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Professor Warns Sick Scheme in Danger of Collapse!

Arturo Ui | 08.07.2010 10:06

More than two-thirds of people who are applying for ESA are failing in their claims. Yet of the 8,000 people a month who are contesting these decisions, almost half are winning their appeals.


An economist who helped to design the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which was introduced (by former Work and Pensions Secretary,James Purnell)to replace Incapacity Benefit in October 2008, has warned that the scheme is in danger of collapse unless radical reforms are implemented.

In a recent report by The Times newspaper, Professor Paul Gregg, an economist at the University of Bristol, says that the government should suspend plans to move 2.5 million Incapacity Benefit claimants on to ESA in October because serious errors need to be rectified. Professor Gregg told the paper:

"To go ahead with these problems is not just ridiculous, it is in fact scary." He added: "Introducing the ESA system for new claimants in 2008 was effectively a pilot, and all the signals from the pilot are that a lot of adjustments need to be made. There are serious problems with putting people who failed the test but still have serious health issues straight on to Jobseeker`s allowance, where there is no special help."

Since October 2008, all new claimants who suffer from ill health, have had to apply for ESA which includes a stricter medical test. More than two-thirds of applicants are failing in their claims. On average only 5% of claimants are deemed unfit for work and eligible for the ESA. A further 13% are referred for "work-related activity" but are still able to claim ESA, while 39% are judged fit for work, and the rest do not pursue their claims. Under the new rules, many claimants have been deemed fit for work while suffering from Parkinson`s Disease, Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. In one case, which The Times referred to, a woman who could barely walk or breathe was judged fit for work just five months before she died of lung cancer.

The new medical tests (50,000 a month) are being undertaken by doctors and nurses employed by Atos Healthcare, a private company. On average it finds that only 5% of claimants are unfit to work. However, around 8,000 people a month are now appealing against these decisions at the tribunals and almost half are winning their cases.

In October 2009, a Manchester GP, Dr. Tim Greenaway, wrote to The Guardian about three of his patients who had all been refused ESA. One patient was psychotic, another patient who had been tortured in Iran suffered from post-tramatic stress disorder, and another patient was an alcoholic. In his view none of them were fit for work, but as he pointed out, the Department of Work & Pensions, no longer asks GP`s for their opinion.

Arturo Ui

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

2/3rds?

08.07.2010 13:45

Where do you get your two thirds failure figure from? In my experience, having been through this and knowing many others, 100% of new claimants are rejected. They are then told to appeal, which takes at least 4 months, during which they are paid ESA at the basic initial rate.

There is a large amount of fakers claiming, and who have been encouraged to claim by the Labour government to massage the dole figures, and this should be acknowledged. However the clampdown applies to people I know with incurable cancer and other debilitating sickness.

I briefly claimed ESA to avoid continuous periods of absolutely no benefit that current JSA staff abuse incurs, but I'm back on JSA because ESA is now even worse. ESA is the same money, same weeks of delayed payments but with extra abuse and humiliation.

Due to the incompetence and blatant dishonesty and abuse of some DWP staff, my family and I have suffered greatly over the past couple of years. Having survived this so far though has given me some insights into how to resist, and I've a few tips for others to survive. For instance, most claimants don't know that they can request audio CDs of all the telephone conversations they have made to the DWP, but not the subsequent call-back conversations when they reply which therefore make it vital to refuse to wait for a call back but to insist on waiting on the line for a reply.

In the past I've seen links on IM to more suitable forums to post this information to, but I can't recall them and due to past experience here with bent IM-admins I'd prefer to post my accumulated knowledge elsewhere. Can anyone here recall a link to such a forum?

Danny


look into Working Tax Credits

08.07.2010 16:13

Try looking into Working Tax Credits - it's like the dole except you don't have to sign on and don't get hassled so much. It is slightly less money, though. The idea is to encourage people to start their own businesses by paying them while it gets off the ground.

anon


wrong check point

11.07.2010 16:16

Problem is not the system failure but that it is in Private hands, and GP and a consultant NHS should make the conclusion, and only the GP can appeal. Problem solved.

bill kolinger
mail e-mail: gewk1@aol.com


ESA Medical Assessments are Rigged!

14.07.2010 15:39

The articles in The Times says the Government is assuming that 500,000 sick claimants will be judged fit for work from October and will be told to look for work. Yet there is evidence that employers are unwilling to take on people who have been claiming the sick for years. The article refers to a confidential survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. It found that a third of employers admitted that they deliberately rejected applications from former incapacity benefit claimants or from people with a history of long-term illness. Apparently these employers placed them in the same category as applicants with a criminal record or a history of drug abuse. The fact that so many people are winning their appeals, shows how bent this whole process is.

Red Danny


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