Research and analysis

Summary: The work aspirations and support needs of claimants in the ESA Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent

Published 27 February 2020

Authors: Lorna Adams, Angus Tindle, Siv Svanaes, Sarah Dobie, Sarah Coburn, Becky Cartmell and Sam Stroud (IFF Research)

This summary presents the key findings from research with claimants on the Support Group element of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and in the equivalent Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) group, to learn more about their daily lives, challenges, support needs, and attitudes to employment.

Background and methodology

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) commissioned research to understand how best to engage and support these individuals and to explore what support might be helpful to them in managing their health condition(s) and moving towards work, where appropriate.^{[footnote 1]}

The research consisted of 50 in-depth face-to-face interviews, 6 focus groups, 4 peer-to-peer interviews and a survey of 2,012 claimants, across England, Scotland and Wales. For brevity, the term ‘claimants’ is used to refer to members of the ESA Support Group and the Universal Credit LCWRA group. The survey dataset was weighted to correct for non-response, allowing us to report the survey findings as representative of the claimant population of interest, as a whole.

Understanding who is in the ESA Support Group

The research found that these claimants tended to be older, less qualified and had limited digital skills and internet access, compared to the UK population overall. Four in 10 had limited digital skills (42% said they were unable or struggle to use the internet) and/or no access to the internet in or outside of their homes (21%).

Claimants’ health conditions were wide-ranging and the vast majority (87%) reported multiple conditions. Most (79%) expected their condition to last for the rest of their life, and most did not expect it to improve (only 9% expected an improvement). They also typically found their health difficult to predict, with two-thirds (66%) reporting some fluctuation.

The majority were a long way from the labour market: consistent histories of paid work were relatively uncommon (only 39% had ‘mostly been in paid employment’ during their working life) and previous paid work tended to be five or more years ago. Many had been on out of work benefits for a long time, typically for over 5 years.

While the severity of individuals’ conditions varied, most experienced some impacts on things like performing usual activities (91%), self-care (80%) or anxiety and depression (82%). Nearly all (97%) were receiving some kind of support to help them manage their health condition(s), most commonly from a carer, relative or friend (85%) or family doctor or GP (77%). However, many of those with a mental health condition were not receiving mental-health related support.

Attitudes towards employment

The majority of claimants (67%) had ruled out paid work as being a future option for them, predominantly on health grounds (65% of all claimants).

One in 5 (20%), however, did have a desire to do paid work, and more often it was part-time work that was of interest. Among these, four per cent of claimants thought they could work now if the right job was available and with the right support. Overall, there was a fairly even split between those who felt paid work might be possible within the next 2 years and those who felt this might be possible in the further future.

A further 2% were in paid work at the time of the survey (mostly part-time). For the most part they were already doing the amount of work that they felt capable of or were comfortable with.

Those interested in paid work tended to be closer to the labour market, with less severe health conditions and more recent experience of working; they also tended to be younger (aged under 50). The qualitative research showed they were often determined to enter work, with a strong work ethic being part of their identity.

Claimants reported multiple barriers to entering employment. Health-related barriers (such as concern that health conditions would impinge on their ability to gain or maintain employment, or that working would have a negative impact on health) were more prevalent than employment-related ones, but among those who had never worked before, employment-related barriers, such as lack of qualifications, skills or experience, were much more prevalent.

The qualitative research also identified concerns around financial risks of moving off benefits including:

• that showing an interest in moving towards work would trigger a Work Capability Re-assessment and cause their current benefit to end^{[footnote 2]}

• concern about having an income gap when moving between benefits and work

• concerns about having to reapply for benefits if work could not be sustained

Views on employment-related support

Around a third (32%) of claimants were interested in receiving support in the future (either with work or with wider issues such as housing, finances or finding volunteering opportunities). The majority (68%), however, were not. Interest in support was higher among younger claimants, claimants with mental health conditions, and those closer to the labour market (those who felt work could be a possibility in the future).

Much of the desired support is already offered by Jobcentre Plus, but it emerged in the focus groups that awareness of the current support offer was low. Within the existing offer, there was particular interest in Access to Work funding, permitted work and the 12-week linking period^{[footnote 3]} (although some argued it needs to be longer than 12 weeks).

Additional areas of support claimants wanted revolved around the concept of a dedicated support worker who would provide, for instance, in-work support to resolve any problems when starting a new job, and help with returning to benefits if work could not be sustained. Some claimants also wanted support with wider issues, including issues with housing, finances and debt, emphasising the importance of offering support that addresses claimants’ needs holistically.

How support is delivered was also important. Claimants desired continuity of support over a sustained period of time, from someone with good interpersonal skills and lived experience of disability (or an in-depth understanding), to allow trust to develop. This also meant that claimants were hesitant to take up support where they thought this might only be on offer short-term (for instance, where they thought organisations might be closed down or have their funding withdrawn).

Perceptions of and communication with DWP and Jobcentre Plus (JCP)

The DWP and JCP tended to be seen in a negative light, although the extent of this varied. Factors leading to negative perceptions of DWP and JCP included:

• a perceived underlying agenda of benefits cuts and cost savings

• past negative experiences of dealing with DWP and JCP

• a perceived poor understanding of mental health among JCP staff

• concern that JCP were not sufficiently focused on finding individuals employment appropriate to their capabilities and ambitions

This meant that some individuals distrusted the motives behind any DWP/JCP offer of support, even if they were attracted to what was on offer in theory.

Claimants were divided on whether they welcomed contact from the DWP or JCP regarding the support available, but 4 in 10 (39%) did welcome the idea of the DWP/JCP informing them, provided this was sensitively worded and made clear taking up support is voluntary. They tended to be open to contact once every 6 to 12 months.

Segmentation analysis

A segmentation analysis of claimants who had not ruled out work on health grounds and were not terminally ill was undertaken to take a multidimensional approach to understanding claimants’ work aspirations and support needs.^{[footnote 4]} This segmentation draws together claimants’ closeness to paid work, the perceived barriers to paid work and the various forms of support they said they might be interested in to help them move closer to paid work, to create an overview of claimants in the ESA Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent.

This segmentation shows, for example, that the 2 segments that were closest to work (‘work ready’ and ‘interested in support’) were more interested in receiving advice or guidance about the sorts of jobs they could do, and practical support with finding suitable employers and roles. These segments are summarised below.

Overview of the segments^{[footnote 5]}

1. Work ready – 4%

• More strongly interested in return to work; feel it would benefit health.

• More interested in support, see fewer barriers.

• Feel could return to work now, with the right job.

• Know how to present themselves in CV/interview.

Base: 77

2. Interested in support – 8%

• Most interested in support.

• Main concerns are around knowledge, skills and confidence (less about health).

• Feel they might be able to work in near future (next six months to one year).

Base: 162

3. Interested in support, things to sort first – 7%

• Interested in support but more likely to have personal or family issues.

• Less concerned about skills/knowledge, more about health.

• Feel they might be able to work in the next two years, but more likely further future.

Base: 122

4. Equipped but need time – 4%

• Equipped in terms of knowledge, skills, confidence and support with health condition.

• More likely to state currently unable to work, but might be able to in the future (2+ years, rather than 1 year).

Base: 89

5. No interest in support, worried/unsure – 9%

• Least interested in support and report the most barriers.

• No interest in returning to work or most unsure about doing so.

Base: 161

6. No interest in support, desire to be left alone – 1%

• Most likely to say not at all interested in work, less interested in support.

• Interest aside, their main barrier is that they don’t think work would benefit their health.

• More likely to say DWP/JCP should never get in touch.

Base: 27%

7. Condition rules out work – 65%

Base: 1,134

8. In work already – 2%

Base: 42

Conclusions

Most claimants in the ESA Support Group and the Universal Credit LCWRA group have ruled out paid work as being a future option due to their health. A fifth, however, did have a desire to work, but more so for part-time work rather than full-time.

The findings show that there is scope for DWP/JCP to engage with some claimants in the ESA Support Group and the Universal Credit equivalent to offer them voluntary support in their journey towards paid work. Among those interested in employment, much of the support they say they want covers many elements already being offered. Additional areas of support claimants wanted revolved around the concept of a dedicated support worker, who would, for instance, help to resolve any problems when starting a new job and help with returning to benefits if work could not be sustained.

Claimants aged under 50 were more likely to see paid work as a possibility in future; while those on out of work benefits for between one and 3 years were most likely to express interest in support, indicating that this may be a ‘window of opportunity’ for engaging with claimants, before being out of work becomes entrenched.

There may also be particular opportunities to support individuals with mental health conditions: while they report the most barriers to employment, they are also more interested in employment-related support and more likely to believe that work would benefit their health.

However, supporting these claimants towards work will pose challenges in the following areas:

The benefits system

Claimants experience the current process of applying for benefits as challenging/emotionally taxing, and feel that their place in the ESA Support Group has been hard-won. Taking up paid employment and moving off benefits is therefore seen as high-risk, including concern about having an income gap when moving between benefits and work. Awareness of existing initiatives to de-risk paid employment (such as permitted work) was low and fear that engaging in work-related activities would trigger a work capability assessment reassessment was also common. The wider benefits system is thus perversely incentivising individuals to avoid engaging with work-related support.

Employer attitudes and behaviour

There was concern about how to find suitable roles and employers, how to communicate health-related needs to these employers, and whether employers would be understanding or flexible enough to accommodate these needs.

DWP and JCP

Although much of the support claimants say they would like is offered by JCP, a key challenge for DWP and JCP in engaging these claimants will be in overcoming the distrust that many claimants have in them.

1. By ‘work’, we mean a range of activities, including paid and voluntary work, full, part-time and ad-hoc work, work for an employer and self-employment. ↩

2. Undertaking work-related activity should not affect the result of a Work Capability Assessment and claimants may undertake permitted work. Within ESA, it is permitted work if: (a) claimants earn up to £125.50 a week; and (b) claimants work less than 16 hours a week. ↩

3. The 12-week linking rule protects ESA claimants’ benefit for breaks of up to 12 weeks. ↩

4. This segmentation was applied to 638 respondents, equivalent to 32% of the sample and produced 6 distinct segments. For completeness the diagram also shows the percentage of claimants who had ruled out work on health grounds and those who were already doing some paid work. ↩

5. Due to a low base size, the differences noted under segment 6 are not significant. They are described in the interests of giving a more complete picture. ↩