Zoe Hazel last worked more than 10 years ago, in the insurance company in the user service, where the stress of permanent supervision and goals of guided by sales contributed to her descending spiral into the crisis of deep mental health.
Now, after struggling with strong anxiety, depression and borderline personality disorder for years, the 34-year-old from Kent has put her life more stable and wants to work. But she is terrified that if she says, she could lose the benefits she relies on the rent and be forced to compete with better qualified jobs for a job she might be able to keep.
“I’m just thinking about thinking about it,” she said. “I have no interest to stay in the benefits for the rest of my life, I come from a very working family.. But tomorrow I couldn’t start my job. I can’t say if I will fail – I will only know if I try. I can’t take that risk.”
The UK ministers say that people like Hazel are the ones who want to help most, reforms to the social welfare system, which has left about 3.5 million adult adults trapped for health benefits, nor the financial incentive, nor the practical support they need to work.
People who have spent a long time out of work forces while receiving compensation for illness and disability, have proven very unlikely to return. But with a welfare account related to health, by the end of the decade reaches £ 100 billion per year, the government considers it key to reverse this trend – Especially for young people near the beginning of their careers.
“Earth cannot afford the level of resources, but we can also not afford the loss of the talent of the people representing,” Employment Minister Alison McGovern said the Financial Times earlier this month.
The plans should be Place in green paper With the work and pensions of secretary Liz Kendall this week, two problems that led to a growing number will be solved to seek benefits associated with health and lower them.
One is a perverse set of incentives embedded in the current system. The UK is one of the least generous countries in the world for people receiving basic unemployed compensation – which are worth less than 40 percent of average earnings and intense job hunting.
People estimated that they were too sick to work or seek a job, receive a much higher support rate through the benefits of incompetence, which are not attached wires. Currently, those who “pass” this test rarely estimate that they see if their condition has improved or even contacted Jobcentre officials.
Theoretically, someone in the Hazel position could start operating without loss of benefit from the benefit, according to Anna Stevenson, a senior benefits expert in benefits in a charity Turn2us. But in practice, even in small hours, the role with low stress can be considered as evidence of recovery by the assessor.
“People are terrified that they get a brown envelope saying” Your uses are evaluated. ”
This worsens the second set of problems: unlike without job benefits, who have to meet with work coaches regularly, people who receive fees for incompetence who want to do almost no support to do so.
Officials say the government reforms will focus on measures Improve aid assistance in offer and to encourage long-term fees for the applicants to deal with the imposition of criminal conditions.
However, intense pressure on public finances in the UK means that ministers also intend to make great short-term consumption reductions in benefits and will have limited support resources.
Labor officials say ministers look at up to £ 6 billion from annual costs of personal independent payments – the main disability benefits – by the end of the decade. On top of that, Deep cuts in favor of incompetence A minor elevation in the basic rate of benefits without a job could be funded – a reduction in currently distorted incentives, but a strong hitting of some people.
“I use the benefits to come up with the quality of life that other people take for granted,” said Alicia Cartwright, who raised two children while managing a bipolar disorder.
She worked more than 50 hours a week at a care home when she was first hospitalized. Since then, she has continued to work on a part-time administrative job from her home in Preston-Ali revealed that every attempt to return to a full-time work has been encouraged by a dangerous relapse.
Charity organizations and Think-ttaks are afraid that reforms will further damages the confidence in the system, without breaking the obstacles to work that Cartwright are facing and many others are waiting for treatment, the need to renovate skills and confidence and lack of local employers who offer flexible or distant work.
“The reduction of the revenue of people in this situation will not be able to achieve sustainable savings,” said Tom Pollard, head of social policy in the new economy foundation. He also changes as a social worker of mental health and he heard that calls for the NHS crisis pass from people who are worried that they will lose their benefits soon.
The reduction of paying personal independence (PIP), which have not been tested and need to reflect additional living costs with a health condition, would be particularly controversial.
Pip was “that solid thing you can rely on – really helps when your life is up and down,” said Cartwright, who can’t drive because of his bipolar disorder, and uses money to pay taxis when he can’t handle public transport and practical food when he can’t cook.
However, there is a wide support for the goal of supporting people to work that would increase their mental health as well as their income.
But Stevenson warned on Turn2us to “the assumption that if you take away money, it puts them into business,” adding that the real problem was a lack of flexible jobs.
Hazel is suspicious that the Government’s promise to “adapted and personalized” support of a working coach, announced last week, will be more than help in the preparation of the CV interview. “If you’ve been out of work for a decade, you need a lot more,” she said. “I have no qualifications, the experience that employers are looking for.”
Cartwright, meanwhile, worries that a decrease in benefits will force her to work excessively, with the risk of starting high relapse. “If they decide what to do a good day, what I can do every day, I’ll lose a huge piece of revenue,” she said. “I’m a good worker when I work. I can’t do too much. “
Amy Borrett data visualization
