700,000 Britions trapped in benefit backlog

The British government has admitted that hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in a benefits backlog, causing distress to vulnerable people.

British Minister for Disabled People Mike Penning told a parliamentary committee that over 700,000 people were waiting for assessments for employment and support allowance (ESA).

The ESA support is given, following assessment tests, to those who have limited work capability due to a disability or illness.

According to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the total backlog stood at 712,000 people. 394,000 of such people are new ESA claimants and another 234,000 of them are existing recipients who are to be reevaluated as to whether they are still entitled to the benefit.

The remaining 84,000 are people still on incapacity benefit, waiting to be moved over to ESA.

Penning blamed the backlog on failings with Atos, the contractor responsible for carrying out the controversial fit-to-work tests.

The tests have been criticized by members of parliament and campaigners as crude and inhumane. There has been mounting evidence that hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people have been wrongly judged to be fit for work and ineligible for government support.

High-profile cases include people who have reportedly been found by Atos fit to work despite having debilitating terminal cancer. There was even a case, in which Atos pursued a coma patient, wanting to assess her ability to work.

The fit-to-work tests were introduced in 2008 during the previous administration and this type of evaluation has been accelerated by Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government.