People who haven't had to rely on the social security system recently (or ever) may feel there is a safety net there should they become poorly, disabled or unable to work. It is there - sort of - but practical barriers may mean that the most vulnerable folks slip through holes.
One example from of those practical barriers arrived in today's post.

(Yes, a Brown Envelope of Doom thudded on the doorstep this morning)
2 years ago, I was assessed as being eligible for disability benefit #PIP, which is to pay towards the extra expenses of living with disability. Now the DWP wants to know if things have changed - got better, worse, stayed the same?

There are all sorts pitfalls.
I've been sent a long form to complete, and have a month to do it.

In theory.

But not in practice.
The month starts from the date on the DWP letter - which is Friday 15 November. So the deadline is 15 December.

I don't know when the DWP posted the letter, but it was sent 2nd class and arrived today, Monday 25 November - that's 10 days to arrive.

Leaving just 20 days.
(I don't know how it can take a DWP letter 10 days to arrive. I had a Saturday postal delivery this weekend. Did the DWP system sit on the letter for a week before posting it? What on earth is up with DWP post?!)
But it's not even 20 days - it's more like 15, or even 11, taking into account:

* second class post (2-3 working days for delivery)
* the increased volume of post due to Christmas
* ditto postal votes for the General Election on 12 December
* weekends/working days
So no, there isn't a month to complete the form - which, for folks who are struggling with ill-health & disability, perhaps isolated, needing help & support to complete complex paperwork & get supporting document, might be reasonable.

It's at best just 2 weeks.
If you think 15 days to "just fill in a form" is fine, think again.

There are all sorts of reasons why this can be a challenge for poorly & disabled folks. Here are some of them.
1) Completing a form describing all the many ways you are incapable is not a neutral process, especially if your ill-health is due to serious #mentalhealth problems with all the ignorance, prejudice, discrimination, self-stigma, self-blame & lack of confidence that can come with.
Reciting your inadequacies at length is an awful thing to have to do. I just ... it's awful. And that's shown by research - it's not just me being a "snowflake" (though I'm probably too old for that description!). People are injured by this assessment process. Some never recover.
2) The form is part of a system that's geared towards physical disability - including *direct* discrimination against folks with serious #mentalhealth problems (eg govt brought in rules to award higher disability payments to folks with physical conditions).

Bias is baked in.
(The courts ruled against the government's decision to give lower #PIP payments to folks whose disability was due to a mental rather than physical condition - but my claim was assessed under those discriminatory rules & I've been stuck with that discriminatory decision since)
3) Whether it's physical or #mentalhealth conditions, the assessment system is not there to maximise support for poorly & disabled people; it's designed to try to catch out liars & scroungers, & to treat everyone who applies as if they are one.

It's a highly destructive process.
The assessment process can & does render people destitute. Being put through this process can result in all your income being removed.

It happened to me.

The realisation you could lose all your income, exacerbating ill-health, rendering you unable to even fight back, is awful.
4) There are all sorts of twists & turns & jargon with these forms that you won't know about unless you've looked into it &, even then, things change all the time so it's hard to keep up to date & know how to word it all.

Specialist welfare rights advice is essential.

But ...
... but welfare rights services have been cut to the bone, making it very difficult if not impossible to get specialist advice & support to help with completing forms & getting all the necessary documents for this very unequal fight with the might of the State.
When this government withdrew Legal Aid for welfare rights advice, it took a chunk of income away from advice agencies, undermining their viability, leading to a loss of qualified staff & cuts to services.

Cuts to local council budgets compounded that.

There are advice deserts.
You often can't even pay for welfare rights advice because, with no Legal Aid, many law firms have stopped offering it - they've just withdrawn from the market, and nobody else has stepped in.
Advice deserts & cuts to services (eg reducing numbers of staff, reducing the number of days a week a service is offered) means getting an appointment for help to fill in a form or for welfare rights advice can take weeks.

Bear in mind you only get 2 weeks to get the form back.
(I contacted my local CAB last Monday after I received another welfare benefits assessment form - for #UniversalCredit - and the soonest appointment I'm looking at is the second week in December, after the deadline for the UC form to be returned. That's a wait of a month)
5) Of course staff at welfare rights services can be subject to the same ignorance & prejudice as any other, which can make it harder to access advice.

(Eg it seems my local CAB has reverted to no home visits unless you've got a *physical* disability)

#reasonableadjustments
6) It's not just filling in a form - you also have to get supporting documentation together. This takes time too. And you may need to pay for it.

None of this is easy - especially when faced with such a tight deadline at a time when you are, by definition, really poorly!
Getting together the form & all the supporting documents can be tricky in the limited timescale left by the DWP. If you can do it, great! If you can't, stick with it & ask the DWP for an extension.

You must try to *** COMMUNICATE WITH THE DWP *** in some way before the deadline.
Courier pigeon, message written on the side of a cow, smoke signals, letter (get a certificate of posting) - by hook or by crook, GET IN TOUCH with the DWP somehow to let them know you're trying your best & need more time.
I have no welfare rights training so do ask the experts, but my experience is that SOME form of communication is better than none.

If all you can do is scrawl a note saying "I'm poorly, I'm trying, I need more time", stick it in the post with a stamp, it's better than nothing.
You can only work with what you've got, & the DWP has to make "reasonable adjustments" to its system to accommodate the legitimate needs of disabled people. It costs the DWP nothing to give you more time if you're poorly & struggling.
If that's all you can do, DO it. Make contact.
If you need help to get in contact with the DWP, prioritise that. Do whatever you can to make some sort of contact with the DWP before the deadline on their letter.
Tbh it freaks me out having to have any contact with the DWP so I always prioritise getting help 👍
It's easier to make contact - any contact - with the DWP before the deadline than trying to explain afterwards why you didn't make contact beforehand, or be left trying to unpick some decision they've already made.
To get a meaningful extension (eg a month), I find it helps to give the DWP a concrete timescale to pin their extension decision eg; something like a date when you have an appointment with a welfare rights adviser who'll help you complete the form & tell you what reports to get.
Something like "Please can I have an extension to Wednesday 15 January [or whatever - but always specify a date] to submit my completed form & documents. This is because I need support to complete the form, but the earliest I can get an appointment with the welfare rights adviser
"is after the 15 December deadline. The appointment with the welfare rights adviser is on Monday 13 December. After that, I'll need support to get the reports & documents together which will be difficult due to the Christmas period when various professionals are taking holidays."
Something like that shows you're trying your best to help yourself, despite being poorly, & that it's not a request for an open-ended deadline - it's tied to good reasons, like availability of advisers & professionals.

That's how I've done it in the past.
I've also been too poorly to understand communications with the DWP and written rambling begging letters pages long & ended up with no money, so there's that 🤷‍♀️
(Hot tip: don't try that last one if you can avoid it 😬)
BUT if you do get the Brown Envelope of Doom thudding onto your doormat, my best tip is get your resources around you.

Don't try to do it all yourself - make your first step ASKING FOR HELP 👍
If the deadline is silly (mine is!), get help to communicate with the DWP to ask for an extension.
It's a game. Get a team around you to help you play, so you can get the money you need to pay your bills ... so you can focus on your health 👍
And yes, you can ask for a second extension if you need one.

#reasonableadjustments
I'm not saying drag the process out indefinitely - noooooooo!!

Just that if, like me, you struggle (😬😬😬😬) with tasks like this, it is okay to ask for the extra time you need.
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