I recently saw a news interview with a youngish man with Parkinson's Disease... obvious tremors and muscle weakness and he failed the new incapacity reassessment trial in his town Burnley. He got a 0 score.   

"Anyone who scores below 15 points in total will be deemed fit for work and placed on jobseeker's allowance, which in some cases could result in a reduction in benefit of about £25 a week."


Ok... so if there are so many already on JSA and only so many jobs to go around.. what are these retrained disabled people supposed to do. They are going to need more support in order to work (let's ring the mobility and disability access bells again). Where is that money coming from? Not from the government. Not from the private sector. Certainly not from bankers making donations to charities.

from this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11510726

SNIP

"We believe that this test is fundamentally flawed," Richard Hawkes, chief executive of Scope, said.

"It asks people to do things like pick up a coin off the floor or can they take their pen out of their top pocket. The test does not ask people what previous work they have done, it doesn't ask people what support they might require in the work place."

There are already concerns about the way incapacity benefit tests are being conducted.

The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has reported a 57% increase in the number of people challenging the outcomes of their tests and mental health charity Mind says that, in 40% of cases, initial verdicts are being overturned at appeal.

"From all the claimants I have met, I believe the vast majority have been genuine," CAB's Paul Hogarth, who has supported 60 people at tribunals in Burnley over the past year and won in 85% of cases, told Today.

"It comes back to the fact 'is the pressure on the medical professionals to fail the vast majority of these claimants or is it going to be a genuine assessment?"