Edinburgh’s High Riggs and Leith jobcentres are breaking benefits law! They are flouting “Transitional protection” provisions for disabled and sick claimants on Employment and Support Allowance.

All claimants are being transferred from “legacy benefits” like Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit. By law ESA claimants keep their “not fit for work” status and automatically receive disability-related payments in Universal Credit. But through our solidarity activity in accompanying claimants, ECAP has learnt that High Riggs jobcentre in Edinburgh have been illegally trying to force such claimants to obtain a “Fit Note” from their GP and then go through a “work capability assessment”. (The Work Capability Assessment decides whether a claimant is to be judged fit to seek employment or not.)

Claimants report Leith and High Riggs jobcentres are both doing this – and it is very likely that jobcentres Britain-wide are denying ESA claimants’ rights in this way. This potentially affects over a million claimants on ESA.