if your life is spent within narrow confines, even while your enthusiasm and passion transcends your limitations. You feel reduced to a label, a diagnosis that cannot possibly show that you once sailed the seven seas, created art or had a degree in maths.
This is the next chapter in the Spartacus story – it’s our story, one we write together, inspired by a few and supported by many. It’s hard, we know that, but the truth is on our side. Never again should we be made to feel any less than the brilliant, talented unique individuals that together achieve great things.
Have a look at the documents here or join us in the forum – we have 8 weeks to respond. Let’s see if we can get to 10,000 responses; that would be amazing. Why not aim high? The more we succeed the louder our voices become. We are Spartacus!
We stand together, people wake up!
You can count on me. I’ve been sending emails to lords and MP’s, also my Con MP came to visit me last week, because of my concerns over the medical and ATOS. We need to stand together and fight them.
Beautiful. Everyone is Spartacus at some point. Let’s do it for us AND them.
) mXX
Working on this now, though again question eight has me stumped and I’ve no idea what they’re saying. Perusing the guides to try and figure out how to proceed, but I should have mine done today and will email it ASAP
Don’t panic, we’ve got until 30 April! But good on you
Well the last time we waited to the main deadline turned out they had closed and were already consulting on the document two weeks before the results were finalised. I aimed for early as I didn’t want them pulling that nonsense this time!
And let that be a lesson to all of us!!
Working on it now and also telling anyone/everyone who will listen and a few who don’t want to listen too.
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‘Alone We Whisper. Together We Shout!
I’m so proud to be involved this, right from early on. I’ve done everything I can, (Lobbying etc…) and I just wanted to say thank to everybody for making me feel valued.
It really is Right against wrong and i’m not afraid to say it! Disabled and ill people like us do not deserve to be treated in such a despicable way. We suffer enough already.
Thank you for giving us a voice and for proving that there really is strength in numbers!
I AM SPARTACUS!
Lots of love,
Helen x
Every government has had concerns about Welfare Reform and I am sure the coalition suspected that they were opening a can of worms. What they didn’t expect was Spartacus staring right in their face from the bottom of the can. It is so surreal it could almost be a Monty Python sketch. “Nobody expects Spartacus!!!” It almost makes being disabled worthwhile. The unthinkable has happened and a rag tag disparate group have found a common purpose and the weak have become strong.
We are Spartacus !
This has been a long time coming and I am very proud to be a very small part of it xx
The Appeals Reform Consultation is underway and the proposed changes to the appeals process could have devastating effects upon claimants of UC ESA and PIP as appeals can be delayed indefinitely by the DWP under the proposed new legislation
I say we should urgently look at this alongside PIP and ESA and UC. These changes also affect many other benefits.
Discuss here:-
http://www.spartacusforum.org.uk/forum/index.php/topic,103.0.html
The consultation closes 4th May so we do not have long to summon help and get people acting on this very important (but quietly hidden) DWP change.
We have to stand together on this. I am doing all I can to champion the Spartacus report, and show the world what a load of good for nothings our government is. How dare they cover up the truth to get their stupid ideologies accepted.
I fully support all your aims and objectives. I hope all Disability and Carers Groups and Organisations can forget their differences and work together on this.
From a very worried disabled guy, Thanks, keep up the work, I want to help, to be heard. Dont let them steamroller, these reforms are frightening.
We can only try, if we don’t try, we definitely won’t succeed! No guarantees the government will listen, but we will shout as loudly as we can
Has anyone noticed pension income rules for if it s over £85 a week. Under incapacity benifit the rule except if you are on highest rate care so therefor you will gett full incapacity benifit without any deductions. This rule has disappeared under esa so they now still deduct.
Will this be reversed back to incapacity rule when pip introduced or has it just been abolished.
please email me more info + tell me how i can help apart from re-tweeting which of course i will do. i am a member of Plaid Cymru so maybe i could use our party to help cause my late wife was disabled and on old sys was humiliated by med tests which i am sure are even stricter today.what a society we live in where all disabled are presumed liars and all unemployed presumed lazy. i am also a christian and a beautiful and wise lady once taught me it doesnt matter if we are small because god makes us big
A huge thank you to everyone that has put so much effort into this cause. I, like so many people have had to fight for what is rightly mine and it has been very difficult, especially when you feel ill, like so many of us, it takes a lot of energy. I have been disabled for 15 years and yet only began to claim DLA and ESA last year because I was ill health retired (not my choice) from work.
I am really concerned about the changes ahead of us all and although I feel I should still be able to claim some benefit through PIP, I am not positive because of how the system works. My first assessment left me crying into my husbands arms, it was very unfair and made me feel useless and a liar. My second one was better and I felt listened to but that was because I had a different doctor assessing me and she actually listened to what I had to say and also I took along the report that stated it was ATOS through work, that insisted I would not work anywhere ever again due to risk of paralysis.
I just want to wish everyone luck with their future and once again thank you all.
Sue x
Trying to raise the profile on this with more tweets and getting it into the hands of others as well. It seems people have just decided to curl up into a ball instead of keep fighting and we really can’t do that. At least get the PIP in, and they can’t say we didn’t contact them!
I agree its as best to get an early response in, either individuals or as an organisation.
After reading the documents available here and after reading the updated regulations I recommend using our submission tool to generate a basic response (for individuals) that you can adapt to make your own response via spartacus etc.
The tool is here
http://piphelp.me.uk/consult/public/survey.php?name=pipconsult_1_1
Queries to info@piphelp.me.uk
I notice the DWP are already running consultation meetings at various venues with various charities notably Papworth.
The problem with the “basic response” is that this was done last year, and as a result M. Miller completely disregarded 2,500 responses for being “repetitive”. The question as to WHY 2,500 people felt the need to respond en-masse with a few personal observations at the beginning wasn’t worth considering apparently, so I would suggest maybe for people who simply cannot manage to try the best they can to write even a page in their own words and send it in.
Sorry, maybe I need to explain what the submission does. By completing the survey style response users can choose tick the box responses AND put their own comments in answer to the 9 questions posed in the latest consultation. The user is then email the results of this back to them (no data is kept by us) and they are free to edit this or indeed discard it if they wish. Each response is therefore unique to each person. This was not available at the last consultation on DLA.
Most responses so far indicate that not many know where the regulations are and what they are. So more needs to be done on publicising this aspect.
However, the fact that people do not know what the PIP regulations are does not prevent them worrying about losing benefits. It is this aspect that needs to be conveyed very loudly and persistently to the government because they keep saying there is nothing to fear etc.
This a cruicial aspect of what we are trying to do – get the message out there that regulations exist and help is at hand. how can we work together to widen the scope? .
I would strongly suggest not just relying on the internet, for one. There are masses of people who aren’t involved with Spartacus Report and therefore have NO IDEA what is about to happen. Tell GPs, tell social workers, tell your post man! The PIP consultation needs to get in the hands of disabled people who don’t follow the press, it needs to be canvassed and put into “meatspace”. This probably means more mobile people than I do that at various groups for arthritis/fibro/autism etc but we can’t just rely on the internet. We have to actively get into our own communities, put the PIP form into their hands, help them fill it out, then post some copies to the DLA and reserve a copy for the Spartacus Report files as well.
We can’t just sit back and expect Someone Else to take the lead here. Everyone, get up and get it done. No one is going to save you. Save yourselves.
Reblogged this on Jane Young and commented:
The government’s consultation on the draft criteria for PIP (Personal Independence Payment) ends on 30 April. It is essential for all disabled people to respond.
With a view to getting as many responses in as possible our Pip Consultation Tool is still available at http://piphelp.me.uk/consult/public/survey.php?name=pipconsult_1_1 until 30th April.
I must be having a worse day than I thought…..
I completed the survey & could have sworn it says on there that it gets emailed to my email address where I can edit it should I want to but then I should email it to the govt address.
I haven’t got a copy of what I put in the survey but I want to do my bit…..Should I have had an email automatically or is it something that takes time to send?
Aarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh please does this make any sense to anyone?
If you use the PIPHelp tool at http://piphelp.me.uk/consult/public/survey.php?name=pipconsult_1_1, which is NOT a Spartacus facility, then, yes, you should receive an email of your answers back so you can send it to dwp. Have you checked your spam folder?
If you did use the PIPHelp tool and you have any queries, contact Ian at info@dlahelpgroup.com
The Spartacus team hasn’t produced a survey like this; what we’ve done is produced an unofficial simplified version of the PIP consultation documents and advised people to email their responses both to the dwp and to us. The only reason we suggest people email copies of their responses to us is just in case the dwp tries to pretend it hasn’t received responses from disabled people which express concern at the proposed criteria.
I hope that makes some sense. If you did a survey, it wasn’t a Spartacus survey!
These take a while to process so please be patient
Sincere apologies!
I wasn’t sure what the process was but wanted to take part & ‘do my bit’ for myself & everyone else who will be affected by these changes.
It is estimated that 690,000 people in this country live with Rheumatiod Arthritus yet no one of the case studies used by the DWP has the condition or any other auto-immune condition. Why? How many of us will be denied ESA and PIP because we don’t fit this “shoe horn” system that would seem to be designed against us?
Dear All,
First of all, I am considered to be intelligent and have the qualifications to prove it.
Second, I can’t make head nor tail of this consultation.
I really want to contribute but can’t figure out how especially when in pain and completelt exhausted.
I think this consultation should be returned to the government with a petition that it is too impossible for most disabled people to respond. I guess that is their aim. I think they should be reminded of the law that they have to make “suitable adjustments” for the disabled. I think we should send it to the UN Council for disabilities and see if they think this is a suitable way to consult the disabled – most of whom don’t even know it’s even happening.
At a time when most are fighting for their lives with ESA apllications, medicals, appeals, or all the same things for DLA or facing being forced onto work fare programmes, this is too much.
At least put up a petition site so those who want to respond but cannot for whatever reason can let the government know this is a sham exercise and we will let the world know it.
To all those who are responding, big thanks and credit to you all. Will it count just to send an email saying we think they are all a bunch of lying crooks and we ain’t gonna vote for them?
“Will it count just to send an email saying we think they are all a bunch of lying crooks and we ain’t gonna
vote for them?”
Thanks for making me laugh – having a much needed break from trying to write my response and feeling exceedingly tense and stressed, so i needed a laff!
One of the problems for me with the various consultations is how stressed they make me. Aside from the obvious stress and anxiety about how it will effect me, it makes me focus (ad nauseam) on what is “wrong” with me. All the “positive” language in the world, which they claim they are using to focus on what we CAN Do, doesn’t change the fact that my impairments mean there’s an awful lot I can’t do! And it’s what i can’t do that disproportionaly and adversely effects my life and depresses me when I spend too long thinking about.
I spent last night dreaming about not being able to find my wheelchair and my walking stick breaking……..can’t get away from this bloody consultation even when I’m asleep!
I am a small petrified woman who has a disability. I am petrified of this attack on disabled people – Being told I am able to work when I know I am not, probably having my DLA taken away as suddenly ATOS have deemd me cured from my thus far incurabe condition.
I live in fear. hich is worse than living disabled, as fear makes it worse.
Please continue fighting for us and I pray so much that you can make them STOP attackingpeople and just leave us with the aboloty to HAVE a life rather than making us feel that life is just too mcuh to deal with in this country of hatred.
what about people with terminal illness for all intent and purpose i look quite normal but can see myself losing out both cash and vehicle wise so basically the government are saying go sit in your room and die, since being diagnosed i have tried to live as fulfilling a life as poss now even that right looks like it will be taken away