Support Allowance and back into work.
A fundamental shift in the UK state welfare system for sickness is the
change to the test for recieving medical benefits from what people can't
do to what people can do. I am unaware of the results of the change
however I assume it has been done to get people off the higher rate of
incapacity and onto the lower job seekers rate.
The higher rate of incapacity benefit isn't much. Its around £100 a
week. Its much more than the even smaller amount for job seekers which
is around £60 a week for a single person however there's a large drop in
real terms between poverty and extreme poverty. Its a situation that's
causing a lot of anxiety amongst people currently in receipt of medical
benefits.
I don't know enough about the test to criticise it however I suspect its
going to mean a lot of people who aren't ready to work will end up being
forced into poorly paid jobs with little control, job satisfaction and
challenge. There are many people who have a lot to offer or had until a
life crisis. Many people will be forced into menial, low paid jobs that
will be a detriment to their mental and physical health or face an even
worse impact from poverty when they had a high capability before
whatever life crisis resulted in a diagnosis of mental illness.
Its a loss to society as well. Employers value many things in the modern
age and there are many highly talented people who's careers have been
crippled through mental illness and the real problems that causes for a
person's career. Many don't 'flourish' as they should and while
remaining on benefits of any kind is not flourishing for many people the
pathway to reaching their potential should be the goal of the change in
the benefits system. Instead what is likely to happen is that people are
pushed into jobs where they do not flourish and are unhappy. Their
potential to contribute to GDP is lost if smart, talented people end up
working in call centres or stacking shelves in a supermarket.
Timescales for returning to benefits are important for those people
coming off benefits because the short few months between finding paid
work and the cessation of benefits could mean many people end up unwell
again and having to re-enter the system or work when they're not fit to
work. This means there will be a direct negative impact to many people's
mental health if they are not appropriately assessed and supported
throughout their return to work.
A friend of a friend who may have an exceptionally unusual experience of
consciousness recently brought this to my attention as a problem being
faced by many people in England. She wants to work and she is very
intelligent and capable, but severely disabled through the general
unacceptance of the symptoms of mental disorders in the workplace. Many
people like her will face the anguish of stigma and exclusion, sometimes
subtle and sometimes explicit, through this simple change that has not
been supported by a new system to support employers and encourage the
employment of the mentally ill as well as the employment antistigma
program required to change the real world problems people face in the
work place.
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