Do you remember Employment Support Allowance (ESA)?
The benefit was introduced by the Labour Government and was the latest in a series of attempts by governments of both hues to rein in the sharply rising costs of long-term sickness benefits. ESA replaced Incapacity Benefit (IB) for all new claimants from 27 October 2008, but following threatened rebellions, initially IB remained for existing claimants.
A key feature of ESA was that it replaced the Personal Capability Assessment (PCA) applicable to IB with a new, tougher examination, the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The WCA drives the benefit structure of ESA. While the WCA is being undertaken over a period of 13 weeks, there is flat rate payment of £67.50 a week (single person aged 25 or over). As the name suggests, the WCA is a measure of what work a claimant can do, whereas the PCA was a measure of their disability. Once the assessment is over, the individual is allocated to one of three groups:
1. ‘Fit for work’, with no further ESA entitlement;
2. ‘Work Related Activity Group’ with a basic benefit of £94.25 a week. Claimants must comply with ESA work-related conditions to maintain their entitlement to the full level of benefit. Typically this involves regular attendance at work-focused interviews with a personal adviser;
3. ‘Support Group’ with a basic benefit of £99.85 a week. This category applies to those who have ‘a limited capability for work-related activity’. Claimants qualifying for this higher level of benefit do not have to undertake any work-related activities.
The introduction of WCA was controversial and it was viewed by many claimant groups as being too tough. The WCA has already been the subject of one independent review which concluded that ‘the WCA is not working as well as it should’. The review made no less than 25 recommendations for change, of which the Government has accepted 21. A second review is currently underway, examining what effect these reforms have had.
Statistics recently released by the DWP show that the WCA has had a significant impact on successful benefit claims. For the period covering claims since the start if ESA to the end of November 2010, initial assessments produced the following results:
· 7% of claimants were placed in the ‘Support Group’;
· 17% of claimants were placed in the ‘Work Related Activity Group’;
· 39% of claimants were assessed as ‘fit for work’. This has resulted in a raft of appeals. So far appeals have been heard from 41% of this category – nearly 275,000 people – with the DWP’s assessment being upheld in six out of every ten cases.
· 36% of claims were closed before the assessment was completed.
· 1% of claims are still in assessment.
By March 2014 all existing IB claimants (on incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance and income support on disability grounds) will have been reassessed using the WCA test. Many look likely not to become ESA claimants, to judge by the above figures.
The WCA results are a reminder that the state’s safety net is not what many people believe it to be. If you are concerned that a sudden change in your employment or income level could leave you and your family vulnerable, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss your options.