Strict new benefit rules 'will drive mentally-ill people into poverty'

People with mental health problems will be driven into poverty by the introduction of a new benefit today, campaigners have warned.

Around half of applicants for the employment and support allowance are expected to be rejected because of much stricter rules, forcing thousands of people with mental health problems on to the much less generous job-seekers allowance, or into jobs they are unable to cope with and which could lead to a relapse in their conditions.

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Thousands more will face tough new sanctions on the benefit which replaces incapacity benefit, if they fail to attend regular work-based activities and interviews. This could lead to benefits being withdrawn completely.

Experts say this fails to take into account the erratic nature of mental illness and could leave sick people destitute.

Hundreds of thousands of people who have not worked for years because of long-standing problems will be forced to hunt for jobs as the new medical assessment is gradually rolled out to the 2.5 million currently on incapacity benefit, around 40 per cent of whom have mental health problems.

The Government wants to cut the number of disability claimants by one million by 2015, even if that means unemployment figures rise.

Sophie Corlett, the director of policy at the mental health charity Mind, said: "The new benefit is system driven, hugely bureaucratic and is too inflexible to deal with the range and complexities of fluctuating mental health problems. The tragic thing is that we know what works but they haven't had the courage of their convictions."

A new poll by Mind found one in four people had job offers withdrawn and nearly a third had been sacked after disclosing a mental illness.

Letter in response to this article from Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister for Disabled People

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