Job Centre staff have expressed "grave concerns" at the "unexpectedly severe" health of some people put into work-related activity as part of claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), a new report has revealed.
The study also showed that those claiming the new benefit "generally knew little about ESA before claiming," although it noted that this was unsurprising given the ESA's recent inception.
Released by the Department for Work and Pensions, the publication into the early implementation experiences of dealing with ESA involved interviews with approximately 40 staff and 40 customers to examine their initial experiences of the new benefit.
Its findings included:
• advisers were unhappy about a perceived lack of flexibility in the ESA system, e.g. not being able to waive work focused interviews (WFIs) for people who were very ill, or awaiting operations;
• only those with very severe health conditions were being allocated to the support group and that many of those in the work related activity group (WRAG) also had substantial work-limiting health conditions, and are notably more affected by their health condition than the previous Incapacity Benefit (IB) customer group;
• some staff expressed grave concerns about these decisions, both because they felt they were inappropriate, and because of the perceived difficulty of achieving employment outcomes for people with such severe health conditions;
• most of those placed in the support and WRA Groups did not understand the ESA groupings.
There was also positive feedback, with many staff and customers welcoming the principle of ESA with its more work-focused approach, and some saying they had already benefited from receiving support through Pathways to Work.
Those placed into the support group were also generally satisfied with their claim outcome, while it was acknowledged that deferrals of WFIs did not appear to be widely used at the time of the fieldwork.
Some people in the WRAG welcomed the support offered in work-focused interviews, felt the advisers were sensitive and sympathetic, and appreciated discussion of potential alternative occupations.
However others, such as those who felt too ill to ever work again, or felt that their age, skill level or local demand for labour were unfavourable, viewed WFIs as inconsequential.
Andrew Ward, managing director of protection adviser Your Sure, believes more people need to be informed about ESA and reduced state support.
He said: "It seems to have drifted in as the Government tends to do, so we are making sure people know what they are going to get if they were incapacitated.
"Some people believe that the state will look after them, but that's less the case now, so we feel more responsible for what could potentially happen to them.
"We are aware that applying is not as cut and dried as used to be but more and more people are going to get bitten before a change in mind set away from relying on the state happens," he added.
The full report (as a pdf) can be read at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep631.pdf
