Tired old stereotypes were wheeled out once again – the young girl who gets pregnant to get a house, the ‘people who refuse job offer after job offer’ – yet where’s the evidence of the extent of this? If IDS really wants us to believe these reforms are intended to enable and liberate wasted talent, he should ask Mr Cameron to take more care with his words.
But the reality is that when it comes to welfare, Conservatism lacks compassion, as both their policies and the rhetoric make abundantly clear: Cameron’s words accurately reflect the policy intent. Yes it’s true, the universal credit will ensure work pays more than out-of-work benefits (in fact that’s very largely true of the benefits system already), and over two million claimants will be ‘better off’. But that’s in the context of a system that‘s already in so many respects set to become so much meaner to claimants following spending reductions in the emergency budget and comprehensive spending review, more conditional, harsher on the out-of-work, and with benefits becoming even less generous over time.
Labour also liked to talk tough on welfare, but Mr Cameron’s unrelenting focus on those who play the system creates the impression that the majority of benefits are undeserved. In government, Labour was careful to balance claimants’ responsibilities and their rights, but there’s no talk of rights in this latest welfare reform bill: the new ‘Claimant Commitment’ runs all one way. Instead, in so many ways, the effect of the reforms is to increase hardship, as a result of measures such as caps on overall benefits levels, limitations on entitlement to contributory benefits, and new uprating rules. Much detail remains to be specified in regulations, but the government’s intentions are already clear.
Superficially at least, all this goes with the grain of the public mood. It’s not perhaps what IDS intended, but one of the problems with the universal credit is that, delivered within the social security system, it’s already being seen essentially as a benefit for the (undeserving) out-of-work. Yet Labour’s careful positioning of in-work tax credits and payments for children meant that these payments never suffered the stigma that the universal credit already risks.
Now, hostile rhetoric and ungenerous provision bring failure to create the ladder out of poverty IDS proclaimed. As his welfare reform bill commences its parliamentary passage (and as unemployment grows), it’s surely time for Labour to be bold and distinctive in championing a system of proper and adequate social protection, and truly enabling welfare reform.
Do I need to remind you who put welfare at the top of the agenda with a speech about hard working families, hard working tax payers, work shy and scroungers, Tony Blair. Should I remind you who it was that put forward the WCA which is now seeing people dying trying to stay on benefits. ————————— THE deaths of two people who were waiting for appeals to be heard against the loss of benefits has prompted calls for a fairer assessment system. The two claimants, both from West Dunbartonshire, died from the conditions which caused them to claim Incapacity Benefit (IB) while waiting for appeals to be heard against cuts to their benefits. One was deemed fit for work during a work capability assessment, despite having a deteriorating chronic illness, and lost both incapacity benefit and disability living allowance. When his support worker appeared at the appeal tribunal she had to report her client could not be there because he was dead. The appeal was upheld and the backpayment will become part of his estate. The other had a congenital condition which caused difficulty in walking but was assessed capable of work and his incapacity benefit was withdrawn. He was waiting for a date for an appeal tribunal when he died. The assessment was inadequate and very unprofessional. The doctor simply did not have the information A third person, again from West Dunbartonshire, died recently after winning a second appeal tribunal following three years of repeated assessments and decisions being overturned. He worked as a shop assistant in his 20s but was forced to give up due to severe heart and lung problems caused by a degenerative syndrome. An “indefinite” award of IB and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) was revoked after only two months on the basis of a questionnaire he had filled in. Six months later it was reinstated by an appeal tribunal. Despite this ruling and the finding that his condition was worse than the original assessment, his case was once again referred for medical assessment. Once again, the benefit was withdrawn. He appealed again, with help from staff at the Clydebank Independent Resource Centre, and a tribunal date set for a further six months on. By that time he had been confined to bed with severe pain for several days and his extreme difficulty in reaching the chair in the tribunal room caused the chair of the panel to say the hearing would be as short as possible and that a taxi would be waiting to take him home. He won the appeal but only after three years of unrelenting anxiety over whether his benefits would be cut. People claiming IB, currently being replaced by Employment and Support Allowance, and DLA undergo a work capability assessment by a healthcare professional, such as a nurse or physiotherapist employed by Atos Healthcare, which gained the contract from the Department for Work and Pensions in 2005. The assessment is not a medical examination but the claimant is asked a series of questions about their capabilities. If they are judged fit for work they lose benefits such as IB and DLA, which yesterday’s Welfare Reform Bill proposes replacing with a Personal Independence Payment. Danny McCafferty, chair of the Independent Resource Centre in Clydebank, which wins 70% of the cases it takes to appeal, says the assessments by Atos are flawed. As the Government confirmed plans to implement a £50 immediate fine for “errors that could have reasonably been prevented” on benefit claims, yesterday, Mr McCafferty suggested that a penalty should also be levied on the contractor. “Atos Healthcare is not producing the results it is paid for because so many decisions are being overturned. It is costing the country money to go through the appeals process. Sorry Ms Green, But I am Parapelgic a serious condition, my wife was born with spina bifida, we will both be found fit to work….
Clearly, the change to the benefits system that has attracted most attention so far is the introduction of the Universal Credit from 2013. It is laudable the Government seeks to end the risks and fears associated with moving in and out of work. The Welfare Reform Bill is obviously being presented in this vein, but I am concerned that the debate that ensues will overshadow other (more immediate) concerns, chiefly the changes to DLA and ESA. For example if we take the measure to time limit contributory ESA to 12 months. We know from welfare-to-work providers like The Shaw Trust that the average journey back to work takes much longer than this for a significant number of disabled people. Introducing an arbitrary time cap may intensify the problem of worklessness, so we need the welfare reform debate to focus on reforms to disability and out-of-work benefits. By all means let’s debate the merits and potential drawbacks of the Universal Credit, but we also need to think about the shorter-term challenges associated with the Government’s Bill. It is pleasing Kate Green appreciates the harsh changes that will affect many claimants prior to the introduction of the Universal Credit in 2013. Now we need others to acknowledge the damage that cuts to DLA and contributory ESA will mean for disabled people. RNIB looks at these changes in more detail in a new report on welfare reform that I have authored, “More than meets the eye: why the welfare cuts will hit blind and partially sighted peoplle particularly hard”: http://www.rnib.org.uk/campaigns/
this story is so sad and yet so true many people are being turned down when going for the medical.my story was turned down appealed told to claim JSA did not. claimed ISA instead sent in doc certs won my appeal for IB the ISA was not informed of this i had to go to another med exam which i failed told to claim JSA . tried to explain worried sick to the point of suicide . was put in touch with a resource centre that got to the bottom of it with a few phone calls and MP as well local news paper . the reply from benefits was some staff can only deal with basic claims sorry. it had taken me 7 months very ill worried sick all money was refunded back paid. anyone in the same position please get help from a resource centre from day one the help is out there don’t worry thank you!