Monday 21 November 2011
Channel 4 News Social Affairs Editor Jackie Long finds the government's employment support allowance is being dogged by endless and repeated appeals as claimants are found fit, then unfit, for work.
n terms of going for the populist vote, it was never going to be a hard sell. Ending the "sicknote culture" and the "something for nothing society", were tough-ounding promises - easy to make, but proving much harder for the government to deliver.
There are around two and a half million people on some sort of sickness-elated benefit in the UK. Transforming the system is one of the cornerstones of the coalition's welfare reforms.
It introduced employment and support allowance to replace incapacity benefit and insisted that all claimants undergo a medical, the controversial work capability assessment.
But we've discovered that the new benefit is being dogged by endless - and repeated appeals. Claimants are being bounced between being told at assessment that they are fit for work, to being found unfit at appeal then sent straight back in for a new assessment where - you've guessed it - they're found fit for work again.
Staggering costs
The number of appeals for employment and support allowance (ESA) heard by the Tribunal Service, has quadrupled in two years, rocketing from 68,000 in 2009 to a projected 240,000 by the end of this financial year. The cost to the taxpayer is staggering: £80m so far, and rising.
"Rosanna was cleared fit for work and not entitled to benefit. She appealed. She won, scoring almost top marks during the appeal's medical assessment. Her benefit was reinstated."
The appeals are dominating the caseloads of Citizens Advice Bureaux across the country and putting enormous pressure on GPs too.
But what this new benefit system isn't doing, is getting people back to work in anywhere near the numbers predicted - or needed - to make the government's much vaunted work programme, work.
Channel 4 News has spoken to some of the private providers and charities who are running the Work Programme for the gvernment. They'll be paid for every person they get into work, or at least, make "work ready".
But they've told us they have serious concerns about the lack of people moving through from ESA and onto the work programme.
Constant appeals
Kirstie McHugh, from the Employment Related Services Association, an umbrella group for Work Programme providers, told Channel 4 News: "We were expecting that 25 per cent of the referrals coming through overall would be people on eployment and spport alowance but we are finding only 3-5 per cent, so a significant proportion lower than we thought."
Rosanna Cartwright is exactly the sort of person who was supposed to have moved onto the work programme by now. She's been on sickness benefit for the past two years after developing musculoskeletal problems, forcing her to give up her job as a barmaid.
"You go through the benefits system and they are telling you, you are fit for work. But your GP and the doctor in the hospital say you are not fit for work. So who are you to actually believe in the end? Wayne Allingham"
As part of her claim for ESA she had to undergo one of the new medicals. Claimants are given a point for any health issue which might be deemed disabling and prevent them from being able to work.
Rosanna scored zero so was categorically cleared fit for work and not entitled to benefit. She disagreed and appealed. She won, scoring almost top marks during the appeal's medical assessment. Her benefit was reinstated.
However the process had taken so long that within just a few months it was time for her to be reassessed. This time she was found fit to work again.
"I did get upset about it, " she said. "I cried a bit when I got home. But my husband said appeal again." That is exactly what she's doing. And she is not alone.
ESA appeals dominating system
Channel 4 News contacted 30 advice centres across Britain and every single one said they had clients on their second or even third appeal. Jude Hawes is the welfare benefits manager at Stoke CAB.
She says every day they're dealing with clients appealing against ESA decisions, many of them for a second time. "I've worked in welfare benefits since 1983 and... we've never had one benefit one sort of appeal that just dominates the landscape like this."
Even people who lose their appeal and so have been found fit for work twice are heading straight back into the system.
Wayne Allingham is a Falklands veteran who has suffered mental and physical health problems since leaving the army 30 years ago.
In April, a medical assessment for ESA found him fit for work. A tribunal later came to the same conclusion. But as the process has taken more than six months he's entitled to make a new claim for ESA on the same grounds.
He denies that he's "playing the system", insisting that it's the system which isn't working. "You go through the benefits system and they are telling you, you are fit for work. But your GP and the doctor in the hospital say you are not fit for work. So who are you to actually believe in the end?"
Back in Stoke CAB, benefits manager Jude Hawes, says whatever the rights and wrongs of individual cases, one thing seems clear to her.
"Very, very few people are getting moved on into jobs, which is really what this is meant to be about. It's meant to be about people being better off because they are being moved into work, but that's happening to very, very few people in this area."
C4 investigation reveals government's work capability assessment programme is clogged with costly, unresolved cases
Thousands of ill and disabled people have become trapped in a revolving door of medical assessments and appeals at a cost of £80m, with many claimants on their second and third attempts to overturn rulings that remove their benefits.
The government's drive to cut Britain's multibillion-pound welfare bill by moving long-term unemployed people off sickness benefit and into work is at risk of descending into chaos, according to a Channel 4 news investigation.
The work capability assessment programme, which assesses benefit claimants to see whether they are fit for work is "teetering on the brink of collapse" as the system becomes clogged up with appeals.
Ministers introduced more stringent medical tests as part of welfare reforms designed to cut the number of people claiming incapacity benefits, currently at 2.4 million. They say sickness benefits are too often abused as an excuse for being out of work, and have pledged to end what they call the "something for nothing" culture.But the number of appeals by claimants who believe they have been incorrectly assessed as medically able to work has quadrupled in two years, with the projected numbers for 2011-12 expected to reach 240,000.
In one case uncovered by Channel 4, a former barmaid placed on benefits after being diagnosed with musculo-skeletal problems was declared as capable for work, having being given zero points at her work capability assessment medical test.
Her appeal found she was incapable of working for health reasons, having reassessed her "score" as 15 points. As a result her benefit was reinstated but the process took so long that she faced another assessment, which found her fit for work. She is now appealing against that decision.
The logjam in the appeals system has meant that even claimants who lose their appeal against being declared fit for work are not being directed to the jobs market.Because the appeals process can take more than six months, many claimants deemed medically able to work are entitled to make a new claim for sickness benefit.
Jude Hawes, welfare benefits manager at Stoke Citizen's Advice Bureau, tells the film there has been a "huge upsurge" in the numbers of appeals. "There's not a day goes by that people aren't coming through the door with them [appeals]... we've never known anything like that before."
Channel 4 news spoke to 30 Citizen's Advice and legal advice centres in Britain. All reported that they had clients on their second or third appeal. Many described the system as "close to meltdown" and one said the system was "teetering on the brink of collapse."The Channel 4 news film, which airs on Monday says the tribunals service that hears incapacity benefit appeals is overstretched, with some sitting on Saturdays to try to keep on top of demand. The cost of running these tribunals over the last two years is £80m, according to official estimates, with that figure expected to rise.
The crisis has also reduced the number of long-term jobless being referred to Work Programme schemes to prepare them for work to a trickle, putting at risk the financial viability of companies and the specialist charities which are paid to make claimants "job ready."
A Department of Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "Welfare reform will ensure people no longer get written off to a life on benefits. Appeals increase whenever a benefit like ESA is introduced that is why we are working to ensure that problems can be dealt with so they do not unnecessarily proceed to a tribunal. We are also continuously improving the work capability assessment to ensure that it is as fair and effective as possible, bringing in changes recommended by Professor Harrington.
"The Work Programme is ahead in terms of overall referrals. There is a larger than expected number of referrals from some of the more difficult to help groups but with variations in different categories. We are working to make sure there is a good flow of referrals to providers from all the different groups."
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