wrag vs sg rules | Benefits Owl

First I’ll go over some of the technical terms that the Jobcentre Plus use, and roughly what they mean in plain English, because they are confusing…

What they say	What they mean	Which group you're put into	What you get
You do not have a limited capability for work	You are fit for work	You don't get into either group…	nothing
You have a limited capability for work	You are not fit for work, but with help that might change	The work related activity group	Employment and Support Allowance including the work-related activity component
You have a limited capability for work related activity	You are not fit for work, and even help is unlikely to change that	The support group	Employment and Support Allowance including the support component

The rules for deciding whether you fit the rules for the support group are a very similar to the ones for deciding if you’re entitled to Employment and Support Allowance at all. Like the main Employment and Support Allowance rules there are a list of ‘activities’, and each activity has a range of ‘descriptors’. However, unlike the main rules it’s not a matter of getting enough points. You just have to fit any one of the descriptors.

The full list is here. But here’s one activity to give you an idea…

Activity	Descriptors
1. Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid is normally or could reasonably be worn or used.	Cannot, unaided by another person, either: (a) mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion; or (b) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion.

Does this seem familiar? If you have been looking at the main rules for Employment and Support Allowance you’ll see this looks almost exactly like the 15 pointer descriptor for ‘mobilising’. In fact most of the descriptors that qualify you for the support group are almost identical to the descriptors that give you 15 points in the main test. But there are some important differences:

Being able to ‘navigate’, problems with ‘loss of consciousness;, and ‘getting about’ have disappeared completely: so if you have problems with these things it won’t help you get into the support group.
The wording for the descriptors for problems with bowels and bladder, for ‘learning tasks’, and for ‘coping with change’ have been changed slightly.
Two new activities have been added: conveying food or drink to the mouth, and ‘chewing or swallowing food or drink’.

There is also some exceptional circumstances, where even if you don’t fit any of the descriptors you can still be put in the support group. These are the questions you need to ask yourself:

Because of a disability or illness that you have, would there be a ‘substantial risk’ to anyone’s physical or mental health if you had to attend work focused interviews or do work-related activities? (Beware: it is quite hard to convince them of this.)
Are you terminally ill?
Are you having chemotherapy or radiotherapy? (Beware: even if you do the Jobcentre Plus is allowed to decide that the effects are not bad enough for you to qualify)
Are you pregnant, and, if you are, would there be a serious risk to your health or that of the baby if you had to attend work focused interviews or do work-related activities?

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