ESA decisions give job centre staff 'grave concerns'

The study also showed that those claiming the new benefit "generally knew little about ESA before claiming," although it noted that this was unsurprising given the ESA's recent inception. Released by the Department for Work and Pensions, the publication into the early implementation experiences of dealing with ESA involved interviews with approximately 40 staff and 40 customers to examine their initial experiences of the new benefit. Its findings included: • advisers were unhappy about a perceived lack of flexibility in the ESA system, e.g. not being able to waive work focused inte...