Three quarters of people who apply for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are continuing to be found either fit for work or stop their claim before completing their medical assessment.
The Department for Work and Pensions says the latest figures, released yesterday (27 April), not only highlight the urgent need to reform the welfare system but also why it is right to press ahead with the ongoing reassessment of those on incapacity benefits.
For all new ESA claims, from 27 October 2008 to 31 August 2010, the result of the initial WCA is as follows (proportions do not sum exactly to 100 per cent due to rounding):
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA), which determines whether someone is fit for work, has its critics, particularly in the form of mental-health charities, which claim that the test is too inflexible to adequately assess those with mental-health issues.
But the Government argues that the WCA has undergone substantial improvement, with the majority of recommendations made by Professor Harrington following his review of the process now in place. Those recommendations still outstanding are to be implemented by summer to coincide with the first WCAs of incapacity-benefit claimants taking part in the full nationwide reassessment.
Employment minister, Chris Grayling, said: “Once again, we have clear evidence of the need for change in our welfare system. We now know, very clearly, that the vast majority of new claimants for sickness benefits are, in fact, able to return to work. That’s why we are turning our attention to existing claimants, who were simply abandoned on benefits.
“That’s why we are reassessing all of those claimants, and launching the Work Programme to provide specialist back-to-work support. We will, of course, carry on providing unconditional support for those who cannot work – but for those who can, it’s right and proper that they start back on the road to employment.”
The full Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessments statistics are available at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/esa_wca/index.php?page=esa_wca_arc
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
