The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Fit-for-work tests
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20/11/2012
Contrasting views of disability work test
A contrasting picture of the operation of the work capability assessment for disabled people has appeared in two new reports. The first, an officially commissioned review, says no fundamental change in the system is needed. The second documents the actual experiences of disabled people going through the test.
Harrington reviewThe third independent review report, by Professor Malcolm Harrington, concedes that the assessment continues to be portrayed in an extremely negative light, often fuelled by 'adverse media coverage', 'representative groups', and 'political points scoring'. But while there are reports of individual cases of people being poorly treated by the process, the government can be 'reasonably pleased' with what it has achieved. A further period of radical reform to the process is not needed, Harrington believes, although he says some areas for improvement remain.
Category: Reports -
12/11/2012
‘Humiliation’ of work capability assessment
Claimants have described their experiences of the work capability assessment in a report produced by the campaign group We Are Spartacus. The report provides real-life accounts of the way 70 claimants were 'wrongly assessed, humiliated, badly treated' and forced to go to a tribunal to secure the benefits to which they were legally entitled.
The work capability assessment was introduced in 2008 to determine entitlement to employment and support allowance. Claimants going through the assessment have to satisfy the DWP they have a limited capability for work.
Category: Reports -
17/08/2012
Auditor finds ‘weaknesses’ in fit-to-work assessments
The National Audit Office is reported to have found ‘weaknesses’ in the contract between the government and Atos, the French private firm paid to carry out fit-to-work medical assessments. It says the Department for Work and Pensions has failed to penalise Atos for ‘underperformance’, and has not set ‘sufficiently challenging’ targets.
The NAO’s comments were made in a letter to Tom Greatrex MP, who had raised concerns about whether the DWP was receiving value for money. From October 2010 the medical tests have applied to everyone moving from incapacity benefit to its successor employment and support allowance.
Source: BBC report, 17 August 2012
Links: BBC report | Guardian reportCategory: News stories -
01/05/2012
Work assessment ‘causing stress and anxiety’ for homeless people
Campaigners have warned that the work capability assessment is causing stress and anxiety for single homeless people. Over three-quarters of those surveyed said they are unhappy with the outcome of their assessment.
The campaign group, Crisis, has surveyed people’s experiences of the test, which was introduced in 2008 to assess entitlement to employment and support allowance.
Category: Reports -
10/04/2012
Protest resignation over fit-for-work test for disabled people
A charity chief executive has resigned from a government panel in protest at an ‘inhumane system’ that is designating severely ill and disabled people as being fit to work. Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, who was a member of the panel responsible for monitoring the new fitness-for-work test, the work capability assessment (WCA), said that the government was ignoring growing expressions of alarm over the reliability of the test. Farmer said:
I’ve moved from being puzzled about the reluctance to change, to being increasingly frustrated. I genuinely don’t understand why the government doesn’t just pause the process and reflect on why it’s not working.
In his resignation letter, Farmer told the employment minister:
Category: News stories -
06/04/2012
Tax credit cuts will hit family finances
The new rules on working tax credits from the start of the 2012/13 tax year will hit around 212,000 low income families, according to information published by the House of Commons Library. This will reduce their income on average by £2,600 each year.
Up till now, most couples with children have qualified for working tax credit, provided one partner works at least 16 hours each week. But from April 2012 couples will need to work 24 hours between them, with one partner working at least 16.
Category: News stories -
15/03/2012
Government says disability benefit reforms are justified
More than one third of the 141,100 people going through incapacity benefits reassessment have been found to be fit for work, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The remaining 63 per cent of claimants were entitled to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA):
Thirty-four per cent were placed in the Work Related Activity Group, where they will receive personalised help and support to help them prepare for a move into suitable work in the future. Twenty-nine per cent were placed in the Support Group and will receive unconditional financial support and will not be expected to work.‘These first figures completely justify our decision to reassess all the people on incapacity benefits’, said Employment Minister Chris Grayling. ‘To have such a high percentage who are fit for work just emphasises what a complete waste of human lives the current system has been.’
Category: News stories -
13/01/2012
Accuracy of work capability tests put in doubt
Most of the new medical assessments carried out for people applying for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are inaccurate, finds the Citizens Advice Bureau in a new report ,Right First Time? Employment and Support Allowance was introduced in October 2008 as a replacement for incapacity benefits. A new medical assessment, the work capability assessment (WCA), was introduced alongside the ESA. Up to May 2011, almost 350,000 enquiries had been made to the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in England and Wales for help, the high level reflecting the anxiety the new tests were causing. CAB advisers found that:
Category: Reports
