The changes mean that from 2025, those being assessed will have a higher threshold to meet to access additional support and protection from sanctions.
Headway strongly suggested that no changes should be made to the WCA assessment, not least because the complexities of acquired brain injury are often misunderstood.
Sarah Russell, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Headway, the brain injury association, said:
“Brain injury survivors are already at a disadvantage when seeking support from the social security system because the hidden and fluctuating nature of the effects caused by their injury are routinely misjudged.
“These changes will do nothing to help brain injury survivors find work, but instead will cause worry and concern about a new sanctions regime they may face if a job coach decides they’re not doing enough to try and find work.
“What would be a much better use of government’s time would be devising ways of supporting, not forcing, people into the jobs market as well as focusing on some of the wider determinates of ill-health like the cost-of-living crisis.”
It is important to point out that these changes will not come into effect until 2025 and will only affect new claimants, not those who have already undergone the assessment process.
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