ESA WRAG and the impending Trainwreck

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With job centres at near breaking point the last thing they would want is more claimants on job seekers allowance but this is the big risk of reducing the WRAG component to nothing.

You may ask why would this be this way and that would be a good question, It is because if someone is over 25 years old they will be no better off financially than they are on job seekers allowance and of-course job seekers applications are processed a lot faster than ESA ones and have a lot less stress involved as well.

What would this mean for Jobcentre Plus?

It would mean more people applying for JSA and inturn a lot more pressure on an already overstretched service not only for the extra people but also they extra needs would mean the job centre would have to give extra attention that would lead to a JCP that can not cope with the number of claimants.

The effects on the governments fiddling of the employment figures:

People on ESA are counted as not available for work so are excluded from the employment figures meaning if more people choose to go onto Jobseekers allowance the unemployment figure will go up.

Does the changes do anyone one any good?

Maybe the government for a very short amount of time because of saving in the cuts but the issues caused could in fact cost more for the taxpayer as being on JSA can also affect results of PIP causing care needs to not be met for some and it would not take a lot before the taxpayer is handed a big bill as it would cause more people to need more care than they would if they got the right type in the first place.

I hope this is good reading for people.

Matthew Morgan

Sources: Benefits Rates: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/457239/DWP11-benefit-and-pension-rates-april-2015-280815.pdf

Employment Rates: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/october-2015/sty-labour-market-statistics--october-2015.html

ESA WRAG Cuts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33347511

Published: 28th October 2015