Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a United Kingdom's welfare payment for adults who have difficulty finding work due to their medical condition or long-term disability. This is a basic income compensation benefit paid in lieu of wages.
ESA replaces three longer benefits: Incapacity Benefit; Revenue Support is paid for illness or disability; and Disability Weight Benefits. New Labor was ratified for ESA at the end of the Blair era and it became a major benefit for new claims during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The Conservative-Liberal Democratic Coalition is rapidly expanding its reach: ministers give the go-ahead for a reappraisal of ESA's long-term predecessor and transfers from those who are certainly not eligible to work for the ESA.
One of the key features of ESA is "requirements": some recipients must take part in "work-related activities" in return for their payments. Another key feature is that recipients may be checked repeatedly by government-approved nurses or other health professionals - a reflection of the policy belief that the health of many recipients will increase over time, either spontaneously or as a result of medical intervention.
ESA is accepted by over two million people. It has not achieved its objectives - despite the more stringent eligibility criteria, "requirements", and much of the medicines for the assigned recipients - to reduce the number of illness cases by one million by 2018.
Long-term Co-Prosperous Secretary of the Coalition, Iain Duncan Smith, has finally concluded that ESA is "fundamentally flawed". One of his successors, Damian Green, added that "it is useless" to repeatedly assess people with permanent disabilities. In 2016, the government publishes a Green Paper on the ESA revamp in the coming years.
Video Employment and Support Allowance
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No money paid for the first week. After that, the basic weekly allowance is Ã, Â £ 73.10 (lower base amount for claimants under 25). This can be increased, depending on the degree of disability.
* Only one of these components can be paid
Beginning April 2017, work related activity components are no longer available for new plaintiffs - or to reclaim, if more than a certain time has elapsed since the last ESA receipt period.
An increased disability premium of £ 15.90 per week can be paid to one person receiving ESA's revenue-related support components; for couples, the charge is  £ 22.85 in which one or both partners are eligible. In some circumstances, an additional weight loss premium of Ã, £ 62.45 a week may be paid. Who can claim?
A person may file a claim for ESA if they meet all of these conditions:
- They have the right record (previously known as "pain record")
- Their age is over sixteen
- They have not reached the State Retirement age
- They live in the United Kingdom
They will not be paid ESA if they are entitled to pay Statutory Sick Pay (this usually means "if they have a job", but there are exceptions) and it is not possible to receive ESA at the same time as other out-of-work benefits ie Jobseeker Benefits - received by 460,000 people - or Revenue Support, given to 600,000 people, currently mainly single parents. Universal Credits, received by more than 600,000 people nationwide, may contain analogous components with ESA.
ESA can be either a contribution or related to revenue . If the claimant has paid enough National Insurance they can claim ESA contributions up to one year if they get a work related component , or without limit if they get support components . ESA-related income is for people who have not paid sufficient National Insurance and are subject to tests of other specified means and conditions (although the amount paid as ESA-based contributions may also be affected by financial circumstances). ESAs related to revenue are not time constrained.
ESA-related income is typically not subject to Income Tax, but ESA-based contributions are. If a spouse or spouse also receives a work allowance, this may affect the rights.
Maps Employment and Support Allowance
Claim process
A person who wants to claim an ESA will require a medical certificate, that is a sick note, signed by their doctor to say they are not fully fit for work. The new plaintiff should then contact the Department of Employment and Pensions (DWP), usually by telephone, who will record their claims and usually post them a questionnaire to complete (except in rare circumstances where full assessment is not required, as when the doctor has officially stated that claimant likely to die within six months). The completed form should then be sent in an envelope given to Health Assessment Advisory Service - the trade name of the rating provider, Maximus.
Once someone has filed a claim for ESA, they will usually be paid ESA "rate of assessment" at the same rate (ie the Basic Benefit rate given above) they will be paid if they are on Jobseekers Allowance - except for the first week, which is paid because the DWP considers it "self-contained". At some point in this "assessment phase" - in theory, after thirteen weeks, but, since 2013, much longer - Work Capability Assessment will usually be undertaken to determine whether the plaintiff: a) meets the criteria for receiving a long-term ESA, or b) are not, in fact, eligible for ESA at all. Each assessment usually takes about an hour and costs DWP Ã, Â £ 190.
The ESA50 claim form, together with other information sent by the plaintiff, will be read in advance by qualified health professionals employed by an outsourcing company, who will then decide whether face-to-face medical assessment is necessary: ​​some people with severe disabilities can be given ESA based solely documents provided, if it is clear from the document. For this reason, Maximus encourages new complainants to submit as much relevant information as possible and provides a detailed description of their incompetence when filling out a claim form.
The claims process can be stressful for the claimant (see Work Capability Critique). Many complain that their mental health deteriorates as a result of claims.
Assessing the ability to work
The Department of Employment and Pension (DWP) contracts Atos to conduct core medical assessments, Work Capability Assessment (WCA), when introducing ESA. Maximus took over the contract - worth Ã, Â £ 170million a year to the US company - from Atos in March 2015. The WCA performance in 2010, 2011 and 2012 is reviewed by Professor Malcolm Harrington and in 2013 and 2014 by Dr. Paul Litchfield.
Assessment is often described as consisting of two separate assessments. In practice, if they have face-to-face assessments, individual plaintiffs will experience only one assessment on that day (decision-making is done thereafter). The two stages are:
- Assessment of "limited ability to work", which determines whether the plaintiff is entitled to ESA at all.
- An assessment of "limited ability for work-related activities", which tells DWP whether a person who has passed the first phase of testing can take part in "work-related activities". This also affects the level of ESAs paid to plaintiffs.
DWP officers make a final decision on the rights, based on all available evidence.
ESA terminology
ESA is often loosely but inaccurately described as for "unfit for work" people, while the official term "limited ability to work" is unclear in its meaning. In fact, people at ESA can and do take the right job when there is a chance, without their distractions to be improved - on paper, relatively few people who accept the ESA are unable to do any work.
There are two successful ESA-determining groups: Work Related Activity Groups and Support Groups. People in the Support Group tend to have more severe disruptions, they are classified as having "limited ability to work" and they are not required to prepare for work. The Work Activity Group contains people who also have "limited ability to work" because of their poor health, but they are required to participate in pre-work training because they are considered maybe to work in the future - specifically, in two years.
Limited ability to work
At their WCA, an ESA claimant must be found to have a "limited ability to work" to qualify. The testing process measures the ability of the plaintiff to perform up to 17 activities; this activity is set on the ESA claim form. For each activity, the plaintiff can score 15, 9, 6, or 0 points: the more severe the disability, the more points they will score. Points are assessed by having a physical, mental or a mixture of both (if they are likely to significantly influence the plaintiff's ability to work). In order to be eligible for an ESA, a person must score at least 15 points in total.
Other factors, such as some aspects of pregnancy, are also considered by assessors, who will be nurses, doctors, or physiotherapists; these factors do not operate on a point system but may still qualify the claimant for ESA.
It is about whether successful ESA prosecutors are able to take part in interviews and pre-employment training, or whether their ability to do so is limited to a significant degree.
Development of ESA
New Labor 1997-2001
In May 1997, Frank Field was made Minister of Welfare Reform. He approves the self-help principle through a reciprocal organization like a friendly society, he thinks the state should have only a small role to play in the provision of welfare, and he dislikes the means of testing and non-contribution rights. These ideas were inconsistent with the ideas of the new Chancellor, Gordon Brown, in particular, and Field minister's post was short-lived.
A Green Paper published in 1998 signifies the New Labor approach to off-the-job benefit reforms since: work is important and the government will encourage people to benefit from getting jobs, using carrots and sticks; the claimant's contribution is to try to find a job; and Non-Conformity Benefits will in part be tested, with the person receiving the employment pension experiencing a reduction in the amount of Income Not to Benefit they will receive.
New Labor 2001-2005
In 2001, on the first full day of Labor's second term in office, the Department of Social Security was merged with the Employment Department to form the Department of Employment and Pensions (DWP). The new department is beginning work to check the feasibility test for the benefits of the disease and expand its scope.
Changing Benefit imbalance
A new benefit is considered that will "accentuate the positive" rather than the primary recipient with a moderate disability to feel that they are permanently incapable. However, policymakers admit that some people are really unable to work so they need a new medical test, which will do more than just give "yes or no" answers to questions about sickness benefits. New tests need to do three things:
The belief in the DWP is that the new approach will not only limit the total number of sick people, as Incapacity Benefit should be done, but actively reduce it to a small group of people with severe disabilities and groups others who undergo a fixed-term pre-employment training.
The new policy is expected to achieve its objectives in four ways:
- New benefits will be more difficult to obtain, as the feasibility test will be more stringent
- All new recipients will be reassessed at appropriate intervals in the hope that the health of many will increase
- Successful complainants with mid-range handicaps are expected to prepare to return to the appropriate jobs
- Once the testing process has been completed, there will be a massive re-evaluation of the claims of two million recipients of Benefits of long-term disability, with the belief that many can actually work
Background trends
While the benefits of the new disease are still in the planning stage, the total caseload peaked in 2004. Since then, the background trend has gradually down .
The main reason for this trajectory change is demographics: in particular, the Second World War "baby boomers" on the benefits of illness began to pull their State Pension instead. Other specific reasons are: men suffering from industrial diseases, such as asbestosis and silicosis, caused by work in mines, shipyards and other hazardous environments, die prematurely; the eligibility criteria have become more stringent since 1995; and the economy is improving and creating more jobs.
"Thinking the unthinkable"
In February 2005, when other elections began to appear, the BBC analyzed New Labor's notes on welfare reform:
The unthinking thinking of the welfare state has been one of the New Labor mantras since before the party was elected in 1997. So it has disappointed many [...] on the Labor bench, eight years later, thought has still produced tangible results.
On the same day, Welfare Secretary Alan Johnson announced plans to replace Incapacity Benefit with two new benefits: "Disability and Sickness Allowance", for people who are considered too ill to work; and "Rehabilitation Support Allowance", are paid at the same rate as Workers' Benefits for the Underprivileged, which will be "supported" by the DWP back to work. In reality, there is no benefit to these names that have ever materialized, and the policy behind the "Rehabilitation Support Allowance" is still debated over a decade later.
Atos get a contract
In March 2005, there were signs of action on the ground: Atos was awarded a contract to work with DWP to build a software program to be used in the assessment of claims for benefits that would replace Unfair Disability. The company, which has already implemented an existing DWP disability assessment, will hire hundreds of healthcare professionals to conduct new tests after it airs - by the end of 2008.
New Workforce 2005-2010
This term of office is noted for the high turnover of Welfare Secretaries:
- David Blunkett: 6 months in post
- John Hutton: 20 months in post
- Peter Hain: 7 months in post
- James Purnell: 16 months in post
- Yvette Cooper: 11 months in post
In January 2006, John Hutton published the White Paper outlining the government's latest plan for welfare reform: benefits that will replace the Non-Effective Benefits will be called Employment Benefits and Support and "gate" assessments will be changed. For a decade, Hutton expects the number of people unable to earn a one-million-dollar allowance, saving  £ 7 billion annually.
The resulting Bill on Welfare Reform was introduced to Parliament for consideration in July 2006. On 3 May 2007, the bill received royal approval and a week later Tony Blair announced his decision to leave Downing Street.
Freud Report
Blair appoints David Freud, a former vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS, as an adviser on off-the-job benefit reforms in December 2006. Freud's 2007 report - dubbed "Freud's report" but officially titled Reducing dependence, increasing opportunities: options for the future of welfare for work - calling for greater use of private sector companies to be paid for by results, for substantial resources that will be available to help people in Incapacity Benefit return to work, and for payments of working age allowances single to replace the Housing Allowance, Jobseeker Allowance, etc. The main thesis is that spending on "delivery" - like a scheme to get people back to work - will save money in the long run because there will be fewer people paid money in the form of benefits. DWP coined the term Invest to Save to describe this idea and call it the "AME-DEL switch".
In July 2008, a Green Paper was published, which according to James Purnell "was inspired by the reforms proposed by David Freud". It states that "between 2009 and 2013, all Unqualified Beneficiaries will be re-assessed using a medical assessment called Work Capability Assessment" that will divide them into three groups: suitable for work; unfit for work but suitable for "work-related activities"; or not suitable for both. That same month, Professor Paul Gregg was asked by the DWP to undertake a feasibility study of "conditionality" - a mandatory quart quo - as it could be applied to the prosecution of the benefits of the disease. In response to Gregg Review, the DWP said that research has recommended that conditionality be applied to "the vast majority of people in the acceptance of Work Allowance and Support".
ESA introduces
In October 2008, ESA and its feasibility tests, Work Capability Assessment, were introduced for new claims. Disillusioned reformers found that the total number of people suffering from illness and incapacity to benefit rose, largely as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and increased background unemployment.
Plans are made to tighten the eligibility criteria further - something that will set up the Feasibility assessment program. Inability to return by two years. The Welfare Secretary writes that these changes and other planned changes will ensure that "only those who really can not work" will get a full ESA - other disease beneficiaries must adhere to the plans drawn up with DWP private partners to bring them back to work.
manifesto 2010
The Labor Party Manifesto, drafted by Ed Miliband and published before the 2010 election, states that if the Labor party wins:
More people with disabilities and health conditions will be helped to switch jobs from Benefit and Employment Benefits and Support Benefits, as we expand the use of tough but fair test work skills. This will help reduce the allowance bill by Ã, Â £ 1.5 billion over the next four years. We will review Claim Non-Claim claims totaling 1.5 million people by 2014, as we move those who can work on the job.
Coalition 2010-2015
In early 2011, the Disability Feasibility Assessment program was underway using a tighter version of WCA and the caseload fall trend continued - until mid-2013, when case loads began to grow again after new guidelines had to be issued on how to assess fitness for work.
By 2015, the picture is clear: in the absence of a large fall of the recipients prophesied by ESA architects, and in spite of the broad natural downward trend, the total burden of cases is slightly different from when ESA was introduced.
As a reflection of this ESA's failure to achieve its goal of shifting a large number of people from benefits and work, the cost to the Exchequer from off-job benefits benefits did not fall altogether after ESA was introduced: annual costs are now predicted to < i> to Ã, Â £ 14 billion or more in the course of 2016, mainly because more people than anticipated have logged into the Support Group - especially since the second half of 2013.
ESA "is basically flawed"
In January 2016, the Conservative Welfare Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, announced that the ESA was "fundamentally flawed" and stated that the new policy, which would bring almost all ESA recipients back to work, would be inaugurated in a few weeks. A clue as to what policies might be given in the detailed report on the ESA being published the following month by the Reformation, middle-right think-tank:
- Effectively, the ESA will be removed: the amount of money paid each week to the plaintiff will be reduced to the Job Allowance level
- The resulting savings will be hijacked back to Personal Independence Payments to balance ESA's decline
- The WCA may be substituted by another specified assessment to identify any obstacles to the work facing the plaintiff, but will not play a role in determining eligibility for benefits
- As a way to "push" the prosecutor to overcome the barrier, additional money may be available to fund a customized rehabilitation program - although participation in this case can be made into the terms of continued acceptance of the benefits.
In March 2016, Duncan Smith abruptly resigned after a clash with Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. In his letter of resignation, "IDS" complained that there was "insufficient awareness from the Ministry of Finance, in particular, that the Government's vision of a new welfare-to-work system can not be repeatedly sliced". Duncan Smith's successor, Stephen Crabb, stated that there would be no new welfare policy, other than those set forth in the 2015 Conservative Party manifesto, in terms of the parliament. In October 2016, Damian Green announced a consultation exercise to reform the WCA.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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