Petition by Citizens Advice
"Hi. My name is Gary and I’m supporting the
Citizens Advice campaign to make the Employment and Support Allowance
(ESA) fit for work.
"No one should be put in the same
position as me – where I was asked to give evidence to the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP) stating I was not fit for work while being
forced to apply for jobs that I knew I wasn’t able to do by another part
of the DWP.
"Please join me and sign their
petition calling on the Government to stop cutting off people’s benefits
who want to challenge a decision that they are fit for work."
It’s because of stories like Gary's that Citizens Advice launched the Fit for work campaign
asking the Government to make major reforms to Employment and Support
Allowance (ESA) – the benefit for people who cannot work because they
are sick or disabled.
A new process called ‘mandatory
reconsideration’ cuts off people’s disability benefit while the DWP
reconsiders their ESA application. This has led to cases where people
are being told by one part of the Government that they can’t claim ESA,
because they are fit enough to work, while another part of the
Government is telling them they can’t claim Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
because they are not fit for work. This has resulted in some people
having no money at all and led to many of the people we help to turn to
food banks to get by.
Anyone who does succeed in applying for JSA
will be given the same £71 a week they were being given under ESA. This
seems a ridiculous waste of time and money. We estimate that getting
people to apply for Jobseeker’s Allowance is wasting over £160 per
person in pointless administration.
Please support our petition calling on the
Government to put an end to this policy which is wasting taxpayers’
money while placing people in a ridiculous and unfair situation.
To find out more about the campaign, visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk/fitforwork
