Only 5% of ESA claimants return to work

Only 5% of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) benefit recipients move back into work although the threat of sanctions is working, according to a government report.

It also revealed that those people who had assistance with appeals were more likely to have their decisions overturned.

The results suggested that the government's high profile work programme my face a tough time in getting people back into work.

And disability campaigners warned that the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) report ESA: findings from a follow-up survey of customers indicated future cuts to the benefit would hit claimants hard.

The DWP follow-up survey contacted 1,842 people between July and September who made an ESA claim between April and June 2009 and had initially been interviewed between December 2009 and February 2010.

The vast majority of those claimants in the work related activity group (WRAG) or support group (SG) at the original survey remained in this group, it found.

Only 15% of the WRAG and 10% of SG claimants left ESA between the two surveys.

Less than 5% of each group moved into work.

Where respondents had received representation they were more likely to have won their appeal (71% who received help won, compared to 40% who did not receive help).

Overall, 46% who appealed received a decision in their favour with 54% seeing the original DWP decision upheld.

It appears that sanctions (or the threat of them), such as removing or reducing benefits, is working as the report found that awareness of them was widespread, but knowledge of how they applied was not always accurate.

The majority (80%) felt sanctions made them more likely to attend work focused interviews, while 8% had actually been sanctioned for missing them.

Future employment prospects for ESA recipients did not appear high as almost half those in the SG (42%) thought they would be on the benefit indefinitely with a further third (32%) not knowing how long they would be on it.

For those in the WRAG the figures were 19% and 47% respectively.

These results were compounded by a third (34%) of those in the SG who did not expect to be working in six months, saying they never expected to work again.

Disability rights charity Disability Alliance said: "We welcome the publication of findings of the experiences of people receiving ESA and are keen to see more evidence of how DWP is supporting disabled people into work.

"Sadly, only 5% of ESA recipients moved into work according to these DWP findings; but the Government plans to cut access to ESA for some disabled people after one year from April 2012.

"With government job cuts likely to increase the number of disabled people seeking work and more than 10 people seeking every current vacancy employment prospects for disabled people look grim.

"We hope this DWP evidence will halt government plans to scrap access after one year for disabled people receiving contributions-based ESA in the Work-Related Activity Group," it added.