GHT Homepage News All change in Incapacity Benefit

All change in Incapacity Benefit
13th May 2008

Employment and Support Allowance begins in October -

The government is changing benefits for sickness so that the system encourages people to work if they can. They think too many people are stuck for too long on benefits for sickness and disability. The government wants to get 1 million people off Incapacity Benefit by 2015, close to half the people now receiving it. This is a change that will affect many people living with HIV, because a very substantial proportion of people on sickness benefits live in North-West England.

People already on Incapacity Benefit have about two years before the major changes will start to affect them.


Employment and Support Allowance
The present sickness benefits will be replaced with a new benefit, Employment and Support Allowance. Everyone who makes a new claim because of sickness, from about the end of October, will have to claim this.

Everyone already on Incapacity Benefit (or claiming Income Support for sickness or disability), will start having to face the tough new Employment and Support Allowance tests which will begin in April 2010.

Details scarce
Not enough is known yet about how the new benefit and testing rules will work in practice. It is impossible to fully predict how they might affect people living with HIV. But we do know the tests that will be used will be tougher than they now are. Like now, the tests are not ideal for people with varying and stigmatised conditions like HIV.

Jobs and training support carrots needed
The government is using the benefits stick to encourage people to work - claiming and staying on benefits for sickness will be made more difficult for most people. But unless the government uses the carrot too, progress in getting 1 million people off incapacity benefit by 2015 could have harsh affects on many individuals.

There needs to be more support available for people who want to work, retrain, or have more education. The government will make little progress in reducing the numbers on benefits unless they manage to increase the numbers of suitable jobs in the North-West, just as a recession looms ahead of us. The risk is the government will simply increase the numbers of people in poverty by transferring people to the much cheaper Job Seekers Allowance.

Series of claims hurdles
Employment and Support Allowance involves a 13 week series of hurdles. This starts with a physical and mental activities test which is much tougher than the one already used for Incapacity Benefit. This looks at what you can't do. Often people will have to answer a detailed form; sometimes there will be a medical examination too. You need to score 15 points at least to stay on ESA. Score under 15 points, and you will have to claim Job Seekers Allowance instead.

The next ESA hurdle is a test to see if you have a "limited capability for work-related activity" - there are 46 categories. Often people will have to answer a detailed form; sometimes there will be a medical examination too. Fit at least one of the 46 categories and they will then leave you alone in the ESA "support" stream. There won’t be the pressure towards work that everyone else will face. £102.10 a week (£17.60 more than the long-term rate of Incapacity Benefit) will be paid to the poorest people in the support stream, while the others will get a minimum of £89.50 a week.

Everyone else is put in the "work-related activity" stream of ESA and has to go through a "work-focused health-related assessment." This looks at what you can do rather than the things that you can't do. A "capability report" is produced and that is used in the first work-focused interview like the Pathways to Work programme, about 8 weeks after you claim. There are then monthly work-focused interviews (six in total) aimed at getting people back into work. This type of ESA will pay £84.50 a week.

Main changes
The main changes to the current system of incapacity benefits are:
• Removing the financial incentive to stay on sickness benefits for a long period of time. At the moment the amount of money someone gets goes up after six months and then again after one year.
• Removing the ‘age addition’ incentive to staying on benefit – the age addition is extra money for people who first claimed before they were 45.
• Medical assessments will be carried out much sooner – within 13 weeks – which is intended to help avoid people becoming dependent on benefit. The plan is those who need it receive support faster and those who are able to work get the help they need to get back into the workplace.
• Making a simpler benefit – people will apply for just one benefit instead of the current system where they either claim Incapacity Benefit or Income Support on grounds of incapacity, or even a combination of both.

The information here is a bit sketchy because the government is still working out a lot of the details. We will learn more over the next few months and as we watch it working in practice from the late autumn.

planning for the future
People already on sickness benefits face the new tests beginning in April 2010. Some won't face the new tests until almost two years later. Staying on sickness benefits indefinitely will be made more difficult for many if the government is to cut the numbers by almost half within the next eight years.

An alternative future will be forced on some but others will take advantage of the next few years to look at what prospects some more education, skills and training might open up. Whatever you might have been doing before claiming sickness benefits, does not have to be your future if you do not want it to be. There are other opportunities and prospects. If you are depressed as many people living with HIV are, this can be hard to see for yourself. However help is available - in one to one sessions, advice, and counselling.


More information
Free factsheets available at www.disabilityalliance.org/esa.htm

Work and Pensions department press release http://www.dwp.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2008/mar/drc067-270308.asp

The new regulations http://www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/employment.asp