The news that the Government is softening its harsh approach to cancer patients claiming sickness benefits is a welcome relief. Yesterday it announced that the one year time limit for recipients of Employment and Support allowance will only start counting down once the patient has finished all their medical treatments. It has also said that cancer patients can avoid the WCA medical test carried out by Atos as a GP's report will be acceptable proof for the benefits office.
Finally, we think, the Government is being reasonable. It is trusting NHS doctors again to verify the health of their patients and at last recognises that forcing cancer patients to attend DWP job interviews will only slow down their recovery.
Yet perversely this common sense approach to benefits locks the Government into ever more irrational behaviour. As these changes will only apply to cancer patients, other people with just as serious illnesses will still be locked into an unfair system in which they will lose benefit payments after one year even if they are not well enough to return to work - remember the Government's own estimates show that 94% of people who received time limited ESA will not be better after 12 months. The work-focused ESA also forces sick people to seek jobs, attended job centre interviews and even do unlimited work experience while they are still too sick to work.
So yes this change is great news for cancer patients but it stinks to me of a Government running scared that the public is waking up to how punitative and harsh its sickness benefits system is, and is desperate to avoid appalling headlines like this one. Cancer receives widespread media coverage as it can happen to anyone at any time, so come the election such Government negligence could have become a real door-step issue. But ultimately if the Government recognises changes are needed for ESA and the WCA it has a duty to ensure that they are rolled out universally not just for a particular group of people for whom there is greater public sympathy or understanding.
Just as worryingly this shift in policy sets a precedent that those illnesses that have popular support from the public will get a fairer hearing in the huge welfare upheaval than those who suffer from rare or unpopular illnesses (think what a rougher ride those with depression receive from the tabloid press).
Earlier this year Ian Duncan Smith announced that under Personal Independence Payments (the controversial benefit replacing Disability Living Allowance) amputees will be unlikely to receive the top level of mobility support that they currently do under DLA, and warned the public that this would also apply to soldiers.Yet Cameron intervened saying that amputee war veterans will be exempt from the
harsh restrictions planned for the mobility component of PIP.
How can Cameron argue that a civilian with a below the knee amputation caused by a road traffic accident is any less disabled than a soldier with the same amputation caused by an IED?
I can see the way the wind is blowing on this issue and I for one don't want a society in which people with illnesses are pitted against each other in some bizarre X-Factor-style media popularity contest as the rest of us judge who is and isn't deserving of fair treatment.
Showing posts with label WCA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WCA. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
What practical changes to Atos's WCA would you recommend to the Government?
The 'Responsible Reform' Spartacus report revealed the power of social media in helping to raise awareness to the cuts faced by disabled people in the UK. It got the House of Lords to listen to disabled people. If it wasn't for a the Government utilising the Commons 'financial privilege' in a way that has seen no precedent, significant changes would have been made to the Welfare Bill that would have protected disabled people from some of its worst 'reforms'.
So thinking about this success, and following on from the brilliant article written by Amelia Gentleman in the Guardian earlier this week, I thought it would be great to capture people's experiences of Atos's Working Capability Assessment (WCA) to pull together recommendations for the Government to help make the process fairer.
As much as many people reading this will say the WCA shouldn't exist, my main focus is to work within the system that has been imposed on us (and which no political party has recommended repealing) to think of practical changes that the Government could implement immediately and at no cost. Listed below are my initial thoughts. Please do comment and add your thoughts too.
1. DWP should give doctors' reports equal weight as Atos's WCA medical test
Although Atos conduct the 'independent' medical test it is the DWP who have the final decision about who does and doesn't receive ESA. It is widely felt amongst the disabled community that in reality the DWP are just rubber stamping the decision made by Atos's medical test, at it is the company's system of awarding points to a claimant's illness that decides if someone reaches the threshold of eligibility. A simple change would be to give equal weight to the reports given to the DWP by the claimant's own doctors and to the report provided by Atos. Where there is a clear discrepancy in the perceived ability of a claimant the DWP could step in early to demand more informationn from both parties, hopefully reducing the number of mistakes made and the huge cost to the Government of managing appeals against DWP's ESA decisions.
2. Stop the continual cycle of re-testing
One of the shocking problems within the ESA system, is that once a claimant has waited up to nine months to have his or her case heard at the court of appeal and finally been awarded ESA, they can be recalled for another medical within months of the appeal being heard. This second medical then strips the claimant of ESA forcing them back into the stressful and lengthy appeal process. This makes no sense to either the claimant who is struggling to regain their health or to the tax payer which is paying £50 million a year for this appeals merry-go-round. At each appeal hearing, each claimant should be given a date before which they cannot be called back for another medical and the DWP must be made to honour this date. I suggest a year before retests but opinions are welcome on this.
3. Impose financial penalties on Atos for incorrect decisions
A Commons select committee report last year highlighted that Atos may be driven by a profit motive to, in their words, "get the assessments done, but not necessarily to get the assessments right". The Government should treat Atos like any other private contractor and impose financial penalties for incorrect decisions. Clearly a margin of error may be acceptable but decisions in which a claimant has been awarded 0 points by Atos to then be awarded 15 points on appeal cannot be justified. It isn't in the taxpayers interest to fund an appeal process worth £50 million a year while letting Atos retain all of its £100 million annual fee.
Please do let me know what you think - it would be great to work together as a social media community to create key recommendations from those who have been through the WCA process to try and make a difference to those who have to endure it in the future.
So thinking about this success, and following on from the brilliant article written by Amelia Gentleman in the Guardian earlier this week, I thought it would be great to capture people's experiences of Atos's Working Capability Assessment (WCA) to pull together recommendations for the Government to help make the process fairer.
As much as many people reading this will say the WCA shouldn't exist, my main focus is to work within the system that has been imposed on us (and which no political party has recommended repealing) to think of practical changes that the Government could implement immediately and at no cost. Listed below are my initial thoughts. Please do comment and add your thoughts too.
1. DWP should give doctors' reports equal weight as Atos's WCA medical test
Although Atos conduct the 'independent' medical test it is the DWP who have the final decision about who does and doesn't receive ESA. It is widely felt amongst the disabled community that in reality the DWP are just rubber stamping the decision made by Atos's medical test, at it is the company's system of awarding points to a claimant's illness that decides if someone reaches the threshold of eligibility. A simple change would be to give equal weight to the reports given to the DWP by the claimant's own doctors and to the report provided by Atos. Where there is a clear discrepancy in the perceived ability of a claimant the DWP could step in early to demand more informationn from both parties, hopefully reducing the number of mistakes made and the huge cost to the Government of managing appeals against DWP's ESA decisions.
2. Stop the continual cycle of re-testing
One of the shocking problems within the ESA system, is that once a claimant has waited up to nine months to have his or her case heard at the court of appeal and finally been awarded ESA, they can be recalled for another medical within months of the appeal being heard. This second medical then strips the claimant of ESA forcing them back into the stressful and lengthy appeal process. This makes no sense to either the claimant who is struggling to regain their health or to the tax payer which is paying £50 million a year for this appeals merry-go-round. At each appeal hearing, each claimant should be given a date before which they cannot be called back for another medical and the DWP must be made to honour this date. I suggest a year before retests but opinions are welcome on this.
3. Impose financial penalties on Atos for incorrect decisions
A Commons select committee report last year highlighted that Atos may be driven by a profit motive to, in their words, "get the assessments done, but not necessarily to get the assessments right". The Government should treat Atos like any other private contractor and impose financial penalties for incorrect decisions. Clearly a margin of error may be acceptable but decisions in which a claimant has been awarded 0 points by Atos to then be awarded 15 points on appeal cannot be justified. It isn't in the taxpayers interest to fund an appeal process worth £50 million a year while letting Atos retain all of its £100 million annual fee.
Please do let me know what you think - it would be great to work together as a social media community to create key recommendations from those who have been through the WCA process to try and make a difference to those who have to endure it in the future.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Cameron’s attack on ‘sicknote culture’ could spectacularly backfire
Speaking today to the Daily Mail about sickness benefits, David Cameron couldn’t have been more right when he said the “whole system is in a mess”. But his new proposals are likely to make things worse.
Cameron is keen to “press ahead” with stripping GPs of the ability to sign people off work for more than four weeks. After this period an independent assessor will be needed to verify if that person needs to be off sick. Considering this is the same Government that wants to give control of the majority of the NHS budget to GPs, its faith in local doctors seems surprisingly contradictory. With the Government still embroiled in arguments with clinicians over its planned NHS reforms, the Government could find there is little appetite for these new proposals with either GPs or the electorate - indeed an Ipsos Mori survey in June this year showed that nearly nine in ten respondents trust their doctors to tell the truth.
What is clear is that, if implemented, these changes will add another expensive layer of bureaucracy onto a benefits system this is already struggling to cope.
Atos Healthcare is the independent assessor contracted by the Government to carry out the Working Capability Assessment (WCA) that the vast majority of applicants for Employment Support Allowance (ESA) must undergo. Frankly, the assessment isn’t working. 40% of decisions that people are ‘fit to work’ are overturned at the appeal stage, and these original decisions are very heavily based on the findings of the WCA. It is not solely ‘borderline’ cases that are eliciting appeals. In June evidence was submitted to a parliamentary select committee that highlighted the case of Mr C who died in the five months between his medical assessment, in which he was declared fit to work, and his appeal hearing. In February this year Scotland’s Evening Times reported the deaths from chronic illnesses of two men who were waiting for appeals to be heard against their recent loss of Incapacity Benefits. I could go on.
The Government already pays Atos £801 million over a ten year period yet, despite many ministerial promises of improvement, it’s clear that the Government has a long way to go until it gets to grips with how to assess how someone’s illness affects their ability to work. Until it manages to get WCA appeal rates under control, there is little point adding another hefty bill to the taxpayer’s purse to extend the number of ill people required to undergo independent assessments.
Cameron says that GPs “resent being asked to sign sicknotes” yet I can’t imagine any GP embracing a system that might tell patients to go back to work against their own doctors’ advice. And what will happen to those patients who are told they are fit to work when they aren’t? Will their pay be stopped while they appeal the decision? Will they face being sacked for ‘lying’ to their employer?
I can only presume that in these tough economic times, in which many people are struggling with the steep rise in the cost of living, Cameron believes that cracking down on “sickness fraud” will be a vote winner amongst the electorate. Yet that argument only holds when the wider public holds an ‘us’ and ‘them’ view – when we believe that it would never be ‘us’ who are presumed to be lying about being ill.
The Government is only getting away with the terrible mess surrounding the WCA, and the staggering £80 million cost to the taxpayer to manage the hefty appeals process, because it isn’t yet seen as a mainstream concern. As soon as anyone who is off ill for more than 28 days is told to undergo similar tests - and the word spreads about what a hit and miss process it truly is - Cameron could face a massive backlash against his benefits policies. Most people want to work hard and show loyalty to their employer: in exchange they expect to be able to take time off to recover from unexpected illnesses, even if that recovery process takes longer than hoped. I can see few people accepting this greater state intrusion into their lives.
Cameron is keen to “press ahead” with stripping GPs of the ability to sign people off work for more than four weeks. After this period an independent assessor will be needed to verify if that person needs to be off sick. Considering this is the same Government that wants to give control of the majority of the NHS budget to GPs, its faith in local doctors seems surprisingly contradictory. With the Government still embroiled in arguments with clinicians over its planned NHS reforms, the Government could find there is little appetite for these new proposals with either GPs or the electorate - indeed an Ipsos Mori survey in June this year showed that nearly nine in ten respondents trust their doctors to tell the truth.
What is clear is that, if implemented, these changes will add another expensive layer of bureaucracy onto a benefits system this is already struggling to cope.
Atos Healthcare is the independent assessor contracted by the Government to carry out the Working Capability Assessment (WCA) that the vast majority of applicants for Employment Support Allowance (ESA) must undergo. Frankly, the assessment isn’t working. 40% of decisions that people are ‘fit to work’ are overturned at the appeal stage, and these original decisions are very heavily based on the findings of the WCA. It is not solely ‘borderline’ cases that are eliciting appeals. In June evidence was submitted to a parliamentary select committee that highlighted the case of Mr C who died in the five months between his medical assessment, in which he was declared fit to work, and his appeal hearing. In February this year Scotland’s Evening Times reported the deaths from chronic illnesses of two men who were waiting for appeals to be heard against their recent loss of Incapacity Benefits. I could go on.
The Government already pays Atos £801 million over a ten year period yet, despite many ministerial promises of improvement, it’s clear that the Government has a long way to go until it gets to grips with how to assess how someone’s illness affects their ability to work. Until it manages to get WCA appeal rates under control, there is little point adding another hefty bill to the taxpayer’s purse to extend the number of ill people required to undergo independent assessments.
Cameron says that GPs “resent being asked to sign sicknotes” yet I can’t imagine any GP embracing a system that might tell patients to go back to work against their own doctors’ advice. And what will happen to those patients who are told they are fit to work when they aren’t? Will their pay be stopped while they appeal the decision? Will they face being sacked for ‘lying’ to their employer?
I can only presume that in these tough economic times, in which many people are struggling with the steep rise in the cost of living, Cameron believes that cracking down on “sickness fraud” will be a vote winner amongst the electorate. Yet that argument only holds when the wider public holds an ‘us’ and ‘them’ view – when we believe that it would never be ‘us’ who are presumed to be lying about being ill.
The Government is only getting away with the terrible mess surrounding the WCA, and the staggering £80 million cost to the taxpayer to manage the hefty appeals process, because it isn’t yet seen as a mainstream concern. As soon as anyone who is off ill for more than 28 days is told to undergo similar tests - and the word spreads about what a hit and miss process it truly is - Cameron could face a massive backlash against his benefits policies. Most people want to work hard and show loyalty to their employer: in exchange they expect to be able to take time off to recover from unexpected illnesses, even if that recovery process takes longer than hoped. I can see few people accepting this greater state intrusion into their lives.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
How to make your voice heard about benefits
Just found a great disability charity (www.lcdisability.org) that also campaigns for disabled people and found out some great info - the government is inviting individual responses and experiences to: the Work Capability Assessment used to determine if someone is eligible for ESA; amendments to ESA in general and ideas for overall changes to the benefits system.
I've posted more info and links below. It might take a bit of time but we live in a democracy and should take every available opportunity to make our opinions heard, especially in such austere times.
Please pass on to anyone currently in receipt of ESA or any disabled benefits at all - and anyone, disabled or not, can provide ideas about the benefits system.
I'll post my response on my blog once I've sent my ideas and opinions.
WCA
For the first five years of ESA the Government has to hold an independent review of the test used (the Work Capability Assessment). They have appointed Professor Malcolm Harrington to carry out this year’s review. He is asking for people to share their experiences of the current test for ESA. You can find out more and respond by visiting www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-cap-ass-call-for-evidence.pdf . The deadline for responding is 10th September 2010.
ESA in general
To introduce proposed changes to the test for ESA (the Work Capability Assessment) the Government needs to introduce a new Statutory Instrument (this is a type of legislation). The Social Security Advisory Committee looks at any new Statutory Instrument related to benefits and they are holding a consultation on the proposed changes to the test for ESA. If you want to read more and respond to the proposed changes please visit www.ssac.org.uk/press/press23.asp . The deadline for responding is 10th September 2010.
Benefits overall
The Government are currently looking at changing the benefits system and are currently asking people for their ideas on what they think the benefits system should look like. If you want to find out more and submit your own ideas then please visit www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2010/21st-century-welfare . The deadline for responding is 1st October 2010.
I've posted more info and links below. It might take a bit of time but we live in a democracy and should take every available opportunity to make our opinions heard, especially in such austere times.
Please pass on to anyone currently in receipt of ESA or any disabled benefits at all - and anyone, disabled or not, can provide ideas about the benefits system.
I'll post my response on my blog once I've sent my ideas and opinions.
WCA
For the first five years of ESA the Government has to hold an independent review of the test used (the Work Capability Assessment). They have appointed Professor Malcolm Harrington to carry out this year’s review. He is asking for people to share their experiences of the current test for ESA. You can find out more and respond by visiting www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-cap-ass-call-for-evidence.pdf . The deadline for responding is 10th September 2010.
ESA in general
To introduce proposed changes to the test for ESA (the Work Capability Assessment) the Government needs to introduce a new Statutory Instrument (this is a type of legislation). The Social Security Advisory Committee looks at any new Statutory Instrument related to benefits and they are holding a consultation on the proposed changes to the test for ESA. If you want to read more and respond to the proposed changes please visit www.ssac.org.uk/press/press23.asp . The deadline for responding is 10th September 2010.
Benefits overall
The Government are currently looking at changing the benefits system and are currently asking people for their ideas on what they think the benefits system should look like. If you want to find out more and submit your own ideas then please visit www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2010/21st-century-welfare . The deadline for responding is 1st October 2010.
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Dying man deemed fit to work - an omen for incapacity benefit cuts?
A couple of years ago I went on a date with a guy who declared over dinner that:
"As long as you've got both legs there is no reason why anyone can't run the marathon".
Before we'd even chosen dessert, I realised this wasn't the man for me - he wasn't really going to 'get' the whole Cystic Fibrosis thing.
Yesterday the Government announced further measures against disability benefits, looking to cut back on those who receive Incapacity benefit, or the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) that has replaced it, and move them back into work. My concern is that those who reassess claimants may well turn out to be like my 'Marathon man' date - and just not get the huge impact hidden illnesses have on a person's everyday capacity to function. Lord knows, I never thought there would come a day when I looked at a single flight of stairs with such trepidation, but what is easy for the well person can literally feel like a mountain to climb for the ill.
The Citizens advice bureau released a report in March this year, outlining their concerns surrounding the ESA Work Capability Assessment that assesses what work new claimants of ESA can actually do. It found that a man with Parkinson's who couldn't stand for more than ten minutes, slurred his speech and has significant short-term memory loss was deemed able to work. A man who had incurable stomach and bowel cancer had been found fit to work as he'd mentioned in his medical that he does try to go for a short walk once a day. He successfully appealed the decision, but he should never have had to go through the stress of needing to do so in the first place.
Both these cases deal with 'hidden' disabilities, where the claimant has all their limbs and can move around, albeit with incredible discomfort. I've talked before about the ESA form in a previous blog, but its over-simplistic form and the short WCA medical assessment seem to place too much focus on whether someone's body can mechanically move, not asking questions on the time involved in medical routines (3-4 hours a day for me), extreme fatigue and pace of deterioration that's at the crux of most 'hidden' illnesses.
David Harker, Chief Executive at Citizens Advice said: "The current test to determine eligibility for ESA isn’t working. Seriously ill and disabled people are being severely let down by the crude approach of the Work Capability Assessment. A much more sophisticated approach is needed, that not only looks at a person’s ability to undertake a certain task on the day of the test, but considers supporting medical evidence and other aspects, such as the variability of a person’s condition and the external barriers they face in finding work."
A report by the Depart of Work and Pensions, found that over a two month period, 68 per cent of new claimants for ESA were found fit to work. Such a high percentage makes me fear that ESA is a benefit that the UK government (past and present) is increasingly loath to support.
Talking about the need to reduce Icapacity benefit in the drive to cut the UK's deficit, George Osbourne said: "It's a choice we all face. It is not a choice we can duck". I'd like to add nor should it be a choice between saving money and forcing seriously ill people back to work due to ill-thought through assessments.
"As long as you've got both legs there is no reason why anyone can't run the marathon".
Before we'd even chosen dessert, I realised this wasn't the man for me - he wasn't really going to 'get' the whole Cystic Fibrosis thing.
Yesterday the Government announced further measures against disability benefits, looking to cut back on those who receive Incapacity benefit, or the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) that has replaced it, and move them back into work. My concern is that those who reassess claimants may well turn out to be like my 'Marathon man' date - and just not get the huge impact hidden illnesses have on a person's everyday capacity to function. Lord knows, I never thought there would come a day when I looked at a single flight of stairs with such trepidation, but what is easy for the well person can literally feel like a mountain to climb for the ill.
The Citizens advice bureau released a report in March this year, outlining their concerns surrounding the ESA Work Capability Assessment that assesses what work new claimants of ESA can actually do. It found that a man with Parkinson's who couldn't stand for more than ten minutes, slurred his speech and has significant short-term memory loss was deemed able to work. A man who had incurable stomach and bowel cancer had been found fit to work as he'd mentioned in his medical that he does try to go for a short walk once a day. He successfully appealed the decision, but he should never have had to go through the stress of needing to do so in the first place.
Both these cases deal with 'hidden' disabilities, where the claimant has all their limbs and can move around, albeit with incredible discomfort. I've talked before about the ESA form in a previous blog, but its over-simplistic form and the short WCA medical assessment seem to place too much focus on whether someone's body can mechanically move, not asking questions on the time involved in medical routines (3-4 hours a day for me), extreme fatigue and pace of deterioration that's at the crux of most 'hidden' illnesses.
David Harker, Chief Executive at Citizens Advice said: "The current test to determine eligibility for ESA isn’t working. Seriously ill and disabled people are being severely let down by the crude approach of the Work Capability Assessment. A much more sophisticated approach is needed, that not only looks at a person’s ability to undertake a certain task on the day of the test, but considers supporting medical evidence and other aspects, such as the variability of a person’s condition and the external barriers they face in finding work."
A report by the Depart of Work and Pensions, found that over a two month period, 68 per cent of new claimants for ESA were found fit to work. Such a high percentage makes me fear that ESA is a benefit that the UK government (past and present) is increasingly loath to support.
Talking about the need to reduce Icapacity benefit in the drive to cut the UK's deficit, George Osbourne said: "It's a choice we all face. It is not a choice we can duck". I'd like to add nor should it be a choice between saving money and forcing seriously ill people back to work due to ill-thought through assessments.
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