Join HIV and Benefits Survey

posted: 16/02/2011

Lots of changes (including cuts) will be happening to the welfare benefits used by many people with HIV in the coming months and years. We need evidence now about how the changing nature of HIV affects people’s ability to do a paid job.
 

Would you please help our friends at NAT (National AIDS Trust) by answering their short (10 question) online survey about HIV-related symptoms of people living with HIV.

Please Take part in the quick survey, here

NAT are part of a national benefits working party trying to improve the Work Capability Assessment (which is used to help decide claims for Employment Support Allowance - the new benefit for sickness and disability).

The Work Capability Assessment fails many people with HIV – it doesn’t cope well where symptoms can come and go, like with HIV. Your answers will help us and NAT make it work better for people with HIV.
 

Be a big help for many

Your answers will help make a major difference to many people – everyone now receiving Incapacity Benefit will have to have their own Work Capability Assessment within the next 2-3 years. Many people are having to appeal bad decisions about this and 40% of the people who appeal refusals of these claims win.

The findings of this research will help NAT speak for the needs of people living with HIV who apply for illness and disability-related benefits. In particular, it will lead to recommendations to the second annual independent review of the Work Capability Assessment.

NAT will be on the working group which will recommend changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to more accurately and fairly assess people with fluctuating conditions, such as HIV.

Anything you can add?

NAT welcome other evidence about the impact of fluctuating symptoms on the lives of people living with HIV, and particularly want to hear the experiences of people who have HIV-related symptoms who have gone through the Work Capability Assessment.

For more information about the survey or the working group, or to send case studies and other evidence, please contact Sarah Radcliffe

Please Take part in the quick survey, here

More Disability Tests for Benefits

posted: 08/12/2010

All 3 million people with disabilities and long term conditions such as HIV, including pensioners and children, who are getting Disability Living Allowance will soon be forced to have medical tests.

Ministers announced yesterday plans to end the automatic right to disability living allowance, worth up to £70 a week for care and up to £50 a week for travel needs. This benefit will soon be called the 'personal independence payment'.

Waiting and testing

Claimants will have to wait for a year for the new "personal independence payment" and then face a series of medical and other tests focusing on "an individual's ability to carry out a range of key activities necessary to everyday life".
 

Medical tests already under fire

The existing system of medical tests that are used to judge people claiming sickness and disability benefits (Incapacity Benefit and Employment Support Allowance) is already under review after mounting evidence that people with serious illnesses like HIV are being judged fit to work, when they are not. The tests for the replacement 'personal independence payment' will be based on these.

Many claim that the disadvantages of the medical tests will outweigh any benefits. The medical tests system is often very wrong and very inefficient. 40% of people who appleal the decision win their appeals.

"We have fundamental concerns that the cost of the administration will mean there is no saving here. Claiming these benefits mean at the moment filling out a very long form. I don't think the answer is a whole new process of interviews, which many disabled people may find intimidating," said Guy Parckar of the Leonard Cheshire disability charity.
 

Do what we say

Welfare support will also be conditional on disabled people acting on government instructions to "better manage or improve their situation if appropriate".
 

Behind the changes - cuts of £1 billion from Disability Living Allowance

Charities said they were "deeply concerned" about the proposals – the government plans to save £1bn from DLA in the June budget.
 

"There's no evidence of widespread fraud and no evidence to back up claims that the benefit acts as a barrier to work," said Richard Watts, of the Essex Coalition of Disabled People.
 

Department of Work and Pensions announcement 

Consultation proposals

Consultation on the proposed changes - response deadline 14 February 2011

Source

Better Benefit ‘Work’ Tests

posted: 24/11/2010

The government has said it will overhaul its controversial medical tests to decide whether the seriously ill and disabled can claim long-term sickness benefits. An independent review found they were "impersonal, mechanistic and lacked empathy", leaving many claimants feeling unjustly treated and distressed.
 

The review, conducted by the academic Malcolm Harrington, an occupational health specialist, looked at whether the 'working capability assessment' was a fair system. There is mounting evidence that people with serious illnesses, like HIV, are being judged fit for work, when they are not. 40% of people who appeal, win their appeals.
 

Testing 94,000 people a month
The tests, first introduced in October 2008, mean 53,000 people are assessed a month for 'employment and support allowance'. The numbers being tested will balloon from next April as another 41,000 incapacity benefit recipients are re-assessed under the ‘work capability assessment’ every month.
 

Long-term ill and disabled somehow pass ‘work’ tests
Harrington found that the assessments, run by a French multinational, Atos Origin, which received £54m from the coalition government for the contract, failed people with mental illnesses and long-term disabilities.
 

‘Impossible’ 28 page form
One form which claimants needed to complete is 28 pages long and almost half the people "found the questionnaire difficult or impossible to complete".
 

Another problem is that people’s ability to work is measured by a computer questionnaire that uses "descriptors" - questions that are apparently unrelated to work. One example is that people are asked whether they had "loaded a dishwasher or washing machine" that day. "It does not bother to ask whether the claimant has a dishwasher or washing machine. That is the danger with computer systems and drop-down menus," said Harrington.
 

Another question asks if you sit and watch TV. Say yes and they assume you can sit for long periods in a chair.
 

"We want to rely much more on healthcare professionals and assessments., said Harrison..

He pointed out that 40% of those found fit for work by the system appealed and won – and added that most people who appealed provided "additional medical information".
 

Radical change needed
Harrington called for a radical overhaul, with jobcentre staff having to take into account health records, the Atos assessments and an individual's own testimony before making a decision about whether someone on sickness benefits should be forced back into work.
 

At present benefits staff rarely dissented from Atos's verdict, he said, and "a lack of procedural justice can lead people to feel embittered and for some this can lead to psychological distress with affects on physical and mental health".
 

Champions to help
The report also recommends the appointment of lay "champions" to guide claimants through the process, and detailed explanations of why a benefit has been refused.
 

Welcome for review
Many working with the poor and vulnerable welcomed the report, saying it was a long overdue recognition of the system's problems. Citizens Advice said its surveys showed a 41% increase in complaints from claimants in the past year alone.

NAT, National AIDS Trust welcomed the findings and recommendations. They say ‘we fully support the call for change to ‘improve the fairness and effectiveness of the WCA’ by improving transparency, empathy and communication within the assessment process for Employment Support Allowance (ESA)’. NAT were among the 400 organisations and individuals to contribute to the independent review, based on their research report Unseen disability, Unmet needs – A review of the impact of Work Capability Assessment on people living with HIV. Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), said: ‘NAT supports the recommendations of the independent review and we were extremely pleased to see some of our concerns included in the final report.

Government to make all the changes

The government said it accepted Harrington's conclusions and would implement them in full. The work and pensions minister Chris Grayling said: "There were no targets or goals to get people off benefits. This is meant to be a fair process … we are dealing with claimants who we have had very little contact with."
 

Reform delay criticised

However, Harrington did criticise the government for failing to implement a key recommendation quickly enough: that of a "personalised summary of assessments in plain English" to be produced by Atos. The government could only promise that ministers "explored the feasibility of providing a summary" by the end of 2011. Given the planned expansion in the scheme next year, Harrington said, this "was just not good enough".
 

Charities said the "review pinpoints what is wrong with the system". Matthew Lester of the Papworth Trust, a disability charity, said the main concern now was how quickly the government would implement the report's main findings. "Even if they get the main points implemented by April that will mean another 250,000 people being assessed by a system that we already know is unfair."

NAT report

Source (adapted)

Sick Benefit Claims

posted: 27/10/2010

Claims made yesterday by the Department for Work and Pensions that three-quarters of the people applying for the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are fit for work are disputed by leading charities.

The official figures were published as the Government continues its plans to reassess everyone on the old style incapacity benefit (IB), which began in Burnley this month and will cover the rest of the country from early next year.
 

Claims distort reality

Charities say the department is distorting reality. A high proportion of these decisions are wrong and almost 40% of people who appeal win. Citizens Advice Bureau has published three detailed reports on serious failings in the system. We know that many people with HIV are being refused wrongly and winning their appeals. We know that NAT are producing a report on the experience of people with HIV with the new benefit and system.

Citizens Advice argues that instead of improving the lives of ill and disabled people, the “deeply flawed” benefit has brought misery for thousands.

The Department recently ordered an independent review of the assessment process because of the widespread problems and complaints.

In last week’s spending review Chancellor George Osborne announced further benefit cuts: most people will only be allowed to claim ESA for a maximum of a year. It plans to cut the benefit bill by at least £18bn.
 

New sick benefit is 'unfit'

Scotland’s acting chief executive at Citizens Advice, Susan McPhee said: “We said last year that ESA was unfit for purpose and we see no reason to change that view. We are still seeing case after case where people are being found fit for work even though their illness or disability restricts them from any type of work. ESA isn’t working for the most vulnerable. We need to protect people in times of suffering, not cause them further hardship.”
 

ESA has forced thousands of vulnerable people with conditions such as cancer, schizophrenia, HIV and Parkinson’s disease back into the job market after being declared fit for work, despite medical evidence from GPs and consultants saying different.
 

Citizens Advice Bureau evidence shows that the system isn’t working

• for people with cancer
• the assessment process isn’t working properly
• the administration of the benefit is poor

For new ESA claims from October 2008 to February 2010, the department for Work and Pensions says that the three quarters of claims that were refused and unsuccessful were made up of:

• Support Group (people who cannot work now or in the foreseeable future and need unconditional support) – the department nonetheless decided 6% were fit for work
• Work Related Activity Group (people who cannot work now but with the right help could work in the foreseeable future) – the department nonetheless decided 15% were fit for work
• Fit for Work - the department decided 39% of ordinary ESA claimants were fit for work and refused the claim for ESA. People can appeal and claim Job Seekers Allowance. 
• Claim closed before assessment complete, or assessment still in process: 39%

The department is fiddling the figures to say that claims where the assessment is still in progress are among the three quarters of the claims that were refused or abandoned. Any claim still being assessed hasn't been decided yet, it is not refused, abandoned or unsuccessful. Undecided claims could be almost 39% of the 75% that the department's press release claims 'are being found fit for work after undergoing the Work Capability Assessment or stop their claim before they complete their medical assessment'. The true figure for claims that failed might be as low as 36%.

Whatever the rate of refused claims, almost 40% of people who appeal the decision, win. That is a dreadful rate of expensive administrative failure.
 

Reviewing the system

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said:
" I am determined that we get the medical assessment right, which is why Professor Malcolm Harrington is undertaking an independent review in consultation with a number of charities representing disabled people and those with mental health issues. I am more than happy to take onboard any serious suggestions for changing the assessment as I want it to be as near to perfect as we can be. This is not about pushing the sick and disabled into jobs but giving those that can work the help to do so and those that can't more, not less, support."
 

Churches: Don’t blame the poor
Meanwhile, three of Britain's churches accused the chancellor, George Osborne, of exaggerating the scale of benefit fraud in last week's spending review speech, pointing out that official figures were lower than the £5bn claimed by Osborne. The president of the Methodist Conference, Alison Tomlin, said: "Exaggerating benefit fraud points the finger of blame at the poor. Let us be clear this recession was not caused by the poor, those on benefits, or even benefit cheats."

Sources
Guardian Scottish Herald 
Department for Work and Pensions Press Release

Join the Disability Benefits Survey

posted: 26/08/2010

We are keen to find out what people living with HIV think about how the benefits system works. The survey is organised by the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), a network of different disability charities and campaigns, including NAT (National AIDS Trust). George House Trust supports the coalitions study.

Please take part in the survey here

Finding out about you and work, Employment Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Disability Living Allowance

The survey asks what you think about work, and if you have ever claimed Employment and Support Allowance – the new benefit for people who cannot work due to ill health or disability. It also asks about Housing Benefit and Disability Living Allowance.

The government is planning major changes to benefits, and already we know many people with HIV have serious problems with disability benefits. To campaign well for people living with HIV we need to know more about the experiences of people living with HIV, good and bad.
 

The survey ends on 20 October 2010. Take part in the survey in here please

If you have any questions about the survey or NAT's work on benefits, contact Sarah Radcliffe, NAT's Policy Officer 

Disability Benefits Consortium