Who benefits?
Employment and Support Allowance was brought in in October 2008. It is designed to support people with disabilities and long term sickness back in to work. But is it working?
Last updated: 08 February 2010
Grant Carlsson (pictured) is a mechanical engineer, and lives in Porthcawl with his wife and son.
In March 2009. his life changed dramatically. He lost his lower left leg due to a vascular condition known as Buerger's disease, and within months he went from being a salaried working man to an invalidity benefit claimant.
He was tested and deemed eligible for the new Employment and Support Allowance or ESA, and was keen to make the most of what it had to offer.
We asked Grant to keep an audio diary of his effort to find work that would fit round his health condition. What he recorded shows his frustrations with the system:
"I appreciate all the help that is there, but on benefits, you're on the breadline. For me as a working husband, father, I don't want to be living on the breadline.
It's vitally important that I can get back to work or do some form of work to help me financially - but it just seems to be, as you're gaining in the one hand, they're taking away on the other. There's no bridge to help you get to the next step. It's all or nothing, and that's how I feel the system's let me down."
Over the next 3 years, all Incapacity Benefit claimants will migrate over to ESA. The Government intends to cut the number of claimants by a million and save the tax payer £500 million.
Eye On Wales follows Grant's story, and finds out if Employment and Support Allowance is doing what it set out to do - help and support people with long term sickness or disablities back in to the work force.
Your responses:
Roger Harris from Glynneath:
"As if it is not bad enough what sick and disabled people are having to go through with their illnesses....they are now being forced to go through a system of change from sickness benefits to the new ESA.
It, according to the Government will be a fairer system. Believe me it is nothing of the sort. The system hasn't even properly started and it is on the verge of meltdown."
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