Hardest Hit March - Wednesday

posted: 09/05/2011

1 in 6 people living with HIV have lived in severe poverty in the past three years. On Wednesday 11th May there is a national march in London and mass lobby of MPs at the House of Commons to protest against the government's planned cuts and changes to benefits.

The cuts and benefit changes will make matters worse for the many people living with HIV who rely on Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Employment Support Allowance.
 

National march and lobby of MPs

People from across the country are coming together on May 11th in London to protest against these cuts and changes and to the cuts to local services which provide key services for people living with disabilities including HIV.
 

People with HIV will be joining the march and lobbying of MPs and if you'd like to be part of this and walk alongside the THT and NAT and other banners, you can find out where and when to meet up by contacting Guy Slade at THT (020 7812 1631). Also register and find out more details on the Hardest Hit website.

Once you've registered, you can email your MP to ask to meet with them as part of the lobby at the House of Commons after the march.

If you arrange a meeting, tell THT, who can advise on what you could say to your MP and ask for.
 

HIV and Sickness Benefits

posted: 03/05/2011

Before the May Day holidays the Department of Work and Pensions got a lot of press coverage by claiming that its reforms of sickness benefits were working. It claimed three quarters of the people applying for the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are either fit for work or stop their claim before they’ve had the medical assessment. They claimed this proved the need to urgently reform benefits, and that Ministers are right to reassess everyone on incapacity benefit.

Don't give up on benefits with HIV

People living with HIV who are claiming benefits for sickness – either Employment Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit - should not feel intimidated. Benefit experts and the National AIDS Trust point out that the system isn’t working properly for people with HIV. But people with HIV very often win if they don’t give up, stick with their claims and get expert help. Very many people with HIV win if they appeal.

False logic

The Department of Work and Pensions is wrong to claim that lots of refused claims and high rates of drop outs from medicals prove the new system of ‘Work Capability Assessments’ is working. For people with HIV these show the system is seriously failing. People with HIV can and do win with help.


HIV and long term conditions

Research by NAT shows that people living with HIV are being found ‘fit for work’ despite medical evidence showing a range of serious physical and mental health problems. These include severe immune deficiency, co-infection with pneumonia or TB, fatigue, depression and debilitating side-effects from essential HIV treatment.

Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), commented:

‘The refusal of 39% of ESA claims is not conclusive evidence that Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is effective. These claimants may be found ‘fit for work’ under the rules of WCA, but many face very real health-related barriers to work which have been overlooked during the assessment process.

NAT is also extremely concerned by the high drop-out rate of 36% before a decision on the benefits is made. Dropping a claim does not prove someone is not eligibile for Employment Support Allowance. NAT continued ‘An independent review of the Work Capability Assessment revealed serious problems with decision-making and administration, and real failures in the way the DWP communicated with claimants. Stopping a claim halfway, points towards fundamental flaws in the system – which are yet to be resolved.’

More information

If you live in NW England with HIV and and have problems with benefits please contact our support team

DWP statistics can be found here

NAT’s report ‘Unseen disability, Unmet needs - A review of the impact of Work Capability Assessment on people living with HIV’ 

The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is the test undertaken to determine whether a person is eligible for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The WCA aims to identify claimants who have ‘limited capacity for work’ or ‘limited capacity for work-related activity’, so that they may receive the right support to help them live well and (where appropriate) return to work. Those who are found ‘fit for work’ are not entitled to receive ESA. The test contains a series of questions, called ‘descriptors’, which relate to physical and mental functions, and from which claimants score points.

The report of the Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment

In October 2008, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was introduced to replace Incapacity Benefit and Incapacity-based Income Support as the primary income support benefit for people who are unable to work due to disability or illness.
 

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

Two-thirds don’t get new sickness benefit

posted: 14/10/2009

The loss of Incapacity Benefit, or much lower weekly benefit, hangs over many people living with HIV, within the next 2-3 years. This is the lesson from a report into the workings of Employment and Support Allowance which will replace Incapacity Benefit for everyone. 

More than two-thirds of people who apply for the new sickness benefit fail in their claims. This suggests that many of the 2.6 million existing incapacity benefit claimants will be forced on to a lower level of benefit when they are assessed over the next two to three years. Only 5% claiming the new employment and support allowance now get the full £108.55 a week.
 

The findings come in research published today by the Department for Work and Pensions into the impact of a tougher medical assessment for the employment and support allowance (ESA), introduced in October. 36% of claimants have been refused because they are fit to work – more than double the rate of refusals under the old medical test.
 

The study of nearly 200,000 claims suggests the government will make big savings from its tougher approach to welfare, despite growing unemployment.
 

The results
Overall, the research found only 5% of those seeking ESA were totally incapable of work and so entitled to the full benefit of £108.55. A further 11%, were potentially capable of work, and put on a rate of £89.80 a week, and are expected to co-operate with efforts to ready themselves for work. A third of the initial claimants dropped out before completing their claim, and a further third were decided as fit for work.
 

The new assessment, the work capability assessment, focuses on the work claimants could do rather than what they can’t do. Based on these findings, substantial government savings could be made between 2010 and 2013, the existing 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit are tested using the new tougher assessment.
 

Expect a quarter of a million refusals a year
On this basis the number of sickness-related benefit claimants likely to be rejected in a year will top 250,000.
 

The work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, did not pass judgment on the findings. She said: "In the 80s and early 90s, the number of people claiming incapacity benefit rose by a million. Too many people ended up on long-term sickness benefit without help to get back to work. That must never happen again."
 

George House Trust comment

This study makes clear that many people living with HIV who are now on Incapacity Benefit will either lose that completely (and need to claim Job Seekers Allowance) or face a cut in the amount paid under Employment Support Allowance.

It's better to be ahead of the curve - and start talking and thinking about a new future - rather than waiting for things to happen. The future could include training, education, finding other ways to increase income and cut spending, and dealing with debts and money problems. Our services team and specialist advisers can help.

Source

'Fit Notes', Not Sick Notes

posted: 29/05/2009

‘Fit Notes’ will replace Sick Notes from spring 2010. This follows Dame Carol Black’s recommendations on the health of people of working age last year, so the government have announced that GP’s will soon be issuing ‘fit notes’ instead of sick notes.

These new ‘fit notes’ will be given out to people from spring next year. In the words of the Department for Work and Pensions press release, they will:

“….enable people to get the best possible advice about staying in work, and if they can't work, what their employer can do to help them return to work sooner. For example, if the employee has a problem with mobility, suggesting a job where they can work sitting down rather than standing up.”

You can have your say - a 12 week consultation on the Fit Note’s design started yesterday and will end in mid August.

The consultation document is called Reforming the Medical Statement

Having Your Say

Comments on any aspect of the draft regulations to:
Shelley Fuller,  Medical Statement Consultation, Department for Work and Pensions,
Health, Work and Well-being Directorate
2nd Floor, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9DA
020 7449 5586
Email

HIV impact?

The new 'fit notes' are intended to help more people stay in work, rather than drift into long term sickness. This could help people with HIV who are working, by giving people with HIV written medical backing to get the employer to make 'reasonable adjustments' to your working arrangements.

They propose that the doctor should tick boxes next to a short list of basic adjustments. These are

• a phased return to work
• altered hours
• amended duties
• workplace adaptations, and
• the consultation asks whether occupational health assesssments should be added
• we  ask whether there should be a box for the doctor to add any other suggestions.

GP telling employers about HIV is a risk

From a first look at the proposals we have a major concern. The rules (rule 6) and proposed Fit Note itself require doctors to name the condition as precisely as possible that  makes the person fit or unfit for work. This means naming HIV.

There is a special exception rule (rule 9) that allows the doctor to state less precisely the condition in cases where disclosure of the precise condition would influence the patient’s well-being or the patient’s position with their employer.

George House Trust thinks this needs to be made a requirement for GPs and it should spell this out and name HIV as an example in Guidance to GPs and on the Fit Note form itself.

Government comments on Fit Notes

Lord Bill McKenzie, Work and Pensions Minister, said:

"Employers tell us that managing sickness absence can be a challenge. This is compounded by a 'sick note' system that makes sickness absence a black and white issue - either you are unfit for work, or you are not. We recognise how important it is to help people who are sick to stay in work or get back to work quickly - the new fit note will help do just that."

Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said:

"We know that sickness absence is economically and socially damaging and makes people more likely to drift into social exclusion and poverty. Getting people back into work quicker is good for their health as well as the country's finances. The fit note will give GPs a new opportunity to benefit their patients and I look forward to it being used in surgeries everywhere."

Developed with the support of healthcare professionals, employer representatives and trade unions, the new 'fit notes' will roll-out across Great Britain in the Spring of 2010.

The new 'fit notes' will be computer-generated in GPs surgeries, replacing the neatly hand-written - or possibly illegibly scrawled - doctor's sick notes.

The full Government response to Dame Carol Black's report.

Employment lawyer's view

Morag Hutchison, at employment law firm Pinsent Masons, said that the new scheme is likely to benefit both employers and their staff. 

“The current system causes problems for employers because there is no consideration of whether the employee is fit to perform some duties of their role even if they are unable to perform all the duties of their role,” she said. “If GPs are asked to give an indication of what an employee can do, that will enable the employer to consider whether their role can be adapted so they can return to work sooner than might otherwise by the case.”

Hutchison said that employees who are signed-off work can become detached from the workplace, particularly in cases of stress, making it harder for them to return to work.

“If a GP gives an indication of the tasks the employee could perform, that would help the employer to get them back to work sooner and is more likely to result in a positive outcome for both the employer and the employee,” she said.

The current system can cause problems for employees too, according to Hutchison.

“The issue of redundancy selection criteria is of particular relevance in the current climate,” she said. “Employers often use absence records as a selection criteria for redundancy. Under the proposed system an employee's absence record is likely to be reduced as they may be able to attend for work albeit it to perform a reduced role.”

Many employees are not entitled to any sick pay over and above their statutory sick pay entitlement which can result in them losing a significant proportion of their income if they are off sick. “Again, under the new system, there may be occasions when they are able to attend for work to carry out a reduced role whereas under the current system they would just have been signed off,” said Hutchison.

GPs are expected to have to spend more time with individuals to establish what parts of their job they are fit to perform, but Hutchison expects employers and employees to welcome the plans.

“The introduction of ‘fit notes’ would, on the face of it, appear to be a positive move for both employers and employees,” she said.

Reforming the Medical Statement consultation