Hastings Citizens Advice launches damning attack on benefits system which leaves vulnerable local people facing poverty

Citizens Advice services in East Sussex has published a damning report on the experiences of their clients claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) - benefits aimed at supporting those living with disabilities and long term health conditions.
Citizens Advice, London Road, St Leonards.
Some of the team are pictured. SUS-170330-092645001Citizens Advice, London Road, St Leonards.
Some of the team are pictured. SUS-170330-092645001
Citizens Advice, London Road, St Leonards. Some of the team are pictured. SUS-170330-092645001

They say client’s experience shows a system that is simply not fit for purpose - medical assessment processes that can humiliate and prejudge, delays of over a year in resolving claims and processes that seem almost designed to make applicants give up.

They say when a claim for PIP or ESA goes wrong the time it takes to resolve it and the impact on clients, who by virtue of their health or disability are in need of additional support, are more significant than for any other benefit.

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CAB Chief Executive Kay Birch said: “The treatment some of our clients have experienced is truly shocking. Medical assessors completing assessments before they have even seen the client; a housebound client relying on oxygen being expected to travel to his assessment centre on public transport carrying an oxygen cylinder with him; clients who have been in receipt of support for long term conditions for years suddenly cut off and the resulting appeals taking 15 to 16 months to be resolved.

“Without the ongoing support of local Food Banks, many of our clients would not have been able to cope.”

The report proposes a number of recommendations, including: Simplifying the application process; making the medical assessment process accessible, fair, delivered to quality standards by suitably trained assessors with the individual’s circumstances listened to; tackling the excessive delay in the system; tackling errors earlier so applicants do not have to go through a lengthy and stressful appeal process unnecessarily, at significant cost to the taxpayer.

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The report has been sent to all MPs in the county and Citizens Advice services in East Sussex urge them to press for action to improve a system that is letting down the very people it is designed to support.

Citizens Advice is based at London Road, St Leonards.