Employment Support Allowance

Transcription

1 Employment Support Allowance Report to the LEP Board, Friday, 9 th September, 2016 Report from Stephen Savage, ESB Chair 1. Summary 1.1 This paper focusses on the Humber s unemployment rates. The ESB uses a standard agenda item on the Humber employment statistics to discuss factors that are influencing the data and look at current interventions and support mechanisms. Gill Dillon, Partnership Manager, represents the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on the ESB. Gill is also a member of several working groups including Health, Springboard and is the chair of the 50+ group. 2. Recommendations 2.1 Board members to acknowledge this report. 3. Analysis on unemployment and Employment Support Allowance 3.1 The Humber s unemployment statistics has seen rapid improvement in the last five years with the rate falling from 5.4% to 2.5% overall i. This can be credited to a number of influencing factors including improved job opportunities, the rise of part time and zero hours contracts, additional job seeking support by a number of agencies and the raising of the participation age for young people ii. Whilst this is welcomed, during the same period, the proportion of the working age population of the Humber claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) has risen from 6.5% to 6.9%. 3.2 People registering for support can claim a number of benefits iii, main benefits summarised in the table below: Benefit Job Seeker s Allowance Employment Support Allowance Universal Credit Income Support Tax Credits Carer s Allowance Majority Client group People who are able and are actively looking for work People who are sick or disabled and not yet ready for work recorded in several stages in the graph on page 2 New benefit which replaces 6 benefits, paid to those who are out of work or on a low income. This initially is being paid to new claimants and/or single people but will expand to take over all other benefits. People who are carers, lone parents and top up for other qualifying benefits For low incomes and low income families For people who are caring for persons who qualify for disability benefits 1

2 3.3 DWP contractors undertake a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to determine to what extent the illness or disability affects the claimant s ability to work. The WCA process intends to evaluate objectively a person s capability for work so that appropriate support can be provided to help them back to work. The overall decision focuses on the claimant s functional capability rather than their diagnosis. However a significant proportion are assessed as not ready for work and alternatively fall into categories as demonstrated in Table 1 and Graph 1 below: Table 1 Claimant count by local area and type of benefit Job Seeker s ESA & Incapacity Income Support Allowance (JSA)& Universal Credit (UC)(not in employment) Benefits East Riding of 2,535 9,820 2,220 Yorkshire Kingston upon 6,330 15,980 5,180 Hull North East 3,230 7,390 2,940 Lincolnshire North 2,450 6,230 1,890 Lincolnshire Humber LEP 14,545 39,430 12,230 2

3 3.4 Graph 2 above shows the proportions of claimants as a percentage of local area working populations that are claiming ESA / Incapacity Benefits; regional and national figures are included for comparison purposes. The range of health conditions vary from area to area with the largest proportion of claimants being assessed as those with mental and behavioural disorders and those with diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (bad backs for example); a further detailed analysis is provided in Graph 3 below. 3.5 Graph 4 below provides a further analysis of claimants by age band; this highlights the highest proportion in the 45 and over age groups. Graph 5 shows the volumes of claimants by the length of time that people have been claiming ESA and incapacity benefits; the most significant volume being those with claims over five years. 3

4 3.6 Following the WCA, the ESA claimant is placed in one of 2 groups: Work-related activity group, where the claimant will have regular interviews with an adviser. This is to ensure that ESA claimants are aware of their requirement to do everything reasonable to find or prepare for work. Support group, where they don t have interviews, but support can be accessed on a voluntary basis. 3.7 There is currently a 34.8% employment rate gap between disabled people and non-disabled people. The Government has committed to halving this gap; nationally this would mean one million more disabled people in work. DWP are working with employers to: engage and encourage them to become more confident so they employ and retain disabled people and those with long term health conditions increase understanding of disability and the benefits of employing or retaining disabled people 4

5 ensure disabled people have opportunities to fulfill their potential and realise their aspirations make a substantial contribution to halving the disability employment gap Find out more about the: Disability Confident campaign 3.8 An example of case studies are attached to this report in appendix one for the Board s information. Report written / prepared by Teresa Chalmers Executive Director Employment and Skills; Peter Harrison Employment and Skills Manager; Gill Dillon Employment and Partnership Manager, DWP 15 th August 2016 i ONS Claimant Count - ii Raising Participation Age - iii Summary of benefits available - 5