Fix ESA assessment.
The government has published a strategy for improving work, health and disability (1).
Focusing on changes to social security, the workplace, and healthcare system, ministers aim to raise the number of people with disabilities in work from 3.5m to 4.5m (28.5%). They will do this by: improving the capability of Job Centre Plus; providing more tailored employment support; a better process for assessing individual needs; and empowering those “furthest from the employment market” in the Employment and Support Allowance support group.
National Citizens Advice has welcomed the joined-up approach and commitment to providing more tailored support for individuals, including those with mental health problems (2).
But it says the assessment process for ESA is clearly “not working”.
To date in 2017, Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead has helped people with nearly 3000 benefit and tax credit issues in 22 different categories. The biggest category (16 per cent) was problems with Employment and Support Allowance.
Our evidence strongly supports the concern of national CA that “many of the people who come to us for advice are facing immediate problems with inaccuracies and stressful experiences that can set them back even further.”
The government must act now to improve ESA assessment. Otherwise, its promising new strategy won’t win the support it needs to meet a challenging target.
Read Employment and Support Allowance online advice here.
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