Helping disabled people into work – will ESA work?
Disability Alliance hopes that the introduction of employment and support allowance (ESA) will bring about positive improvements in the employment rates, as well as a reduction in the poverty experienced by disabled working age adults.
The need for personalised, tailored employment support that actively assists disabled people to overcome barriers to work, will be key and we will be closely monitoring the effectiveness of this provision.
We feel that the ESA rates must be set at levels that provide financial security for all disabled people who claim ESA and we welcome the pledge to provide increased levels of benefit for the most severely disabled people. However, we are worried that for the majority of ESA claimants, the rates of payment are effectively lower than current incapacity benefit rates and we are very concerned that a freeze of ESA rates as proposed in the recent Green Paper: No one written off may increase the poverty experienced by many disabled people.
We have concerns over the administration of the new test of entitlement for ESA, the work capability assessment. Its predecessor test, the personal capability assessment, has more than 60,000 appeals against incorrect decisions every year, with 50% of these appeals being successful. Jobcentre Plus must improve its decision making standards, including consideration of medical evidence and the standard of medical examinations carried out by Atos Origin health care professionals.
Notes for editors
Disability Alliance is a national registered charity with the principal aim of relieving the poverty and improving the living standards of disabled people. Our eventual aim is to break the link between poverty and disability. Our policy work is informed by our contact with disabled people and those who provide services for them.
We are a membership organisation with almost 400 members ranging from small self-help groups to major national disability charities. We are controlled by disabled people who form a majority of our Board of Trustees.
The Alliance provides information on social security benefits, tax credits and related services, to disabled people, their families, carers and professional advisers; undertakes research into the needs of disabled people - with a particular emphasis on income needs, and promotes a wider understanding of the views and circumstances of all people with disabilities.
We are best known as the authors of the Disability Rights Handbook, an annual publication with a print-run of 25,000. We run a members' helpline for advice and information as well as delivering training to professionals working in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. We have published a guide to ESA, which is available for purchase – see www.disabilityalliance.org/esaguide.htm for order details.
For more information, contact Disability Alliance on 020 7247 8776. For information resources on ESA, see www.disabilityalliance.org/esa.htm