New Benefit Receives Criticism

The Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), introduced in October 2008 and intended to replace Incapacity Benefit, has been labelled "unfit for purpose" by Citizens Advice Scotland.

Since its introduction all new claimants have had to apply for ESA, however long term beneficiaries are still receiving Incapacity Benefit instead. It had been intended that long term claimants would make the switch to ESA soon, however the new Secretary of State for Scotland Danny Alexander has now questioned whether the roll out should go ahead as planned.

The policy motivations behind replacing Incapacity Benefit were driven by the previous Government’s desire reduce the number of people on sickness benefits and to ensure that more people claiming benefits were defined as capable of carrying out some type of work.

Under ESA greater emphasis is placed on the requirement to engage in work-related activities and in order to access ESA most applicants must now undergo a new type of medical assessment called the Work Capability Assessment.

At the time of its introduction Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland expressed real concerns about the resulting policy implications of the allowance given the likely impact of introducing ESA here.  The organisation felt that the effects of ESA would be felt more acutely in Northern Ireland as there were more Incapacity Benefit claimants here as a percentage of the working population than in Great Britain.

We continue to be concerned about both the policy behind as well as the practical administration of this benefit and have collated client based evidence and associated case studies on the matter. This organisation feels that the planned roll out to current Incapacity Benefit claimants should certainly not go ahead at present but the Department for Work and Pension has, however, voiced its intention to press ahead with the roll out in October.

A statement from the department said: "People need much more support to manage their conditions and get help to find work and moving them to ESA is the best way to do that. We are fully aware this is a big undertaking and that is why we are working on plans to make the change happen as smoothly as possible."