Launch of Employment and Support Allowance

Today sees the launch of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) which replaces Incapacity Benefit and Income Support, paid on incapacity grounds, for all new customers.

ESA provides the poorest, most disabled people in society with more financial support, while providing other disabled and long-term ill people, who could work, greater help to find employment.

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie said: “Evidence demonstrates a clear link between working and improved health. Employment and Support Allowance is a huge step forward in helping those that are currently unable to work to start back on the path to employment.

“We can provide for those who are able to take steps towards work, we can provide a greater degree of financial support, faster, for those that are too ill to do so.”

Evidence shows that the right type of work can be therapeutic for both mental and physical health problems. It can also help promote recovery, and even improve an individual’s condition. ESA builds on the successful ‘Pathways to Work’ programme, which has been fully rolled out in Northern Ireland as of April this year, and has helped more than 2,000 people into work.

ESA uses a similar support infrastructure to Pathways to Work. It provides customers with personal advisers, in-work support, and assistance in managing illness and disability issues through partnerships with healthcare professionals.

From today, all new claimants will undergo the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) – a new medical test designed to look at what people can do rather than what they cannot. ESA claimants will then be split into two groups, depending on the outcome of the assessment:

The “Work-related activity group”

Those claimants who pass the assessment and are identified as capable of taking part in some form of work-related activity will be entitled to claim ESA at a rate of £84.50 a week. They will be required to attend work-focused interviews through the pioneering Pathways to Work scheme, to help them overcome their barriers to work and support them into long-term sustainable employment.

The “Support Group”

Those identified as not able to take part in any work-related activity (the most severely disabled group) will not be expected to take part in work-focused activities unless they want to, but will not face any sanctions. We are targeting more resources to the poorest in this group with a guaranteed income of £102.10 a week (£17.60 more than the long-term rate of Incapacity Benefit), while everyone else in this category will receive a minimum of £89.50 a week.

ESA claimants who are assessed as being able to prepare for work, will be required to engage in a back to work programme and assigned a personal adviser who will help them overcome any specific barriers to work, including having a skills check and getting involved in work experience opportunities. People identified as being in the ‘support group’ can engage with these back to work programmes on a voluntary basis.

Notes to Editors:

1. From 27 October 2008 Employment and Support Allowance replaces Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds for new customers.
2. Existing Incapacity Benefit or Income Support customers will initially continue to receive their existing benefits, so long as they satisfy the entitlement conditions.
3. Employment and Support Allowance offers personalised support and financial help if people are not working due to an illness or disability. It gives people access to a specially trained personal adviser and a wide range of further services.
4. Central to Employment and Support Allowance are the new medical assessments which examine what people can do, rather than what they can’t, and identify what personal support they might need.
5. Most people claiming Employment and Support Allowance will be expected to take appropriate steps to help prepare for work, including attending a series of work-focused interviews with a personal adviser.
6. Under Employment and Support Allowance people with an illness or disability that means they are unable to undertake any form of work-related activity will get increased financial support and will not be expected to prepare for a return to work.
7. More information about the benefits of work for health can be found at www.workingforhealth.gov.uk
8. Media enquiries to DSD Press Office on 028 9082 9000. Out of Office hours contact the EIS Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715440.