Government considers change to welfare system
Benefits claimants declared unfit for work because of mental ill-health will be offered treatment to get them back into work under pilot schemes being considered by the government.
The schemes will be part of the welfare system and will combine mental health treatments with employment support.
Mandatory assessments for physical ill-health were brought in under the government’s Work Capability Assessments (WCAs). Now the new pilots, to be announced soon, will start examining illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Treatments will be recommended but attendance will not be mandatory and the pilots have been designed by the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Government figures suggest that mental ill-health accounts for 46 per cent of claims paid out under Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which is the benefit paid to those too ill to work.
However, sources within the government told the Telegraph newspaper that ministers are considering a tougher approach to getting mentally ill claimants back to work by making treatment mandatory with the sanction of stopping benefits payments to those who refuse.
“We know that depression and anxiety are treatable conditions. Cognitive behavioural therapies work and they get people stable again but you can’t mandate people to take that treatment,” a senior government source told the Telegraph.
“But there are loads of people who claim ESA who undergo no treatment whatsoever. It is bizarre. This is a real problem because we want people to get better.
“These are areas we need to explore. The taxpayer has committed a lot of money but the idea was never to sustain them for years and years on benefit. We think it’s time for a rethink.
“At some point something has to be done. Right now it’s an open ended contract.”
But health minister Norman Lamb commented that mandating mental health treatment for claimants was "not a sensible idea".
"The idea that you frogmarch someone into therapy with the threat of a loss of benefits simply won't work," he said. "It is not a question of whether tough love is a good concept. You actually need someone to go into therapy willingly.”
WCAs have been previously criticised by human rights campaign groups for failing to assess physical conditions fairly or consistently raising questions over how well the new processes will work.
Only last month, Atos, the initial assessment provider of WCAs, warned that the next company to run physical assessments would struggle to find staff to manage the process after negative coverage in the press.