Changes
for Incapacity Benefits (Feb 2005)
This week Tony Blair has vowed
to get a million disability claimants off benefit and back to work!
It’s been described as the biggest shake up of sick and disabled
benefits since the creation of the welfare state but government
officials admit it will take a couple of decades to meet the Prime
Minister’s target.
The Citizens Advice Bureau has
warned that reforms intended to help more people on incapacity benefits
get back to work and to provide more support for sick and disabled
people who are unable to work, will only succeed if they are properly
resourced, Citizens Advice.
The charity also stressed that there would need to be a ‘quantum
leap’ in the quality of decision-making in a system where
currently more than half of all refusals of incapacity benefit are
overturned on appeal.
Commenting on the plans set out by Work and Pensions Secretary Alan
Johnson in his Department’s five-year plan announced today,
Citizens Advice Senior Policy Officer John Wheatley said:
“It will be important that the new arrangements avoid unwitting
discrimination against very vulnerable disabled people, for example
by making unreasonable demands for co-operation from people with
cancer or mental health problems and then penalising them for “completely
refusing to engage”. There is a real danger that junior Job
Centre Plus staff will be pressuring people to look for work when
they are too ill to do so.
“Under the current arrangements, most people on incapacity
benefits get no support from the Department of Work & Pensions
to return to work. Rigid rules mean that those who do seek to do
some work whilst receiving benefits are faced with the choice of
stopping part time work that is important to building their confidence,
or losing all their benefits.
“Regular medical assessments result in immediate withdrawal
of benefits from those deemed capable of work. This plunges the
individuals concerned and their families into great stress and hardship,
yet more than half of these decisions are incorrect and are overturned
at appeal.
“The Government needs to do much better than this. The Pathways
to Work scheme that is being piloted in seven districts, and will
be extended to a further 14 districts next year, provides a much
more positive approach, involving interviews with specially trained
personal advisers, NHS rehabilitation support, and a £40 a
week return to work credit. All this is welcome, but it is resource
intensive.
“The new proposals will be more resource intensive than Pathways
to Work, and will place even more importance on the quality and
promptness of the initial assessments made while the holding benefit
is being paid. We are concerned that, with 30,000 jobs being lost
from the Department of Work & Pensions, it will be impossible
to provide the level of advice, training and support that many people
with disabilities and long-term illnesses will need in order to
get back into work.
“It is also hard to see how the resources will be found to
improve the quality of decision making about these benefits, or
to work with employers who are currently often unwilling to employ
people with health problems. Many areas with high rates of people
receiving incapacity benefits are also areas where jobs are scarce.
“We are particularly concerned that an under-resourced initiative
will result in adverse decisions and hardship for people with mental
health problems, since the Department of Work & Pensions has
a very poor record in tailoring its services and training its staff
to meet the needs of this group, who make up a large percentage
of those on incapacity benefit.
“It is essential that measures aimed at getting people off
incapacity benefits and into work are also linked to ensuring suitable
jobs are actually available, and that these jobs are on fair terms.
Successfully assimilating people back into the workforce also requires
flexibility and a positive attitude towards disability from employers,
for example in accommodating the needs of workers who may suffer
from a fluctuating health condition that requires them to take periods
of time off work.”
Last year Citizens Advice Bureaux in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland dealt with 1,723,000 problems relating to welfare benefits
and tax credits. Of these, 315,000 (18%) concerned disability benefits
and a further 156,000 (9%) related to sickness benefits.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk
www.adviceguide.org.uk
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