Oxfordshire’s Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) have joined a national campaign to ensure sick and disabled people are not left stranded due to reforms to Government support.

Recent changes to Employment Support Allowance (ESA) will make it harder for sick and disabled people to get fair treatment. In the past year alone, Citizens Advice nationally has helped with nearly half a million problems about ESA.

The Work Capability Assessment, which determines people’s eligibility for ESA, has come under fire for failing to deliver accurate decisions (which are estimated to have cost taxpayers more than £60m).

Since October, anyone who is at first refused support will have to wait an additional two weeks whilst their initial application is reassessed, during which time they are potentially left without any income.

The Citizens Advice Bureaux are campaigning to: l Ensure independent medical evidence is considered by officials before making an initial assessment about a person’s fitness for work; the results of a nationwide poll show that amongst the GP surgeries surveyed 14 per cent are only acting on requests for evidence from some patients and 50 per cent charge to do so l Ensure any applicants for ESA are not left without financial support during the new, extra reassessment; l Fine assessors where they are shown to have made an incorrect medical assessment.

Frank Newhofer, social policy co-ordinator for Oxford CAB, said: “I’m pleased to be a part of this new campaign to get the problems sorted out for our clients. “This needs to be a joint effort between ministers, officials, charities and health professionals to make sure sick and disabled people get quick and fair treatment out of this system.

“It can’t be right that a decision about someone’s health can be reached without even a basic consideration of medical evidence.

“The best way to get the number and cost of appeals down is to make sure decisions are right first time rather than forcing people to jump through unnecessary and stressful extra hoops.”

CABs in England and Wales advised more than two million clients last year. CAB staff are supported by more than 20,000 trained volunteers working in over 3,000 service outlets.

n If you want more information or wish to support their campaigns please contact your local CAB — http://www.caox.org.uk