As part of our policy and campaigning work on the proposed changes to the welfare and benefits system, we, along with a number of other cancer charities, are writing a letter to Ian Duncan Smith (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions), expressing our concerns about the impact of the changes on cancer patients. The issues we are highlighting in the letter are:
• Changes that say that people with cancer will have to wait six months before they can claim the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA). We know that even the existing three month wait for DLA is extremely problematic for people with cancer.
• ESA claimants (in the work-related group, NOT the support group who are not expected to look for work, which includes people with secondary breast cancer) will only receive the benefit for one year, without being means tested. We think this will hit cancer patients particularly hard. We are worried that this proposal, rather than creating an incentive to work, will lead to many cancer patients losing their ESA simply because they have not recovered quickly enough.
The Department of Work and Pension’s statistics which show that 75% of cancer patients who could be affected by this policy still need ESA after one year. This is due to the length of time people with cancer experience the debilitating effects of the disease/treatment and the multiple barriers they face in getting back to work. These can include discrimination or employers unwilling to make reasonable adjustments, such as offering flexible working hours or a phased return.
We plan to send the letter to Ian Duncan-Smith and to national newspapers for publication in their letters pages. This may mean that the media take an interest in the issues we are raising so we are looking for volunteers who may be interested in sharing their experiences of DLA and the ESA to show how breast cancer patients will be affected negatively by the proposals. For example:
• If you currently receive DLA and had to wait 3 months to claim it, how would you have coped if you’d have had to wait for 6 months before claiming?
• If you currently receive work support ESA, how will you be affected if this automatically ends after a year?
If you would be comfortable talking about the impact these changes will have on you, please get in touch with <script type=“text/javascript”>eval(unescape(‘%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%6c%61%75%72%61%2e%67%72%6f%73%73%61%72%74%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%22%3e%6c%61%75%72%61%2e%67%72%6f%73%73%61%72%74%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b’))</script>
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that this story will result in media coverage or that we will be able to use your comments if you contact us.