NAWRA has submitted a response to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the errors made when incapacity benefit claimants who were migrated over to contributory ESA (cESA) were not assessed for income-related ESA (irESA). A big thank you to all those who took the time to respond to the survey in the very short timescale allowed. NAWRA has also been invited to give oral evidence to the Committee on Monday 21 May.
We have written to Damian Green MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to raise concerns about what we see as the DWPs failure to follow correct legal procedures on conversion of incapacity benefit claimants to employment and support allowance. The full text of our letter is reproduced below. “Our members have identified many former Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance claimants who have been migrated to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and only been awarded contributory ESA as the Department …
IB and ESA conversion – letter to Damian Green, MP Read more »
NAWRA welcomes the recent announcement from the new Secretary of State for Work & Pensions, Stephen Crabb MP, to abandon further cuts to PIP. NAWRA hopes that his promises not to seek “alternative offsetting savings” in this Parliament will also be honoured. Let us not forget however that according to recent research by the Centre for Welfare Reform, vulnerable and disabled citizens have been the “number one target for cuts”. Indeed the present and former Governments have already presided over …
These paragraphs from a submission made by the Secretary of State are a new indication of how the Secretary of State is attempting to meet the requirements as set out by the decision of IM v SSWP (ESA) [2014] UKUT 412 (AAC). The Secretary of State in the paragraphs 16 to 17 of this submission considers that the most demanding work-related activity would be a referral to Disability Action Dundee. The least demanding work-related activity everyday would be leaving the …
Eri Mountbatten writes: NAWRA members will be aware of prominent reports being published that have highlighted significant problems with the application and administration of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and by its contractors, most notably Atos. In July 2014, the Work and Pensions Select Committee published their report on the WCA and called for a “fundamental redesign of ESA”. Following that report, in August 2014, NAWRA published its own response to the …
