Evidence is mounting that government plans to reform the disability benefits system are fatally flawed.
Last week’s Transforming Support white paper appears to be slowly unravelling, with a growing number of serious concerns being raised by disabled activists, politicians, charities and the main union representing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff.
One concern is that the proposals would appear to remove a vital safety net that protects those who face a “substantial risk” of harm if found “fit for work”.
Although ministers have weakened regulations 29 and 35 over the years, they are still believed to have saved countless lives by allowing such claimants to be found eligible for employment and support allowance (ESA) and its universal credit equivalent, even if they fail to reach the necessary number of points through a work capability assessment (WCA).
Concern is also mounting over plans in the white paper to hand responsibility to jobcentre work coaches for deciding if a disabled person can carry out work-related activity.
According to the white paper, job coaches will take on this role after the government scraps the WCA.
Disabled Labour MP Marsha de Cordova told MPs that the government’s plans created a “real threat of the ramping up of sanctions” imposed on sick and disabled people.
She said disabled people would now be “subject to the decisions of a work coach” rather than being protected by being in the “no work-related requirements” group of universal credit or ESA.
Caroline Richardson, a researcher with the Spartacus network, told Disability News Service (DNS) this week that she was terrified by the prospect of job coaches with no healthcare qualifications deciding whether she was able to carry out work-related activity.
Asked about the proposals by Labour’s Rachael Maskell, Tom Pursglove, the minister for disabled people, said the government recognised that, for many sick and disabled people, work or work-related activity was “not possible or appropriate, and where this is the case, they will not be expected to participate in these activities to receive their benefit entitlement”.
But he added: “We will work with our work coaches to develop these proposals and ensure they have the right training and support needed to fulfil this change in their role.”
Meanwhile, DWP has refused to say whether a work and pensions minister in the House of Lords, Viscount Younger, would apologise for misleading peers about the government’s plans.
When asked by Labour peer Baroness Lister if the government could guarantee that work-related activity would be voluntary for those eligible for the new universal credit health element, he said: “It will be.”
But the white paper states clearly that its new approach “will mean both voluntary and mandatory work-related requirements may be set for health and disability benefit claimants”.
DNS left two messages for Viscount Younger yesterday, but he had not responded by noon today (Thursday).
Asked about the concerns over regulations 29 and 35, and Viscount Younger’s comments, a DWP spokesperson refused to comment directly, but said in a statement: “As we develop our reform proposals, we will consider how disabled people and people with health conditions who require additional financial support may receive it.
“We will focus on what people can do, rather than what they can’t, but also ensure that where people are unable to work, we will continue to support and assist them in living independent lives.”
Concerns have continued to grow over how ministers plan to replace the WCA.
Under the government’s proposals, sick and disabled people who cannot work will only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also receive the extra costs disability benefits personal independence payment (PIP) or disability living allowance (DLA).
But DWP figures show that 632,000 people are receiving out-of-work sickness and disability benefits for those with the highest support needs but not receiving PIP or DLA.
De Cordova told MPs in this week’s debate on the budget that “no one is going to argue” with scrapping the WCA, which was “inhumane”.
But she said that relying solely on the PIP assessment – which was also “cruel and inhumane” and flawed but had a “totally different” function and purpose than ESA and universal credit – “will not work”.
Richardson said the plans were “nonsensical” (see separate story).
She said: “They are getting rid of a long-term sickness benefit for every person in the country.
“A lot of people will not get PIP. What’s going to happen to them?”
She pointed out that in order to qualify for PIP, a claimant – other than those who are terminally-ill – has to have had their impairment or health condition for at least three months and it has to be predicted to last at least another nine months.
Richardson said this could cause serious problems for people with many impairments and health conditions.
Linda Burnip, co-founder of DPAC, said: “I can only hope these changes never happen.
“While WCAs are bad and they have driven so many people to their deaths without adequate safety measures being put in place, what is being proposed is far worse and will lead to even greater numbers of disabled people dying cruelly and unnecessarily.”
The poverty charity Z2K said the white paper proposals “pose real risks to disabled people’s financial security”.
It attacked the “dangerous work coach lottery for sanctions” and said the new system would “in effect devolve assessments of someone’s ability to work to tens of thousands of Jobcentre staff”, with the possibility that claimants would have no appeal rights against decisions made by these work coaches.
In a briefing on the white paper (PDF), Z2K said the government “should not continue with this high-risk reform”.
There was also criticism from the PCS union, many of whose members work for DWP in jobcentres.
It pointed to plans, announced in last week’s budget, to “automate” parts of the universal credit sanctions system to try to reduce error rates, and provide extra training for work coaches to “apply sanctions more effectively”.
The union said: “This is a massive attack on claimants that suggests there will be a huge increase in sanctioning activity unnecessarily forcing many already desperate claimants into deeper poverty to serve the failed and discredited idea that sanctioning people helps get them into work.”
DWP has confirmed some details of its reforms to DNS this week, including that any legislation to scrap the WCA would not take place until after the next general election.
Following concerns over what would happen to those receiving the contributory form of ESA, for those not eligible for income-related universal credit, the department said the government was committed to maintaining a contributory health and disability benefit, and was reviewing options alongside its white paper reforms.
DWP also made it clear that the new universal credit health element would apply to claimants in Scotland – which is gradually rolling out a new adult disability payment (ADP) to replace PIP – on a similar basis to those in England and Wales, although the situation with ADP would be kept under review.
It also confirmed that DLA would be treated as equivalent to PIP for access to the new health element.
Picture: Viscount Younger and Marsha de Cordova
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