Atos: Charities call for change

Almost half of people with a progressive condition who put in a claim for Employment Support Allowance (ESA) have been told they will ‘recover’ enough to look for work in the future.


45% of people with the progressive conditions MS, cystic fibrosis, Parkinson’s and rheumatoid arthritis who put in an ESA claim in the last five years were placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) – meaning assessors believe they’ll be able to return to work at some point.

Seven out of 10 new claimants (70 per cent) with these conditions have also been reassessed two or more times on the same claim, causing unnecessary stress and anxiety for people who are already in poor health.

Call for change

The MS Society is today one of four charities calling for the Government to rethink the flawed assessment for the benefit, known as the Work Capability Assessment.

Claire Nurden, Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer at the MS Society, says:

“The benefits system was set up to support the most vulnerable in our society – but the current system is failing them.

“It is vital that the assessments for disability benefits properly take into account professional evidence about people’s conditions. If assessments conclude that a person will ‘get better’, then the evidence should be shown to prove it.”

A dossier has been sent to Dr Paul Litchfield, who is carrying out an independent review of the ESA assessment process. Download the dossier.


 MS Society