Women’s health and the welfare state: reform of discriminatory assessment criteria

The assessment of fluctuating conditions is known to be unfairly assessed within the welfare benefit system. Our study aimed to explore the experiences of one specific fluctuating condition, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) - a severe mood disorder with a high risk of suicidality and self-harm.
We delivered four focus groups to gather experiences of applying for either Adult Disability Payment or Personal Independence Payment. Three of the focus groups included people with PMDD. In total we gathered insight form 17 people. We asked them to describe their experience of applying for support. One focus group included three professional stakeholders. We asked them to describe their experience of supporting people through the application process.

Our interim analysis identified four key findings:
These are:
1. A lack of trauma-informed practice
2. Inconsistent assessment and decision outcomes
3. Difficulty evidencing a fluctuating condition
4. Lack (or unaware) of support for the application process

We will discuss how our findings have influenced the Scottish Governments current Independent Review of Adult Disability Payment.