ByGail Ward
Recently, after much pressure, the Department for Work and Pensions released a small amount of Work Capability Assessment (WCA) outcome figures for both Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit in a response to Labour MP Stephen Timms of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. This was initially reported by Benefits and Work website along with Disability News Service (John Pring) and the Canary blog.
Since the pandemic Universal Credit (UC) claimant figures rocketed and ESA remained steady overall. Some of this was due to many being affected by Covid 19 as sufferers joined the system and some of the rising figures were because for the first time people were having to claim UC as they were furloughed.
It could also be that some people claiming for the first time declared their disabilities for the first time.
However, it has long been the case that the DWP and their contractors have acted to prevent genuine entitlement to Social Security support for those in the greatest need. This has focused on getting 1 million disabled people back to work and slashing the associated rising costs of social security payments, which in some cases has led to fatalities widely reported in the press. The appeals costs are rising exponentially through bad decision making by the private contractors carrying out the flawed WCA which many campaigners have called to be scrapped.
What has changed: firstly, an ageing population will obviously rise as people live longer and become unable to work due to illness and disability. Second is a the introduction of the claimant commitment under Universal Credit for those who claimed it and for those who naturally migrate from other benefits as UC is rolled out fully.
It has always been the case that those fit enough should be working and those who have temporary illness and disability should look towards either returning to work or finding other suitable employment when they are well enough to do so.
The Government’s recent announcements regarding getting more people back to work and increasing the numbers on Intensive Work regime under UC, forcing claimants into Jobcentres on a weekly basis, alarmed many disabled people’s organisations and claimants alike.
From April 2023 under ‘managed migration’ from legacy benefits, many disabled people will be forced to claim UC during the course of the next couple of years. This will require them to sign a claimant commitment and provide Fit notes, with the main focus on getting people into some kind of work-related activity, even if it is four hours a week to maintain entitlement to UC.
Those transferring from legacy benefit to UC will not be required to undertake assessments initially and the payment cycle under UC is ‘monthly assessment period’ for the household –unlike the current award period on legacy benefits based on the individual claimant. It is likely in the future they will face a review of their claim which potentially means they could find themselves found fit for work or moved to the second group (Work-Related Activity Group Limited Capability for Work) and fall foul of the system and having to go through another costly appeal. Any change in circumstances will affect them as a ‘household’. Those in Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity Group -Support Group will also have to provide an initial Fit note. The DWP would have to justify lowering a claimant from Support group to a lower group given their previous status.
These figures will need to be watched carefully as Benefits and Work point out:
“But over the whole quarter, on average only 60.6% of UC claimants were placed in the limited capability for work-related activity group as opposed to 65.6% of ESA claimants. Claimants in this group are eligible for a higher rate of benefits without any work conditionality attached.
“If UC LCWRA rates had been the same as ESA rates then over 8,500 additional claimants would have been found to have LCWRA over this quarter.
“In the course of a year that’s over 34,000 claimants who are missing out on being found to have LCWRA.
“Of equal concern is the fact that 1.2 million ESA claimants are waiting to be forcibly transferred from ESA to UC. There will be no WCA imposed at the point at which claimants are transferred, but they are likely to face a further assessment at some point in the future.
“And whilst the WCA for both benefits is virtually identical, it seems clear that there is a difference in the way the tests are applied.”
Thirdly, another reason for these figures could be that the DWP telephone and video assessments aren’t as successful as they claim, when a face to face is more appropriate to the claimant’s needs for an accurate assessment to be made. While the DWP also claim they are improving outcomes, better training for assessors is unlikely to be behind these statistics given their behaviour over the last decade.
I have raised concerns over the direction of DWP antics and I will be keeping a close eye on this. I discussed this week with a legal team my fears of pushing very sick and disabled people through hoops they cannot realistically sustain.
Further reading:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-09-21/53261
Gail Ward is a Disability Rights Campaigner and Difference North East Award Winner 2022.
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/europealacarte/8449673837. Licence: Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Labour Hub 