Incapacity benefit reform could send thousands into poverty
26 July 2012
This week, up to 7,000 existing incapacity benefit (IB)
claimants will receive letters they have been dreading; asking them
to be re-assessed for their benefit.
While the mainstream media
went with the 'benefit crackdown' angle on this, the reality for
the majority of claimants is somewhat different. Legitimate
claimants are worried that they will be wrongly assessed as fit for
work, which will lead to them losing out on the benefits on which
they rely. The re-assessment is completed through the new work
capability assessment (WCA). This has been unpopular from the
get-go, even after Professor Malcolm Harrington's independent
review, which brought some changes. Many still view it as flawed,
saying that it often lacks the sophistication to take into account
conditions that fluctuate. Mental health charities especially have
highlighted this. But despite these continued protestations, the
government has pressed ahead with its plans. It is interesting that
this has been rolled out one whole working day after the pilots in
Burnley and Aberdeen closed. I thought that the idea of a pilot was
to run it, then take time to assess its effectiveness, and then
make any necessary changes to the scheme, before rolling it out
nationally. Apparently not. While the Department for Work and
Pensions did release its interim findings in
January, surely deeper thought about the WCA was needed?
Whatever the reasons for the haste in implementing this change - a
feeling persists that it is driven by the cuts agenda, although the
government has consistently denied this - many people are set to
lose out on some of the benefit money they receive. Jobseeker's
allowance (JSA) can be up to £30 a week less than incapacity
benefit, depending on which rate of IB or JSA is claimed. Moving
30% of people (taking the pilot results as a national indicator)
onto JSA from IB could save hundreds of millions a year. But moving
people onto JSA wouldn't be so much of a problem if the jobs were
there for people to take up. They aren't. With some 2.5 million
currently out of work and with more to come as a result of cutbacks
in the public sector, add in several hundred thousand former IB
claimants, and the total could well rise to over 3 million. With
economic growth slow to static, many employers are not recruiting
and those that are, are bombarded with applications. Competition is
increasingly fierce and, given the prejudice that people with
learning disabilities already face in the workplace, their chances
of getting a job diminish further. As a result of all this, more
people with learning disabilities will end up in poverty, which
will only have a detrimental effect on them and their families.
Hardly helping the vulnerable, is it?
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