Related Papers
Responses of People With Physical Health Conditions to Changes in Disability Benefits: A Grounded Theory Study
2017 •
Jessica Saffer
Kayleigh Garthwaite
An exploration of how mental health service users construct meaning from the Work Capability Assessment process - using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
2016 •
Stacy Earl
Welfare reform has seen disabled people finding their eligibility for unconditional welfare benefits reassessed through the Work Capability Assessment. The welfare-to-work policy has seen those that are economically inactive and unemployed constructed as problematic groups who require intervention to become productive members of mainstream society. The Work Capability Assessment process has been criticised for not adequately assessing work capability in people with mental health difficulties and has been deemed discriminatory against mental health service users. There is a paucity of research in this area, particularly in relation to users of mental health services, and within the psychology discipline. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten users of mental health services who had participated in the Work Capability Assessment process. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was used to explore how service user’s constructed the Work Capability Assessment process, and how they we...
“Like having a perpetrator on your back”: Violence in the Welfare System
2021 •
Beth Speake
Disability & Society
Living on a knife edge: the responses of people with physical health conditions to changes in disability benefits
2018 •
Simon J Duffy
Living on a knife edge the responses of people with physical health conditions to changes in disability benefits
Living on a knife edge the responses of people with physical health conditions to changes in disability benefits.pdf
2018 •
Lizette Nolte
This article documents the experiences of people with a physical health condition or disability who have experienced a loss of or change in disability benefits under the welfare reform programme in the United Kingdom. A theoretical model was constructed using in-depth interviews and grounded theory methods. The findings show that participants experienced the benefits system as dehumanising, and felt that they lived in a judgemental and invalidating society, where they were perceived as ‘scroungers’ and faced discrimination from others. These experiences negatively affected their mental and physical health and wellbeing. They also negatively affected participants’ identity, leading to experiences of shame, hopelessness and social isolation. However, many participants attempted to resist these negative impacts (e.g. through seeking support or taking political action). The findings demonstrate the significant impact of benefit changes on well-being and identity, thus highlighting important implications for claimants, and staff in healthcare, the benefits system and government.
A RESEARCH REPORT BY THE CENTRE FOR WELFARE REFORM INFLUENCES AND CONSEQUENCES THE CONCLUSION TO THE PREVENTABLE HARM PROJECT A RESEARCH REPORT BY THE CENTRE FOR WELFARE REFORM
Mo Stewart
Journal of Social Policy
Shifting the Goalposts: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study of the Health of Long-Term Incapacity Benefit Recipients during a Period of Substantial Change to the UK Social Security System
2014 •
Jonathan Warren
The UK social security safety net for those who are out of work due to ill health or disability has experienced significant change, most notably the abolition of Incapacity Benefit (IB) and the introduction of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). These changes have been underpinned by the assumption that many recipients are not sufficiently sick or disabled to ‘deserve’ welfare benefits – claims that have been made in the absence of empirical data on the health of recipients. Employing a unique longitudinal and mixed-methods approach, this paper explores the health of a cohort of 229 long-term IB recipients in the North East of England over an eighteen-month period, during a time of significant changes to the UK welfare state. In-depth interviews with twenty-five of the survey cohort are also presented to illustrate the lived experiences of recipients. Contributing to debates surrounding the conceptualisation of work-readiness for sick and disabled people, findings indicate IB re...
Journal of Human Rights and Social Work
The Social Impact of Accounting Processes on Benefit Claimants in the UK
2020 •
Julia Smith
The accounting processes of categorisation and classification are inherent in modern-day welfare systems, though little has been done to investigate the link these have to the social consequences for benefit claimants within these systems. This paper uses research from both primary and secondary sources to show how UK welfare reform has affected claimants and their inalienable human rights since its introduction in 2012. The data gathered for this work combine face-to-face interview data with press releases, and data and reports compiled and published both by the government and independent bodies. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with two illustrative participants, who were identified as being excellent examples of individuals with a close working knowledge of the welfare system. In addition to the primary data gathered, several sources of secondary data are used within the analysis to identify facts, figures and quotations from reliable government sources. Our analysis uncove...
Journal of Social Policy
Examining Veterans’ Interactions with the UK Social Security System through a Trauma-Informed Lens
Lisa Scullion
This paper uses the principles of trauma-informed care – safety, collaboration, choice, trustworthiness, and respect – to reflect on the quality of veterans’ treatment within the UK social security system. Drawing upon new data from qualitative longitudinal research with veterans in four geographical locations across England, UK, it explores their experiences within the social security system, highlighting specific issues relating to their interactions with the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) but also the conditionality inherent within the UK benefits system. Overall, it is evident that there is a lack of understanding of the impact of trauma on people’s psychosocial functioning and, as a result, veterans are treated in ways which are variously perceived as disrespectful, unfair or disempowering and in some cases exacerbate existing mental health problems. We propose that the application of trauma-informed care principles to the UK social security system could improve interactions ...
