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Voices from the frontline: medical evidence for benefits

Claiming sickness and disability benefits can be a stressful process, and many bureaux clients feel that the medical assessments for the benefit do not reflect their difficulties. 

They often feel they need additional evidence from their doctor to demonstrate the true picture, but getting this evidence and having it considered can be difficult and costly.

This report looks at the evidence from citizens advice bureaux on the problems clients have when trying to submit evidence to the DWP about the full extent of their difficulties. 

These include administrative errors by the DWP resulting in the loss of documentation, high charges by GPs, and what happens when people who are signed off sick are assessed as being fit for work and not eligible for sickness benefits.  It makes a number of recommendations on how the system could be improved.

Author
Beth Reid
Publication date
April 2014
Publication type
Policy