Welfare reforms risk failure unless benefit decisions improve
3rd March 2006
Thousands of sick and disabled people are being failed by the benefits system, denied money that is rightfully theirs and suffering prolonged hardship, distress and injustice, according to a new report from Citizens Advice. It warns that there must be a quantum leap in the quality of decision-making if the Government's ambitious plans for welfare reform are to succeed.
The national charity says the process used to decide who qualifies for disability and incapacity benefits is deeply flawed, leading to so many wrong decisions to refuse or withdraw benefit that more than six in 10 are overturned on appeal.
What the doctor ordered shows that much of the problem lies with the way medical assessments are carried out and the weight they are given when decisions on benefit are made. Over half a million such assessments were made last year.
Citizens Advice says that Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) decision makers rely too heavily on the findings of these tests, rather than evidence from claimants' own GPs or other practitioners. This produces an unacceptable level of wrong decisions, with very harsh consequences for claimants.
Problems with medical assessments include inaccurate reports, doctors wrongly reporting what people have told them or underestimating the severity of people's disabilities. CAB clients report feeling humiliated, intimidated and rushed by examining doctors who are too often rude, insensitive, aggressive and dismissive. People with mental health problems fare particularly badly.
Those whose claim is stopped or refused face the choice of claiming jobseeker's allowance of £56.20 a week, or, if they decide to appeal, income support reduced by 20%. This means they can be left with as little as £45 a week to live on for several months while they wait for their appeal to be heard.
In one case a woman with severe mental health problems lost her benefit after an examining doctor said she "didn't look mental". She had to live on £39 a week for six months while awaiting an appeal. Another CAB client lived on reduced rate income support for two years and nine months while waiting for an appeal to be heard.
In a further case a woman was so intimidated by an examining doctor that she delayed three years before claiming help with her mobility needs. The CAB estimated she had lost a large amount of benefit to which she would have been entitled during this time.
Citizens Advice senior social policy officer John Wheatley said:
"Getting benefit decisions right, and getting them right first time, is key to ensuring that vulnerable people get the money that is rightfully theirs, and that public money is not wasted. The impact of wrong decisions can be devastating. People have to go through severe hardship when benefits they are entitled to are denied or withdrawn, and they have to suffer the stress and long delay of taking their case to appeal. In some cases their health suffers. For many, particularly those with mental health problems, the prospect is too daunting and they are deterred from making an appeal even if they have a good case.
"Things have got to change. There has to be a vast improvement in the quality of medical assessments and decision making, and this has to happen before the Government goes ahead with its welfare reform plans.
"The reform plans place new importance on the role of decision-making in the award of a new employment and support allowance. People who need continuing support because they cannot work through illness or disability, and those who want to work and need support to do so will depend on accurate decisions being made and on receiving the right advice. Our evidence shows that the current system is not working either for the people claiming benefits or for the DWP, and the quality of medical assessments and decision making is completely unacceptable."
Citizens Advice is calling for an urgent review of the decision making and appeals processes for all incapacity and disability benefits. It is also pressing for a change in the rules until the system is radically improved, so that people who lose their entitlement to disability or incapacity benefits following a review can stay on the benefit until the reconsideration and appeal process is completed.
The charity also wants to see a mental health champion appointed, to ensure the system deals better with cases involving people with mental health problems.
Last updated: February 22, 2007