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Concern over Duncan Smith reform stance

Campaigners have re-iterated concerns that the coalition Government's proposals for reforming the welfare system could leave disabled people in poverty.

Iain Duncan SmithWork and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has unveiled a raft of measures for reforming the welfare system including the reassessment of 2.6 million Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants and the replacement of various programmes for supporting people into employment with a single programme.

Launching his welfare reform programme, Iain Duncan Smith said that anyone claiming Incapacity Benefit for more than two years was more likely to retire or die than get another job.

He said: "That is a tragedy. We must be here to help people improve their lives – not just park them on long-term benefits. Aspiration, it seems, is in danger of becoming the preserve of the wealthy."

He added that details of the back to work programme would be released in the coming weeks. But he said that personalised support would be available for people who required it.

Jaspal Dhani, Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC), said: "There are people who can not work because of their impairments and it is the impact of the plans on those people which is worrying. When the Government talks about reassessing people, it sounds like disabled people are going to have to validate their existences and impairments and go through another process to validate their claims."

He added that he had concerns about the suitability of a one-size-fits-all back to work programme to provide personalised support for disabled people.

Neil Coyle, Director of Policy at Disability Alliance, said that using the assessment process which had already wrongly deemed disabled people ineligible for Employment and Support Allowance for reassessing IB claimants could potentially lead to hundreds and thousands more disabled people being mis-assessed which could exacerbate health conditions and result in extremely expensive and stressful appeals.

He added: "There is a clear need to ensure that people are better off in work. But with increasing numbers of disabled people in in-work poverty we hope that today's statement will mean that disabled people will not be disadvantaged through cuts to in-work support like access to tax credits."

benefits

Posted by david whittaker at 20 Jun 10 22:37
my main worry is that although i could do some sort of work , i would be only able to do a few hours , as iam my wifes carer , she has rheumatoid arthritis and its a daily struggle just for her to dress , let alone look after the home and 5 children, 2 of which have autism . i do understand that the goverment needs to save money at this time, but surely not at the expense of my wife and my childrens dignity .