Those unable to access a disability support pension live in poverty and are ‘unable to afford basic necessities’, research finds

The growing number of Newstart recipients who are sick or have disabilities face “unrealistic” mutual obligations to find work and sometimes have their impairments exacerbated while struggling on welfare payments, a new research paper says.

The qualitative study – released as seperate government data reveals new details of the ageing profile of people with a “partial capacity to work” – suggests those unable to access the more generous disability support pension live in poverty and are “unable to afford basic necessities such as food, baby formula and sanitary pads”.

Researcher Louise St Guillaume, of the Whitlam Institute, conducted in-depth interviews with more than a dozen participants in the western Sydney area who had a range of conditions such as anxiety, severe depression and schizophrenia, and physical impairments and injuries such as back injuries and heart conditions.

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Participants detailed struggles meeting living costs, including one person who had their house repossessed, while another woman who has depression told researchers how living on Newstart was ruining her financial situation.

She was pushed into debt, having started a course because she did could no longer meet job search requirements. In the end, she was unable to finish the course as well.

“The research found that people with a [partial capacity to work] have trouble with applying for the [disability support pension],” the research paper said. “On [Newstart] they live in poverty and are unable to afford basic items, medication, doctors appointments, aids and equipment or meet their expenses as ‘jobseekers’.

“They felt unsupported on [Newstart] and felt that their mutual obligations were unrealistic. For many their impairment/s were exacerbated, or a second impairment was acquired while living on [Newstart].”

The paper adds to the extensive research about the difficulties faced by people on Newstart and comes amid increasing concern about the rate of the payment, which the government is under pressure to increase in real terms.

Government figures show the proportion of Newstart recipients who are sick and disabled has surged from 25% in 2014 to 42% last year – a trend fuelled by a tightening of the disability support pension eligibility rules.

Last year, there were 289,489 people on Newstart with partial capacity to work, which means they have an illness or disability that Centrelink acknowledges would prevent them from working full-time.

And new data provided to the Senate in response to questions from the Greens’ Rachel Siewert shows that of that group, 61% are over 45 years old, while 35% were over 55. It means that of the 686,785 people on Newstart, one in seven were over 55 and had a sickness or disability that prevented them from working full-time.

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Existing statistics have shown that an overwhelming majority of people on partial capacity to work have psychological or psychiatric conditions, followed by musculoskeletal issues, although about 5,000 had cancer, according to data from July last year.

Some participants in the study said the expectations placed on them by Centrelink exacerbated their conditions, including a woman who said that she had a breakdown after missing out on a job caused further harm to her mental health.

“In fact, her psychologist noted in a letter when she was applying for DSP that even if she was to get a job it would be difficult for her to fulfil the obligations because she is so self-critical,” the report said, adding that “the system reinforced and perpetuated her supposed incapacities and failures through making her apply for jobs which she did not get”.

The study also examined the system used by Services Australia to offer medical exemptions that allow sick Newstart recipients to gain a reprieve from their “mutual obligations” such as applying for jobs and attending interviews. Employment service providers will generally refuse successive medical certificates provided for the same reason.

Siewert said it was “very distressing” that almost half of people over the age of 45 on Newstart have a partial capacity to work and were living below the poverty line.

“Medication is often a discretionary item for people on Newstart and it is becoming more and more common for sick or disabled people to have to choose between medication or a meal,” she said.