Closed petition ESA - decision on whether an individual is fit to work should only be made by the individual's GP

Closed on 25 August 2012

The current system of assessment for ESA, including the transfer of Incapacity Benefit recipients onto ESA, is completely unfair, and based on a mechanistic process administered by people who have inadequate familiarity with the individual, or the long term impact of their condition, and who do not hold the ongoing health and welfare of the individual as their goal.

The individual's GP has a holistic picture, with the benefit of input from the whole medical team for the individual, and the greatest familiarity with the individual's ongoing condition, and is thus best placed to make this assessment.

The Government should therefore replace the flawed system for determining entitlement to ESA to be based entirely on the assessment of the individual's own GP.