Welfare reform: time for action

With the arrival of coalition governance to Britain, we have been promised "a new politics". On welfare reform and disabled people, however, Ruth Patrick warns that early signs suggest the proposals for change are almost identical to those developed in opposition by the Conservatives, and there is nothing very new about the reforms

The thrust of the coalition approach to welfare reform demonstrates essential continuity with New Labour’s obsession with paid work and reducing the disability benefit bill.

The Government plans to scrap all the various New Deals and associated programmes to assist people off welfare and into work, including Pathways, and replace this with a single Work Programme. Critically, all those disabled people on the work-related activity component of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will be required to participate in the Work Programme or risk benefit sanctions. The coalition will press ahead with existing plans to migrate all Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants onto ESA, meaning that each and every IB recipient will be required to go through the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to determine their eligibility for ESA. It is anticipated that many existing IB claimants will be found “fit to work”, and subsequently transferred over to the less generous Job Seeker’s Allowance. Disabled people and our allies should challenge and criticise these proposals, quickly and loudly, given the pace of change (the IB migration process will start this autumn).

The work-first fetishization has scope to exclude those who do not work, whilst also devaluing the unpaid work disabled people do as carers, volunteers and active service users. Critically, evidence shows the WCA is incorrectly finding many people fit for work, leading to thousands of appealed decisions every month, and creating unnecessary bureaucracy and stress for disability benefit claimants. Surprisingly, considering the potential impact of these reforms, there is not much evidence of the disability movement and associated charities questioning the proposals. Disability Alliance is one critical voice, whilst Mind is encouraging people to write to their MPs requesting an urgent review of the WCA. For those more interested in direct action, the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network (DAN) is protesting against the reforms under a “defend welfare” tagline.

I hope there will be much more activity in the coming months, and would urge people to get involved with existing campaigns, and form new ones, to ensure that dissenting voices can be a thorn in the Government’s side. In these economically straitened times, hitting the Coalition where it hurts may, in the end, prove the best way to challenge and hopefully change the status quo.

• Information on existing campaigns at: www.defendwelfare.org; www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/policy_and_issues/making_benefits_fairer-welfare_ reform/take_ action

•• On challenging benefit decisions: direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BeginnersGuideToBenefits/DG_10013949