Employment benefit test finds two thirds of claimants fit for work

Controversy surrounds new testing system which union says is discriminatory towards disabled people David Cameron on Tuesday hailed official figures showing more than two thirds of those seeking to claim employment support allowance, the chief out-of-work benefit for the disabled, are found to be fit for work, or drop their claim before taking the government’s fitness-for-work test. Cameron stopped short of calling the claimants work-shy, but said those capable of work, should work. The figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions are the latest set of statistics released by ministers on the impact of the new work-capability assessment (WCA), designed to find out whether those tested are fit for work, capable of some work with help, or entirely unfit for work. The figures are, however, generating controversy as some claim the company overseeing the tests, ATOS, is driving people into work. on Tuesday Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, attacked the policy saying the government was making the tests harder to save money “by excluding more people”. The latest data shows only one in 14 people assessed for the new incapacity benefit (7%) are deemed too ill to do any work, and so are entitled to claim the full benefit in the long term. A total of 39% of claimants are deemed entirely fit to work, while a further 17% can do some work with help and support. More than a third drop their application before the test, sometimes because they have found work. The figures cover potential new claimants between October 2008 and November 2010 and the results are broadly in line with an earlier set of numbers published by the DWP in April. The numbers are, however, totally out of line with government predictions, which had predicted 65% would be deemed capable of some work and only 15% fit for work. Ministers admit they are concerned by the numbers dropping out before taking a test. The figures cover new claimants, and not the stock of existing claimants that have mainly been switched from Incapacity Benefit to ESA. In total there are 2.5 million IB or ESA claimants, and ministers have only just started requiring 1.5 million long-standing IB claimants to take the work-capability test. Trials began in Burnley and Aberdeen of existing claimants from October 2010 prior to turning the scheme nationwide in April. Initial figures from the pilots suggested 29.6% were fit for work and 39% were capable of some work with help. In a visit designed to coincide with the figures, and the growth statistics, Cameron said: “For too long in this country we have left people on welfare for year after year when those people, with help and with assistance, could work, and so we’re producing a much better system where we really put people through their paces and say that if you can work, you should work. “We’ll be there to help you with the training and the skills, but what we are finding, and the figures show today, is that only one in four of the people who apply for the new benefit are actually found to be unable to work. “The rest are able to work and we’re going to help them to get jobs. That will be good for them, good for their families and good for our economy.” The figures are published quarterly and have been published only for a year. Ministers have already accepted that the WCA has been flawed. The work and pensions minister, Steve Webb, said: “These figures show that many people are able to work with the right help. We have strengthened the support now available, tailoring it to individual needs so they can overcome whatever barriers they face.” Compared to the general population, people claiming ESA are disproportionately male. Almost two-thirds (65%) of those claiming are men; older (with an average age of 43); more likely to live in social housing – 35% are owner-occupiers, compared with 68% for the UK as a whole; and more likely to be single or a lone parent. The TUC’s Barber attacked the figures saying: “The new incapacity benefit assessment is a much tougher test than previously and is designed to save the government money by excluding more

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