Within this headline figure are 319,000 UC health claimants and 154,000 ESA claimants who have all been assessed as too ill or disabled to engage in “work-related activity”, let alone undertake paid work. The other 111,000 are required to engage in work-related activity as a first step to returning to employment.
Together, they comprise almost one in five of the roughly 3.1 million claimants of ESA or UC health, and nearly a quarter of all ESA and UC health claimants who have tried to claim the PIP daily living payment.
The government has not decided whether these claimants would be protected from losing their benefits if the WCA is abolished, or whether they could lose their benefits if they are reassessed under the post-WCA system – effectively the PIP daily living assessment. The DWP told Big Issue “we are considering how the changes… could affect them and are currently looking at how best to protect these people in the reformed system”.
If they aren’t protected, they would be at risk of losing their ESA or UC health benefits when their claims are reassessed following the abolition of the WCA. If they don’t qualify for the PIP mobility payment, they could be left without any disability benefits at all.
But even if existing claimants are protected from losing out under a new system, the figures give an idea of the proportion of future applicants for disability benefit who, despite qualifying under the current system, would instead miss out.
If the proposals pass through parliament, the WCA would probably be scrapped towards the end of this decade.
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“The numbers released in response to this FOI show that a significant percentage of UC health recipients would be at risk of losing their payments under the government’s proposal to use the PIP assessment as a gateway to UC health,” said Julia Modern, senior policy and campaigns manager at disabled people’s organisation Inclusion London.
“PIP and UC have different assessment processes for a reason – they provide support for different kinds of needs. PIP supports people to cover the additional costs that come with living with disability (for example, paying for care, mobility devices, or additional energy use), while UC health provides basic income support for people who cannot work because of an impairment or health condition. It is quite possible for someone to need support with one of these areas but not the other.
“If a single assessment is to be developed, it will need radical change from the current PIP assessment, which does not aim to measure capacity to work. It was obvious to disabled people from the outset that simply replacing the WCA with the PIP assessment could never work. This nonsensical proposal is exactly what happens when policy is made without the input of people with lived experience of the issues.
“We believe it is crucial that any new single assessment process can distinguish between different types of need and award the right combination of support that each individual needs, rather than forcing assessors to award both or neither.”
On top of the 584,000 claimants who were turned down for the PIP daily living payment, LurgeeLiz has calculated from DWP data that around half a million ESA/UC health claimants have never applied for PIP – it is unknown how many of these don’t meet the criteria for the daily living component, putting them at risk from the abolition of the WCA.
The picture is further complicated by the Timms Review. This is the review of the PIP assessment that is being led by DWP minister Sir Stephen Timms, which could change the PIP assessment criteria in time for the scrapping of the WCA. If the criteria is changed, then some of those who currently don’t qualify for the PIP daily living component could then do so – while others who do currently qualify could fall foul of the changes.
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A coalition of charities last week wrote to the DWP urging it to make good on its promises that the review of the PIP assessment – led by DWP minister Sir Stephen Timms – will be “co-produced” with disabled people and representative organisations.
But however the PIP daily living assessment is eventually redesigned – and there has been nothing to suggest the government wants to make it easier to claim, with the attendant rise in spending – those ESA/UC health applicants who fail to qualify under the post-reform system would not only miss out on the extra benefit income, but would also be exposed to the DWP’s conditionality and sanctions regime for able-bodied jobseekers.
“Another disastrous consequence of failing to qualify for DL [daily living] PIP under the newly proposed system will be the requirement to engage in intensive job-seeking activities and the conditionality that comes with that commitment,” LurgeeLiz wrote after receiving the DWP’s figures. “The threat and application of sanctions looms large for standard UC claimants.”
Currently all ESA/UC health claimants are exempt from being forced to look for work and are protected from sanctions if they fail to do so.
“So these types of claimants will go from being classified, following rigorous assessment, as too unwell or disabled to engage in intensive work activity to being classified as fit for work,” she added.
She also warned that the bulk of ESA/UC health claimants whose claims are based on the “substantial risk” rules could be among the cohort who failed to qualify for the PIP daily living payment. The substantial risk rules qualifies people for ESA/UC health if their mental or physical health would otherwise be put at substantial risk – meaning they would be exposed to the PIP assessment, which doesn’t have any similar provision. The government has not clarified what will happen to the substantial risk rules if the WCA is scrapped.
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A DWP spokesperson said: “We’re committed to abolishing the work capability assessment and reforming the system that tells people they either can or can’t work.
“We’re also fixing the broken welfare system so it genuinely supports those who can work into employment, backed by £3.8 billion investment in employment support over this parliament, while ensuring there is always a safety net for the most vulnerable.
“We have also announced a ministerial review of the PIP assessment process – which puts disabled people at its heart – to make sure it is fit and fair for the future, and will work with disabled people and key organisations representing them to consider how best to do this.”
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