Government plans to reform disability benefits expose vulnerable people with mental health issues to the risk of punishment and harm, a leading charity has warned.
Mind accused ministers of not properly consulting affected communities before announcing the decision to change benefits for people with disabilities or health conditions.
The mental health charity said the changes made “little sense” and warned that it was “extremely concerned about the safety and income of people with mental health issues” under the new system.
Last month, the Department of Work and Pensions released the long-awaited “White Paper on Health and Disability” outlining proposed disability pension reforms to be implemented in the coming years.
The changes will remove the disability assessment, a payment for people who are classified as disabled due to illness, and replace it with Personal Independence Allowance (PIP), which is currently used to decide how much daily support should be provided. needed by a disabled person.
There are concerns that the threshold for obtaining a PIP is more stringent and is usually applied to people who have difficulty walking or other mobility issues. As a result, someone who has difficulty working regularly due to a mental illness or other variable illness may not meet the benefit limit and be forced to apply or be reduced in penalties.
Vicki Nash, Mind’s associate director of policy and campaigns, warned that the proposals “risk of punishing many more people with mental health issues.”
She said I: “First of all, we fear that some people will miss out on this reform financially if they don’t get a PIP. And secondly, there is a risk that people who are not physically fit will have to engage in a job search or activity before employment, which can be very detrimental to recovery.”
“The WCA harms people with mental health issues and people are unlikely to miss the assessment itself. But this reform has not yet been processed by the DWP,” she said. “People directly affected by this system overhaul have not been consulted and cannot say how it will work.”
She added: “What we can say with certainty is that it doesn’t make much sense to replace the WCA with a potentially worse form of assessment, the PIP assessment. The PIP score itself is in dire need of reform and improvement before the outcome further determines the income of a person with a disability.”
A report released on Friday by the Commission on Work and Pensions says people undergoing a PIP assessment find it traumatic – some say it makes them suicidal.
It also concluded that the assessments were often incorrect and should be withdrawn, raising concerns that increased use of the system could lead to unfair sanctions against vulnerable people.
MEPs on the committee urged the government to increase transparency by automatically recording all assessments and assessing any proposed changes, taking into account the potential physical and psychological impact.
“Current proposals risk penalizing many more people with mental health issues as employment counselors can make job-related demands on anyone with an illness or disability,” Ms Nash added.
“DWP says performance coaches only make reasonable demands. But we often hear from people with mental health issues that job coaches don’t understand how their mental health affects them. We do not have confidence that coaches at work can make the right demands.
“There is no evidence that sanctions are effective – not even from DWP’s own research – and they can leave people in poverty. An unthinkable situation, especially in times of cost-of-living crisis. Therefore, we are very concerned about the safety and income of people with mental health problems in this new system.”
She added: “People with disabilities, including people with mental health issues, should not be subject to any conditions or sanctions. Sanctions, even the threat of sanctions, hurt people.”
Mind lobbied for the creation of a disability committee in government to work on changing the welfare system. The charity argues that those with first-hand experience with the system should lead reforms and improvements.
The government was asked to comment.
Source: I News
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