The DWP has hailed “landmark” new right to try legislation, which comes into force on 30 April, as having removed the fear of losing benefits if disabled claimants try work. But the details reveal that, in reality, the supposed guarantee is worthless and starting work can still trigger a reassessment.
The legislation inserts the words “doing work for payment or in expectation of payment, or doing voluntary work, is not a relevant change of circumstances” into parts of laws relating to reviews/reassessments for personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC) and employment and support allowance (ESA). (The new law does not apply to the 115,000 claimants aged 25-64 who are still in receipt of disability living allowance)
In a press release for what the DWP calls “landmark legislation”, disability minister Stephen Timms claims “Giving sick and disabled people legal protection to try work without fear is vital for their futures and for growing our economy. . . With 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term sickness, we’re removing the barriers that have held people back for too long.”
The truth, however, is very different.
In an explanatory memorandum to the Right To Try legislation, the DWP say that it is already the case that guidance to staff does not list starting work or voluntary work as being a reason for a reassessment or award review, but this is now being enshrined in law.
In other words, nothing about what the DWP is doing is changing.
Unfortunately, this includes the fact that while starting work will not automatically trigger a review, it will trigger one if the decision maker decides it should. As the memorandum goes on to explain:
“The Secretary of State retains discretion to reassess entitlement to one of these benefits for other reasons (for example, a change in condition, improvement in functional ability or suspected fraud) which could be indicated, for example, by undertaking work of a particular nature.
So, if “undertaking work of a particular nature” leads the DWP to suspect that there has been a change in your condition, an improvement in your functional ability or that you are a fraud then this can still lead to your award being looked at again.
It’s very hard to see how any disabled claimant would find this information so reassuring that they would attempt work “without fear”.
The Social Security Advisory Committee – members appointed by the DWP secretary of state, so definitely not a hotbed of radicals - made seven recommendations to improve the legislation so that disabled claimants would be genuinely reassured. These are detailed in the memorandum.
Perhaps the most important of these is that the DWP should be legally prevented from initiating a reassessment within six months of a claimant starting paid or voluntary work, unless there is suspicion of fraud.
The DWP say that they will “consider the proposal further and explore whether it can be incorporated into the future expansion of the Right to Try Work offer.” Which sounds very much like a polite way of saying “No chance!”.
SSAC also recommended that if a claimant has a scheduled reassessment within the first six months of starting work, any activities they undertake as part of that work should not be used as evidence of a sustained improvement in their capacity. The point being that a claimant may give up work again within the first six months because they discover that they simply cannot sustain the effort required. The DWP flatly rejected this.
These two proposals together, genuinely would go a long way to allowing claimants to try work “without fear”. The fact that neither will happen in the foreseeable future tells us everything we need to know.
Nothing has changed.
The Right To Try Work guarantee is worthless.
You can read the minutes of SSAC’s discussion with DWP officials about the Right To Try work.
Benefits and Work has updated our members’ guide to Permitted Work And Working While On Universal Credit Due To Sickness Or Disability, which also covers PIP and DLA.
