Partial capacity benefit - beware!

Colleen Ruane

Hi,
My husband qualified for this a few weeks ago after jumping through hoops for months.
It's starting to look like a big trap.
They tell you that if it doesn't work out that you can go back on invalidity benefit without losing anything but our government are inclined to lie......
I don't want to go into too much detail as I don't want to identify myself and I've no doubt the department keeps a good eye on these threads.
Within weeks of starting on the scheme the letters start coming in that they are going to assess this and that and means test everything.
By the time they're finished it looks like you're working for nothing apart from to save the government money.
They can assess you at any time to see are you fit to work and since you are working they can decide that yes you are fit to work and stop your invalidity payment.
They will means test your medial card and as the means test is fairly stringent you could lose it because of working a few hours a week and to someone on invalidity benefit who almost certainly has health problems this could be a huge loss.
Ditto the carers allowance. If it's means tested and lost because of means and the person on partial capacity benefit is unable to continue to work I imagine it would be almost impossible to get the carers allowance back.
Bear in mind the means test will take into consideration the partial capacity benefit and the wages earned while on the scheme (to the best of my knowledge - I'd be delighted if I was corrected on this!)
For someone on invalidity benefit their participation in the scheme may be temporary but it seems to me that the consequences could be permanent eg the loss of the carers allowance. It's nigh on impossible to get that now so it's likely that if you lose it. it's gone.
It's very hard to qualify for invalidity pension so anybody getting it has significant health problems. Therefore the possibility of being unable to continue on the scheme is very real and the fear of ending up worse off than when you started is also very real.
We are starting to feel that the partial capacity benefit is a bit of a poison chalice.
My husbands health is poor and it has put a strain on him trying to work in what has become a very tough environment without the worry and hassle of all this as well.
The assessments rigmarole has started. I'll update as to how we get on but as I write this I have a feeling we have made a mistake getting on this merry go round at all.....

cee_jay

Thread locked. This is more a rant and what if on a SW scheme than anything else. I don't see the value in keeping this thread open or how it would contribute positively to the forum.