Employment and Support Allowance Guide

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

The Employment and Support Allowance guidance pulication was until recently
available to view from the Gov.uk website.

As I needed to clarify a descriptor in this guidance I was disappointed to find
that this is no longer available to view.

I request copies of all guidance publications relating to Employment and Support
Allowance issued since 2010 including any amendments to the present.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

S Newport

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John Slater left an annotation ()

Hi,
The ESA Handbook used by HCP is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

It might hold the information you need.
John

S Newport left an annotation ()

Thank you John,
I've had a look through your attatchment, and
still can't find what I'm looking for.

It is the description of what ESA is, i.e.
Employmnet and Support Allowance is for
people who are ill or disabled.
(i.e. it is not for people who can work)

Also description of WRAG
Work Related Activity Group
(i.e. it is not actual work, but a type of
preparation for future work)

I want the actual DWP description in written
form as proof because it appears many assume
that people in the WRAG are able to work and
can do so immediately.

On the gov.uk site it was available about a week or
two ago. I didn't copy it alas. When I went back to copy
it that info was not showing. Each time I try it directs
to Universal Credit.
I havce a copy of a misleading description posted on
twitter. I'm trying to find out where that came from and
also to compare it with the official one. Hence the need
for the official one.
S.

John Slater left an annotation ()

Hi,
If you are looking for definitive information I suspect you need to look at the legislation. For basic definitions of ESA the Welfare Reform Act 2007 is a good start. The following sections are relevant to what you have said:

1 – What is ESA
8 – Limited Capability for Work
9 - Limited Capability for Work Related Activity
11 – Work-Focused Health Related Assessments
12 – Work-Focused Interviews
13 – Work Related Activity
14 – Actions Plans in Connection with Work-Focused Interviews
15 – Directions about Work Related Activity

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 deals with how Universal Credit deals with the income related part of ESA.

The detailed implementation from the WRA 2007 is done via Regulations. A good introduction to the various bits of ESA is covered in “The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008”. The following parts cover what you mention:

Part 2 – Assessment phase
Part 5 – Limited Capability for Work
Part 6 – Limited Capability for Work Related Activity
Part 8 (Chapter1) – Work-Focused Health Related Assessment
Part 8 (Chapter2) – Work Focused Interviews.

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear S Newport
 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 

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J. Smith left an annotation ()

The 2016 Handbook Version 8 is now in use but where is it published, does anyone know?