LETTERS: Chatteris reader's anger over benefits system

I totally agree with John Smithee’s recent letter. I myself have been fighting the DWP and Secretary of State and overturning their decisions so many times over the last 15 years.

Not only the wasted time but the cost, with my GP and the NHS responding to Access Data Requests and producing medical reports for the DWP and Capita etc.

However, this cost is inflicted by the DWP’s fast track system. After every reassesment or tribunal, the DWP wait six months and then shred all the paperwork as they do not keep an archive to refer back too.

This means they know nothing about your condition every time your review/reassesment comes due. Therefore you are sent a generic questionnaire form to fill out and assessed as a new application.

That’s why thousands of people trundle back and forwards from their GP surgeries searching for letters, reports and evidence.

However, the biggest scandal is the review award period – two, five or 10 years.

The five to ten year award is if your condition is likely to change, while the ‘ongoing award’ for people with the higher rate means your condition is ‘unlikely to change’. This award means if you have a ‘non curable progressive condition you should be exempt from further entitlement reviews and reassessments.

However, in practice only the

HM Courts andTribunals Service will award you it. If you know about it and ask for this ‘ongoing award’.This means thousands of claimants are being unnecessarily harrassed when they should be left alone to live with their condition.

Mark Burton

Chatteris