PW1 form

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

As I understand current regulations on work while claiming ESA a claimant has to fill out a PW1 (also referred to as PW1 ESA) form. In my current professional role I am often required to assist clients to fill out various benefit forms, it is therefore helpful to me and others who have similar roles to know what information various forms ask for. To date I have been unable to acquire a blank PW1 form as it does not appear to be published on any DWP websites.
Could you please:
1 Tell me where a PW1 form can be found in the public domain in electronic form, or
2 If there is no answer to 1 can you provide a copy of this form
3 Can you advise if any policies or instructions to DWP staff exist that require the suspension of ESA payments when a PW1 form is requested (I have heard anecdotal evidence suggesting that claims are suspended when a PW1 form is requested and this is the reason for it not being readily available) could you confirm or deny this - if such policy does exist can you provide copies of it.
4 Following from Q3 can you confirm or deny and/or provide relevant documents regarding the suspension of ESA payments pending a decision by a DM upon receipt by the DWP of a completed PW1 from a claimant.
5 If payments are suspended as a matter of course or policy following either the request for a PW1 by a claimant (as in Q3) or following the receipt by DWP of a PW1 (as in Q4) is there a procedure to check if the form has been filled out in relation to proposed or current employment or is it left to a D.M. i.e. could a claimant have their ESA suspended either as the result of requesting a PW1 or as the result of filing in a PW1 advising of proposed Permitted Working which has not yet begun.
6 If no such policies or staff instructions exist in relation to Q3 and Q4 can the DWP categorically state that ESA payments will not be suspended (obvioulsy assuming that all else remains the same) until a DM has decided that the work a claimant is doing is not Permitted Work and that the claimant is actually doing this work and receiving remuneration for it.
7 How many current DWP forms are not available in electronic form and is there a policy to decide which forms are and are not made available.
8 Is PW1 available from Job Centre Plus and can it be requested either by post or in person without the need to state your name.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Malpas

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Paul Malpas left an annotation ()

The lack of public availability of the PW1 (when most other DWP forms are easily accessed) would suggest that the DWP wish to at the very least monitor who is requesting these forms. I have made this request in order to clarify matters, I have clients who ask me if they can do some work while on ESA - an act which the Government seems to feel would be advantageous, given that people on ESA are being encouraged back to work and that that Permitted Work earnings are disregarded for most means tested benefits. However if the DWP have policies or working practices whereby people applying to do Permitted Work have benefits suspended for an indeterminate time (even if this is subsequently reimbursed) while the PW1 is processed and a DM makes a decision then surely this must be seen as an attempt by the DWP to undermine the intention of Government by placing large financial obstacles (insurmountable by many) in the way of people taking up small amounts of work - which incidentally used to be referred to as Therapeutic Work

Paul Malpas left an annotation ()

It appears IS10 - application for Severe Disability Premium is another unavailable form. It is rather an odd form as ALL the information requested on it is already held by DWP - anyone on an income based benefit would already have provided information regarding people who live with them and their entitlement to mid or high care DLA should also be a matter of record but despite DWP having this information and SDP being an entitlement as a result of receiving certain DLA awards you still have to ask them to send the form, fill it out and waait a decision rather than simply having your ESA, JSA or IS increased when you get a DLA award.

Katie left an annotation ()

Hi Paul,
Glad to read your request re: PW1 ESA form. I spent forever trawling the internet trying to find it, really puzzled, many references to it but no sight of the form itself. Client 52 weeks PW ended, wants continue under Supp PW, therefore ticked no 3 on PW7 form. I took precaution of phoning DWP on cl behalf because felt uneasy about ticking Q3. Wanted to ensure continuity of cl ESA until decision made. I asked somewhat recalcitrant operator if ticking this box had any immediate effect on benefits. Operator could not or would not give clear answer to this question, except to say that cl would be paid up to 26th September. I remarked that this suggested cl benefits might be suspended after that, but again operator would not or could not give clear answer saying only that it was up to decision maker. Am not benefit expert, just generalist (relying on Disability Rights Handbooks), however seems reasonable that if period of permitted work comes to an end, on face of it cl not eligible until renewed eligibility or otherwise has been proved. I agree DWP need to be transparent about this, but think that might be asking too much of them!

PS: Wish I had read your post before I rang DWP, realise now I was right to be wary!

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Malpas

Please see attached response to your FoI request.

Kind regards

DWP Central FoI Team

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Paul Malpas left an annotation ()

I have marked this request as having received all the information however one of my questions was not answered due to cost of compiling the information, as it was not critical to my needs I have not pursued this (and I certainly don't want to pay for it) it is interesting that certain forms are still not available despite the governement encouraging everything to be doen on-line. Interestingly even forms such as the Comunity Care Grant form which is on-line must be printed, filled in by hand and then posted as you can't fill it in on-line and then print (as it claims you can) and certainly can't submit it on line - further even when all the information is filled in and supplied claimants still seem to receive phone calls to "clarify" what has gone in the form, this leads to confusion when people have required assistance to fill in the form then they are questioned (without support or adviser present) about the content and asked to clarify matters that they may not understand.

H C left an annotation ()

Paul
Many thanks for getting the PW1 form. I have just spent weeks for a relative battling to work out how a small amount of work can be done on a self employed basis whilst on ESA. The fear is that all benefits will be suspended. They were last year when my relative got a part time job causing chaos.Latest threat is they will reassess weekly, not suitable for self employed work. Problem still not solved. Looking like its Disemployment Support Allowance, not ESA.
H C Midlands

Matt Jennings left an annotation ()

Hi all, I am also an advisor supporting disabled people return to employment - I've just been searching online and found the PW1 form on the National Archive website (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...).

Interestingly the pdf has today's date at the top (April 2nd), so maybe they've just updated everything at the same time as all the reforms?

I got to the PW1 form via here http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u... - I've not had a look through, but it might be that other forms that you were after are now archived here also? Looks like a useful page to bookmark anyway.

Thanks for putting the request in Paul (as an aside, isn't it strange that someone would get paid over £600 to do 3 1/2 days research on your request - that's more than I get paid in a fortnight!).