Deputy Sam Mezec has condemned moves that start today to force more claimants on Long Term Incapacity Allowance to get a job or start looking for one, or face losing their Income Support benefits.
And he says that it is morally wrong to force people with long-term health issues to seek work without the protection of disability discrimination legislation – especially when it is already difficult for able-bodied people to find work.
He said: “I am aware of one Islander who had to go to A&E to get sectioned because they were worried about committing suicide over the threat to go to look for work.
“The basic worry is that the detail that we have seen so far does not explain what, if anything, will be done to protect what will be vulnerable people. Illness affects people in different ways: people can get better and people can get worse. This arbitrary approach does not take into account peoples’ needs.”
The change that starts today affects two separate benefits: Long-Term Incapacity Allowance (LTIA) and Income Support are separate benefits.
LTIA is a health-based payment that is based just on a clinical assessment of the claimant’s mental or physical condition and how much it impairs them, not their ability to work; while Income Support is a benefit for Islanders that provides financial support towards the cost of living for people trying to find work, those who have a good reason why they can’t get a job or those on low paid jobs.
Claimants who get assessed as having their faculties impaired up to a level of 30% have always been expected to have a job or look for work if they want to get Income Support, just like everyone else, but those above that threshold have not been expected to find a job.
From today, the estimated 100 claimants whose impairment is assessed as between 30% and 35% will also have to get a job or prove they are trying to find one – and the department is aiming to increase that threshold to 50% by the end of 2016, which will affect around 350 people.
