The meeting, which took place at the House of Lords on 24 November 2009, was attended by Dr James Bolton, Deputy Chief Medical Adviser at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
As the minutes show, Action for M.E.'s Sir Peter Spencer raised a number of questions about benefits issues for people with M.E. including how Dr Bolton saw M.E. compared to other chronic long-term conditions.
Dr Bolton explained that the purpose of work-focussed assessments was to assess people’s functionality and limitations, whatever their medical condition.
When asked about the employment of people with M.E., Dr Bolton admitted that there was still a question of deciding whether employers should be persuaded or compelled to support their staff. He preferred the former. He warned that in cases of compulsion some employers would look just at the minimum they must do whereas if there were incentives, the outcome was generally better.
Also discussed was how best to collect the data to show that the current Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) system is not working as it should be, better involvement of GPs in the assessment process, and other issues relating to benefits.
Further information about FORWARD ME is available on the group's website.
