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Employment Support Allowance: Benefits re-test for chronically ill to be axed Employment and Support Allowance: Re-tests axed for chronically ill claimants
(about 5 hours later)
Sickness benefits claimants will no longer have to go through reassessments to keep their payments if they suffer from chronic illnesses, the work and pensions secretary is to announce. Tens of thousands of people claiming the main benefit for long-term sickness will no longer face repeated medical assessments to keep their payments.
The Employment Support Allowance (ESA) will continue automatically for those who have life-long, severe health conditions, Damian Green said. Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green said it was "pointless" to retest recipients of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) with severe conditions and no prospect of getting better.
He said it will help end the anxiety that claimants may have felt. More than two million people receive ESA, which is worth up to £109 a week.
The reform will be unveiled at the Conservative Party conference. Some are retested every three months and others up to two years later.
The four-day gathering begins in Birmingham on Sunday. The reform will be unveiled at the four-day Conservative Party conference, which begins in Birmingham on Sunday.
'Unnecessary stress''Unnecessary stress'
Applicants for ESA have to undergo a work capability assessment to find out if they are eligible and they are re-tested to ensure their condition has not changed - some after three months and others up to two years later. Applicants for ESA have to undergo a work capability assessment to find out if they are eligible and they are re-tested to ensure their condition has not changed.
Illnesses such as severe Huntingdon's, autism or a congenital heart condition, are among those that are likely to qualify for continuous payments without reassessment. The criteria will be drawn up with health professionals. Illnesses such as severe Huntingdon's, autism or a congenital heart condition are among those that are likely to qualify for continuous payments without reassessment. The criteria will be drawn up with health professionals.
Mr Green said a "key part" of making sure those who are unable to work receive "full and proper support" includes "sweeping away any unnecessary stress and bureaucracy".Mr Green said a "key part" of making sure those who are unable to work receive "full and proper support" includes "sweeping away any unnecessary stress and bureaucracy".
"If someone has a disease which can only get worse then it doesn't make sense to ask them to turn up for repeated appointments," he said. Case study
"If their condition is not going to improve, it is not right to ask them to be tested time after time. So we will stop it." Andrew Grantham has claimed ESA for seven years and told the BBC having to be reassessed was frustrating and annoying.
BBC social affairs correspondent Michael Buchanan said the move is likely to benefit tens of thousands of people. "I've had MS since 2006... it's chronic, fluctuating and the only guaranteed thing about it is that it will get worse.
But ministers remain committed to a cut to be introduced next April in the amount of money that new recipients of one type of ESA will receive, our correspondent added. "I've had three assessments and I will have one next year. The first time I was found fit for work and I had to go to a tribunal.
"The other two assessments I had some really good medical evidence from my dedicated nurse and I was found not fit for work.
"These assessments are stressful for people because they don't know which way it is going to go. There is also a chance that you lose your financial security and you are told that you are fit for work and you have to look for work."
Mr Green told the BBC: "Having looked at the whole system there is some activity we do that is just pointless.
"If you have got a condition that has made you unfit for work and which can only stay the same or get worse, I think it is just pointless... to just bring someone back again.
"It's the severity of the condition that matters, because indeed there are some people with MS... that can work, but we know that it's a degenerative disease so there will come a point when it may well be that they can't work.
"After that it seems to me that retesting and reassessing them doesn't do them any good - it might induce anxiety and stress in them - and it is also not doing the system any good because it is pointless."
Currently, those in the "work-related activity group" - deemed unable to work at the moment but capable of making some effort to find employment - receive up to £102.15 a week in ESA payments, while those in the "support group" receive up to £109.30 a week.
However, ministers remain committed to a cut to be introduced next April in the amount of money that some new recipients of ESA will receive, BBC social affairs correspondent Michael Buchanan says.
'Fear of employment'
From April 2017, payments will fall to £73 for new claimants in the "work-related activity" category as ministers argue that too few people in the category are moving into work.
Keran Bunker, a current ESA claimant who is on the autistic spectrum and has ADHD, told the BBC that the change would make people "fear trying to find employment".
Mr Bunker said he would fear losing out if he took a job which he later might lose because of health issues, returning to the lower level of benefit.