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Failed by the system

Macmillan Cancer Support and Citizens Advice have worked together to collate evidence demonstrating the key problems people with cancer are experiencing accessing ESA.

This report identifies three key ways in which the new ESA system is failing people with cancer:

• Terminally ill patients are not being fast tracked into the ESA support group and are being required to undergo the work capability assessment or attend work-focused interviews.
• Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy are being asked to attend a work capability assessment or work-focused interviews.
• The work capability assessment, which is used to determine if someone is eligible for ESA and should be taking part in work-related activity, is not sensitive to the problems faced by people with cancer.

You can view the full report from the Macmillan website link below.

Disability Alliance's response

DA is concerned that the Work Capability Assessment is not flexible enough to reflect the impact of people's impairments/health conditions. ESA should provide disabled people with higher levels of benefit and/or greater levels of support to find work. But too many disabled people are not accessing the support component of ESA or the work-related activity component.

More information

• macmillan website - report in pdf format

Note: for pdf files you will need to download adobe acrobat reader. To convert the pdf to alternative formats or for more information on accessibility go to access adobe.

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