Petition Stop the means testing of contributory ESA when universal credit is introduced.

As part of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will be changed in line with Universal Credit earnings rules. This means that thousands of disabled people who have struggled to work and have had to retire early due to health problems, will lose most or all of their entitlement to ESA if they have even the smallest of pensions, as the current earnings disregard for ESA will be scrapped and all income taken into account. This change will affect people in the ESA support group - the most vulnerable, who have been deemed as too ill or severely disabled to work. They have worked in the past and paid contributions for entitlement to ESA to support them when they can no longer do so. This change is not compatible with the government's stated aim of supporting the most vulnerable and the change will cause more hardship on top of cumulative changes to all disability benefits. This petition asks the government to look again at this unfair change.