The Government is currently consulting on what work support should be available to people claiming the benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). If you have experience of claiming ESA, we’d love to hear your views. Please respond to our survey so that we can make sure the Government’s consultation on work and health takes the views of people affected by cancer into account. Take the survey now.
At the end of 2016, the Government published ‘Improving Lives’, a consultation document on work and health. The document outlines proposals for tackling some of the issues faced by people with disabilities and other long-term health conditions, including cancer, when it comes to employment. It looks at a range of issues, including what financial and employment support is currently available, how the health and welfare systems work together, and how to encourage employers to recruit disabled people and people with health conditions and support them to stay in or return to work.
We’ve welcomed the publication of this paper; it’s an important opportunity to improve the support people with cancer receive. We know that for many people with cancer who are in work when diagnosed, continuing to work is important. But we also know that because of the effects of cancer and its treatment many people struggle to remain in or return to work. That’s why it’s vital the Government provides enough financial support to those who are unable to work, while also helping people who are ready and able to work to take steps to do so.
This is an issue that affects a lot of people: there are currently over 750,000 people of working age living with cancer in the UK, and that’s projected to rise to 1.7 million by 2030. So the Government's consultation on Improving Lives is a great opportunity to make sure the right support is in place for people with cancer who want to stay in or return to work.
One of the key areas that the Government would like views on is around ESA, a benefit for people under the State Pension age who are unable to work due to illness or disability. As part of this, the Government is considering making changes to the work support that people claiming ESA receive.
We’re keen to make sure that the Government hears what people affected by cancer think about this, so we’ve put together a short survey for people who have experience of claiming ESA. If you've applied for ESA we'd love to hear from you. We’d like to find out more about your experience of work support, if any, when claiming ESA, and whether you think the Government’s proposals would be helpful. The survey should take around 10-15 minutes to respond to. If you respond before 24th January 2017, we may use your comments anonymously in Macmillan’s response to the consultation.
If you don’t have experience of applying for ESA yourself, or you’d like to respond to the full consultation, you can do so on the Department of Health's website.
