Quote Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY View Post
And they are soon going to see the results of their vote

Dear mr johnson I have lost my job due to the virus and stress of isolation ......that's ok we have spent the last ten years bringing in this thing called universal credit .......its on its arse but good luck ......if you cant work due to ill health then apply for ESA ......its a bastard to get , people commit suicide going through the appeal process and even if they win we test them again after two years but there you go , you voted for it so too late to complain now
Read the whole post before you jump on my next paragraph Sludge.

ESA was of course brought in by the Labour Government.

So was the process of the interviews.

When I applied for my wife's DLA back in 2007/8 the interview process and I think the appeals process existed then but they were only carried out with a small percentage of claimants.

Even so, when I was filling in the form I read many cases on the net of people who had failed the interview process and then usually had it overturned on appeal.

It is worse now that the concept was widened by ESA so that most got interviews.

It meant that when the Tories got in the door they were able to do something similar to DLA ( now PIP of course) much more quickly than they may otherwise have done.

I will go through my experience of PIP separately. It would take too long now.

Suffice to say that the interview process is ridiculous and needs a complete overhaul to prevent so many appeals which unsurprisingly overturn the original decision.

Both parties bear responsibility for where we are now so both bear responsibilty for what has happened to people under ESA and PIP.