In a piece of good news to finish the year, we have heard that the rules for deciding whether someone with asthma is capable of working will be changed. This is important because it should mean that more people with severe asthma will qualify for disability benefits.
Serious inaccuracies in the guidance on asthma led us to complain to Professor Malcolm Harrington, who is leading a review into Work Capability Assessments. Guidance is crucial when deciding whether someone with asthma can work. As we all know, asthma is a variable condition. What matters is not whether someone is capable of work today, when they are assessed, but how capable they are over time. If guidance fails to recognise that, the wrong decision can easily be made, leaving people both out of work and out of pocket. Asthma needs to be taken seriously in the workplace as well as in the NHS. For some of the 250,000 people with severe asthma, it is a debilitating condition that stops people gaining or keeping jobs they want to do. It simply must be recognised in our benefits system.
Professor Harrington’s willingness to listen to the evidence should provide some reassurance.
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