Employment Support Allowance assessments investigated

A BBC Scotland investigation finds that tens of thousands of claimants who are genuinely sick or disabled may have been refused the new Employment Support Allowance. BBC Scotland investigations correspondent Mark Daly has been examining how the system works in practice.

It was heralded by government in 2008 as the answer to the nation's sick note mentality. Employment Support Allowance was brought in to replace the creaking incapacity benefit system and was designed to help a million people back into employment.

The tough new medical assessment would tackle the something for nothing culture: weeding out cheats and scroungers, whilst those who really needed help, would receive it. But fast forward just a year and a half, and there are calls for the planned roll-out of ESA to be shelved. For the past three months, BBC Scotland has been investigating allegations that tens of thousands of genuinely sick or disabled people have been denied the benefits they're entitled to.

One of the first people I met was David McNeish, 34, from South Queensferry. He'd been a successful political lobbyist. But last year, his life began to crumble under the strain. A bout of depression escalated and he was diagnosed with acute psychosis, and assessed as a danger to himself and others. He said: "It was kind of like a car crash, to be honest - it just came out of the blue. From me going from being, you know, a very capable, very competent person to suddenly seeing things that weren't there, hearing voices, not really being able to function properly at all."

David applied for ESA, and was sent for the medical, known as the Work Capability Assessment, which is designed to assess what a claimant can do, as opposed to what they can't. ESA is based on a points system where claimants must score 15 or more to be able to get this. It is divided into three groups:

•The support group, which means you are so ill you are unlikely to be able to work - which pays almost £97 a week

•The work-related activity group, which means you have the potential to work and will get support back into employment, and this pays £91 a week

•Fit for work category, which means you are not entitled to ESA and must find a job, or apply for jobseekers allowance, which pays £65 a week.

David was confident that after providing evidence of his mental health problems, he would qualify, and was shocked to find he hadn't.

He said: "It was a real shock when we got the letter through to say that I'd been assessed as fit to work, and it was even more of a shock to find out that we'd been awarded zero points, which just seemed completely inconceivable, given what was going on. I've been working all my life, I've never not been working, and I felt I needed a lot of help for a short period of time, and I didn't get it. And what I did get, I had to fight for."

I went to meet Dr Chris Johnstone, a GP from Paisley who'd piloted a back to work scheme at his practice. He agrees with the principle of ESA, but has serious concerns about the medical. He said: "The problem that the patients are reporting back to me appears to be that the medicals don't appear to be thorough. They don't appear to cover the areas that the patients want to talk about, often mental health problems, and a lot of people who I would have thought are clearly unfit for work, or possibly suitable for further training, are just being deemed fit for work."

The medical was always anticipated to be much tougher than under the previous incapacity benefit regime but the reality has taken even the government by surprise and has found more than two-thirds of sickness claimants fit for work. That's almost 20% more than the DWP had anticipated. And this has been reflected in the number of appeals.

Our Freedom of Information request revealed that ESA appeals are running at about 8,000 hearings a month, which is double the number of the next most commonly appealed benefit, Disability Living Allowance. About 40% of those ESA claimants who do appeal have their decisions reversed.

Professor Paul Gregg was commissioned by the government to design a key element of ESA, the part which provides support for people back into the workplace, and he has serious concerns. He said: "I think the DWP are surprised at how few people are passing this new test and moving onto ESA. I'm concerned in a sense that too many of the people who the system I was designing for are not entering that space and potentially not benefiting from it."

Comment received from Jo from Feltham Middlesex:-

"I have just received a letter stating that I 'am fit for work' I was made redundant from my job as Design Manager - having been off sick for 8 months after an episode of Central Nervous system disease - I had a

lesion on my spinal cord. I was also diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis last year. Although the lesion is healing I'm told the symptoms can take another year (if ever) to heal. I have constant and chronic pain via the arthritis - some days I can function and others I cannot. I have a long history of depression which I had overcome until this all happened. I lost my medical insurance after redundancy and am now seeing a new

Rheumatologist that has wiped all my diagnoses until he receives letters and new tests. I foolishly tried to explain this to the doctor during the assessment - he had no idea about CNS disease - and kept cutting me off.

I am going to lose the home I have worked so hard for and now I have been told that I am 'fit for work'. I am so upset and scared about my future - there is a strong possibility that I will get worse over the years and I

have lost all faith in this country - having paid taxes for 20 years - now I am need - I have been told effectively 'that I am trying it on' I showed them letters from my neurologist and rheumatologist and a carrier

bag full of medication. I was told to forgo the physical during the assessment as I was obviously in pain. I should have insisted as my instinct was that the doctor was merely trying to save time.

I have no idea how to go bout appealing - as I was honest and cannot understand how I received no points for my physical abilities. If anyone has been through it and could help I would really appreciate any help."