New benefit system for disabled people 'wrongly finding people fit for work'
The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday 26 May 2010 reported on problems administering the new Employment Support Allowance (ESA). One of the architects of a new benefit system for disabled people has urged the Government to delay rolling it out after evidence that medical tests are wrongly finding thousands of people fit for work.
More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of people applying for ESA are being rejected on the grounds that their disability does not prevent them from working, a BBC investigation revealed.
The figure is almost 20 per cent more than predicted by the Government when it launched ESA to replace Incapacity Benefit 18 months ago. Read the full story here.
Posted: Thursday 27 May 2010