APPENDIX 6
Memorandum by MACA (the Mental After Care
Association)
BackgroundMACA
1. MACA is a leading national mental health charity
serving people with mental health needs and their carers. We are
partners with over 50 health and local authorities, and housing
associations. We provide a range of community-based services for
people with mental health needs. This includes employment training
and assistance for people who are trying to obtain work.
The New Deal for Disabled People
2. There is a common perception that disability covers
only people with a physical or sensory impairment or a learning
disability. As the Committee will know, people with an enduring
mental health need also come under the definition of disability
in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. But we have found that
sometimes in the past this vulnerable and socially excluded group
of people can sometimes be inadvertently sidelined when proposals
around disability are being drawn up.
3. MACA has welcomed in principle the Government's
New Deal for Disabled People. The Personal Adviser Service (currently
being piloted across the country), properly resourced and structured,
could be a significant step forward of people with mental health
problems in their attempts to move into work. But it will only
be effective if Personal Advisers have the training and skills
to assess the capabilities and needs of individuals with mental
health problems. We cover this more fully below, in the context
of the SWFG.
The Single Work-focused Gateway (SWFG)
4. MACA has two concerns about the single gateway
proposals. First, we are concerned that it will be compulsory
for new benefit claimants to attend an interview. Although the
Government has said that there will be no compulsion for people
to go on to work, this process could be extremely stressful for
people with mental health needs.
5. Many people in this group rely wholly on their
benefits to survive. There have a real and genuine fear among
about anything which might suggest their benefits will be reduced
or stopped. Indeed, for some a formal interview may simply be
too much of a barrier to overcome, and they will therefore lose
out on benefits to which they have a right.
6. For this reason, we propose that the interview
be voluntary rather than compulsory. In addition, we believe it
is essential that individuals are allowed to bring a friend or
relative with them to the interview.
7. Second, we are concerned about the training on
mental health which will be undertaken by interviewers. For example,
in a 1996 survey of people with mental health needs, a third said
they had been dismissed or forced to resign from jobs because
of their psychiatric history1. In addition many such
individuals, because of their illness;
- have low self-esteem and lack confidence
- often do not have up-to-date workplace skills
- may be loath to declare their illness because
of the stigma and discrimination associated with it (a problem
which DFEE and the Employment Service have acknowledged)
will require flexible working patterns and hours
to accommodate what may be a fluctuating capacity to work.
8. Add all this together, and you will see that interviewers
will need to have a wide range of both professional and interpersonal
skills if they are to be able to assist individuals with mental
health needs. We are pleased to have had some assurance from the
DFEE about the training of Personal Advisers for the SWFG interviews
(see letter of 16 March 1999 attached), but this too important
an issue to be taken for granted.
Summary
9. To conclude, we support the principle of the New
Deal for Disabled people and the single gateway. But for it to
work in practice for people with mental health needs,
- interviews should not be compulsory
- individuals should be allowed to bring a friend
or relation with them to the interview
- interviewers must be fully trained in assessing
the capability and requirements of people with mental health needs,
including an understanding of the stigma attached to mental illness.
|