New ESA Descriptors.. Help needed

With regard to the new harsher ESA test around the corner I have been reading up on some of the guides that Steve and Holly posted on B and W.
The new sitting descriptor for the support group will, it seems be limited to "if a claimant cannot move from one seated position to another without physical help from another person."
I never realised till now but along with not being able to rise from sitting to standing unassisted that descriptor was also in the old(current) ESA descriptors.
In their guides Steve and Holly explain this is meant to be moving between something like a wheelchair to a seated position on a toilet. Is this the main thrust behind this particular descriptor?
I ask as due to my knee and back issues it is one grey area for me in the upcoming reforms when we eventually get round to them.
I certainly cannot rise from sitting to standing alone as the DWP know, it is one of the issues I was granted middle rate care for: Also( even though I don't use a wheelchair) I would maintain I would have trouble getting in and out of one and certainly sitting in one for any length of time. My weight has also burgeoned since I have become immobile and I certainly would have trouble lifting my own body weight from one seat to another, let alone pushing any weight through my knees were I to try and "shuffle" between two seats.
I also notice from the new descriptors that unlike the "mobilising" descriptor, there is no mention in the transferring from one seated position to another descriptor of whether pain, severe discomfort and/or exhaustion comes into the equation:nor does there seem to be any mention of whetehr one can perform the action safely. Or are those things implicit?
Anyone have any ideas on this? Though I know it is something that hasn't been fully tested in case law yet I would be interested to hear how claimants might approach the new wording..

micksville wrote:

With regard to the new harsher ESA test around the corner I have been reading up on some of the guides that Steve and Holly posted on B and W.
The new sitting descriptor for the support group will, it seems be limited to "if a claimant cannot move from one seated position to another without physical help from another person."
I never realised till now but along with not being able to rise from sitting to standing unassisted that descriptor was also in the old(current) ESA descriptors.
In their guides Steve and Holly explain this is meant to be moving between something like a wheelchair to a seated position on a toilet. Is this the main thrust behind this particular descriptor?
I ask as due to my knee and back issues it is one grey area for me in the upcoming reforms when we eventually get round to them.
I certainly cannot rise from sitting to standing alone as the DWP know, it is one of the issues I was granted middle rate care for: Also( even though I don't use a wheelchair) I would maintain I would have trouble getting in and out of one and certainly sitting in one for any length of time. My weight has also burgeoned since I have become immobile and I certainly would have trouble lifting my own body weight from one seat to another, let alone pushing any weight through my knees were I to try and "shuffle" between two seats.
I also notice from the new descriptors that unlike the "mobilising" descriptor, there is no mention in the transferring from one seated position to another descriptor of whether pain, severe discomfort and/or exhaustion comes into the equation:nor does there seem to be any mention of whetehr one can perform the action safely. Or are those things implicit?
Anyone have any ideas on this? Though I know it is something that hasn't been fully tested in case law yet I would be interested to hear how claimants might approach the new wording..

have you a link to what you are talking about ?

Sorry Gordon, Yes I was referring to the new descriptors as are proposed for the new ESA work capability coming in next month.The reason I mention DLA is because one of the reasons I get middle rate care seems to perhaps overlap with the ESA issues. However, you are saying that for ESA purposes if discomfort/ etc isnt mentioned in the descriptor it wouldn't be taken into account?

Gordon wrote:

micksville

I just want to qualify for anybody reading this thread, that these are the new descriptors for ESA, they do not affect DLA.

I'm not entirely sure what you are asking? The test

Cannot move between one seated position and another seated position located next to one another without receiving physical assistance from another person.

appears to be unchanged from the current tests.

As neither pain, discomfort, or exhaustion is used in the descriptor for the test, they are not relevant factors and would not be considered.

The discussion document on the new tests is available here.

www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-capability-assessment-review.pdf

Gordon

That link has been updated too I think


www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-capability-asse...-review-addendum.pdf

What I was also getting at is that they have dropped the descriptor from the new recomendations regarding getting in and out of a chair but kept the one relating to moving from one seated position to another without physical help from someone else. I wondered what exactly they are asking there? Is is akin to shuffling across from one seat to another and does the seat have arms etc? Or are the mainly asking with reference to getting from a wheelchair to, say. a toilet as it says in the B and W help pack on ESA claims.?