EJ Barrett Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
The government's traffic light system for beneficiaries has created an atmosphere of "fear" and "stress", a Taranaki disabilities advocate says.
EJ Barrett lives with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and survives on a Supported Living Payment (SLP).
"It's a collagen production disorder, so it affects every single system in my body. Name a system, and I can tell you at least two things that are going wrong with it.
"It means that my health is really unpredictable. I might be able to play with my children one day, and I might not be able to get out of bed the next."
The Ministry of Social Development said, under the traffic light system, nothing has changed for people on the SLP and they will not be required to work. But Barrett was not convinced.
"When you follow their links, it still says that we will be called in for 'workability assessments' to assess whether we need to prepare for work.
"This seems unfair on many accounts, we've had to go through multiple layers of screening by our medical professionals in order to be able to access this benefit in the first place.
"I'm concerned that MSD will be pulling people in to assess whether we can work who are not qualified to do so, who do not understand our very complex conditions. Don't know how to pronounce them, or how to spell of them, let alone understand how they affect us."
Barrett said the disabled community was frightened.
"Fear, massive fear. Yeah, and stress. MSD, and Minister Louise Upton are responsible for a lot of people in crisis."
Barrett said the changes could affect many disabled people on the Jobseeker Support benefit.
"There are so many disabled people who, because there are so many backstops preventing us from accessing the SLP in the first place, who are still on a Jobseeker benefit with a caveat that they have a disability or an illness, so they don't have to be looking for as much work.
"But that caveat is just an understanding. It's nothing. It's not official. It depends on which case worker you get on the day, and whether they understand what's going on."
Barrett also took issue with telephone calls being called "appointments" with sanctions attached for missing them.
"They're just assuming that because we're unemployed, we're going to be available all the time. Meanwhile, I'm busy looking after kids. I might be in hospital, I might be under general anaesthetic, I might be travelling for medical appointments, I might just be on the toilet.
"And so I miss a phone call that they never told me I had, and so then they put in the system that I have in quote marks, 'missed an appointment', or I'm not turning up to my appointments."
In response, MSD Regional Commissioner Gloria Campbell said that was not correct.
"I'd like to reassure EJ that we do not ring people unexpectedly and then sanction them for not getting to the phone.
"For any clients that do have phone-based appointments that relate to work obligations these are scheduled ahead of time. If they don't answer the phone for their appointment, we try calling them a number of times before they get an obligation failure and move into orange.
"If there is a good reason they missed the phone appointment they can explain that to us and get straight back to green."
Barrett, who lived on $125 a week after their $580 rent was deducted, said if sanctions were applied in those circumstances it would push people over the edge.
"So I get a total of $125 a week to spend on travel, groceries for me and my three children, medical expenses, car insurance. It's hard. It's really hard."
Campbell said Barrett had no work obligations and that their SLP was extended in May for a further two years, following provision of a medical certificate.
"We would like to reassure EJ and any others receiving Supported Living Payment that they do not have an obligation to look for work.
"They may have obligations to 'prepare' for work - but only if it has been assessed they can do this, and it has been discussed with them.
"We use information provided by a medical practitioner to inform these decisions. Preparing for work could include employment related training or work experience. If people who get SLP have a partner, the partner may have obligations to prepare or look for work."
Campbell said obligations for those on benefits had not changed. However, the minister had announced there would be further changes to the benefit system early next year.
Clients who were on JobSeeker Health Condition and Disability payments had varying work obligations. These were determined by their medical practitioner, based on their capacity to work, she said.
"This advice also informs the activities that clients may need to do to meet their obligations, such as attending a seminar, or working with a contracted service. These are not 'informal arrangements' with clients to exempt them from work obligations."
Campbell said if a client missed an arranged appointment they could get in touch to let MSD know if they had a good reason for missing it, or they could do a compliance activity to meet this obligation.
"We want to reiterate that we are happy to address any concerns from the health and disability sector. Our health and disability advisors regularly work around the region liaising with practitioners and groups in this sector."