Scope comment: New DWP figures on Employment Support Allowance

New figures from the Department of Work and Pensions released today show that three-quarters of applicants for Employment Support Allowance (ESA) are being found fit for work, or are stopping their claim before their assessment period has been completed. Commenting on the figures, Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity Scope, said:

"The Government's approach on reassessing benefits seems to to be based purely on cutting benefits, rather than supporting disabled people into meaningful, sustainable employment.

"The proportion of people deemed fit to work by the Government is very high. Given the unreliability of the medical tests used for reassessing people for Employment Support Allowance and the problems many disabled people have encountered with these, we would question whether this is indeed the case.  

"We know of disabled people who have been deemed unfit to work by their GP while medical tests for ESA have shown exactly the opposite."