News / Huge backlog of fit-for-work assessments
WELL over one hundred islanders have been left in limbo “facing stress and anxiety” due to further delays in carrying out assessments to determine whether or not they are fit to work.
Karen Eunson, manager of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Lerwick branch, said 128 individuals were relying on the basic jobseekers’ allowance rate of £73.10 a week while waiting for an appointment.
There have been well-publicised difficulties nationally, with much-maligned private company ATOS last year resigning from its five-year, £400 million contract to conduct work capability assessments.
Its successor, a company called Maximus UK, had been due to visit Shetland for three weeks in June to carry out numerous employment support allowance (ESA) assessments but cancelled at the last minute.
“There is a big backlog in Shetland,” Eunson said, “due to assessments for work capability being cancelled at the last minute.
“The folk going for it are very stressed out about it and often will be vulnerable anyway.
“They [Maximus UK] had been due to come up for about three weeks in June, then they cancelled because they couldn’t get the doctors to carry out the assessments.
“They sent a nurse instead but there were IT problems when they were up, so basically it was pretty much all cancelled.”
She said that those found to be in need for reasons such as ill health or disability would be entitled to “various different premiums and things that are added on” to the basic £73.10 rate.
While claims can be backdated, Eunson said such individuals would in the meantime be left short of cash “so they are worse off”.
Maximus UK has pledged that it will send a doctor to the islands at the end of July, and Eunson said CAB was “awaiting to see whether that works”.
The fit-for-work assessments are one plank of the UK Government’s deeply controversial package of reforms and cuts to the welfare system.
Under the ATOS contract, one islander lost their benefits after the assessor was unable to reach Shetland due to the fog and they were marked as having “failed to attend” their appointment.
Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael said there had been problems with the assessments across the whole country, with places such as Shetland facing particular issues.
“This led to the previous contracted company resigning,” he said. “It is clear that the new company still struggles to meet its local needs in the isles.
“Some assessments can be done without face-to-face contact. It may be that unless they can clear this backlog then more cases will have to be dealt with in that way.”
A spokesman for Maximus UK’s centre for health and disability assessments told Shetland News: “We have organised for a doctor to be in Lorwick [sic] between 27 July and 31 August, during which time we hope to substantially reduce the backlog.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience these delays may have caused.”
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