Waiting list chaos hits back-to-work scheme

Monday 11 March 2013

THE Government's controversial scheme to get people off benefits and into work is "in chaos", with eight out of 10 applicants waiting almost three months to be assessed, opponents have warned.

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Michael Settle and Magnus Gardham

The Coalition has admitted 82% of claimants last year waited longer than its target of 13 weeks for checks on whether they should be allowed to continue receiving Employment and Support Allowance.

The figure is 15% higher than for 2011, and raises fears that the most vulnerable members of society, such as the sick and disabled, are suffering further stress from waiting for a decision on benefits.

In a parliamentary answer to Labour MP Tom Greatrex, Employment Minister Mark Hoban revealed that from January to August last year only 44,210 people were assessed within the 13-week period, compared with 196,050 who had to wait longer. The performance suggests that over the course of the full year around 260,000 people were not assessed within the target time. In 2011, 101,910 assessments were completed within 13 weeks, while 208,360 took longer, according to the new figures. Mr Greatrex, MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, said: "This system is in chaos and getting worse. Thousands of sick and disabled people are waiting months just to get an assessment, causing a lot of stress, anxiety and uncertainty." The fitness-to-work test was introduced in 2008 to assess a person's entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance. The operation of the system was criticised last month by the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which said the Coalition had to accept much of the blame for distressing and costly work capability tests. The tests, it said, had caused misery and hardship to thousands of claimants. MPs also noted that in "far too many cases" the fitness-to-work tests were wrong: 38% of decisions were overturned on appeal. The Department for Work and Pensions was criticised for its "complacency" and "reluctance to challenge" Atos Healthcare, which has a base in Glasgow from which it carries out many assessments in Scotland. Mr Hoban dismissed the report, stressing that it had failed to recognise the "considerable improvements" made to the Work Capability Assessment since the Coalition "inherited a system from the last Government that was not fit for purpose". Meanwhile Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour's welfare spokeswoman, accused the Scottish Government of doing too little on the Government's so-called bedroom tax ahead of a meeting on the issue it has set up. More than 30 organisations and campaigners are meeting in Glasgow today to consider the impact of the tax on tens of thousands of vulnerable Scots. Ms Baillie said: "The bedroom tax is now nearly upon us and so far the SNP Government has done little other than use this to engineer an argument about the constitution." The Scottish Government yesterday announced £2.5 million for housing associations to help them advise tenants losing housing benefit to the bedroom tax. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "We are continuing to consider all reasonable steps that we can take to mitigate welfare cuts, including the bedroom tax." Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith responded to a searing attack by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other English church leaders. A letter signed by 43 bishops and endorsed by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Dr John Sentamu, claims that capping benefit rises at 1% will have a "deeply disproportionate" effect on children. Mr Duncan Smith said: "This is about fairness. People who are paying taxes, working very hard, have hardly seen any increases in their salary and yet, under the last government, the welfare bill rose by some 60% to £200 billion."

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Waiting list chaos hits back-to-work scheme

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