New report shows serious flaws in the Government's welfare reforms
13 January 2012
This letter from Sense was published in The Guardian today in response to an article about a Citizens Advice report on ESA work capability assessments.
Yet another report shows serious flaws in this Government’s welfare reforms. Your coverage today, 'Inaccuracies dog ‘fit to work’ test', again highlights significant problems in the way disabled people are assessed for benefits, benefits they need to maintain their independence and quality of life.
Non-specialist assessors have been shown time and time again to lack skills necessary to correctly assess barriers disabled people face, particularly those with complex conditions such as deafblindness.
Mistakes made in the flawed Employment and Support Allowance assessment you reported today are at risk of being repeated for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Test assessments for PIP undertaken last summer with deafblind people were found to be inconsistent, stressful and included unacceptable practices by assessors. For example, medical assessors performed rudimentary visual tests, without acknowledging a deafblind person’s hearing impairment and the compounding impact of both sight and hearing loss. In addition, a deafblind man was asked to copy the assessor’s movements – which he could not see.
We call on this Government and the companies undertaking the assessments to ensure the welfare system works and that these mistakes are not repeated.
Yours sincerely
Sue Brown,
Head of Public Policy, Sense