25 July 2008
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell this week unveiled what he claimed would be radical reforms to the welfare system, which will see claimants supported more to find work in return for them taking more responsibility.
The government's tougher approach was outlined in the green paper, No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility, published on July 21. It proposed a more streamlined system made up of just two benefits: Employment and Support Allowance for people who have a medical condition that prevents them from working and Jobseeker's Allowance for people who are able to work.
Incapacity Benefit claimants will be shifted on to ESA by 2013. While there will be more money for the sickest and most severely disabled claimants, the remainder will be supported to find work appropriate to their abilities, and expected to take a job.
A firmer line will also be taken towards JSA claimants. Those who are unemployed for more than two years will be expected to participate in community work such as graffiti removal and litter collection. Training will also be a requirement and drug users could lose their benefits if they refuse to seek treatment.
Purnell said: 'This green paper proposes a simpler benefit system that rewards responsibility, gives people the incentive to do the right thing and ends the injustice of people being written off on benefits for life without any hope of getting the support they need to get back to work.'
The proposals were condemned as 'regressive and draconian' by the Public and Commercial Services union, the largest civil service union.
General secretary Mark Serwotka criticised the timing of the announcement as insensitive when the economy appeared to be poised on the brink of recession.
'In this period of economic uncertainty with unemployment on the rise, there are doubts that there will be the right jobs available in which to place people or the capacity in Jobcentre Plus to deal with an upsurge in claimants,' Serwotka said. 'The government should be working with people to get them back into employment rather than penalising and threatening them.'
Business leaders, however, welcomed the cultural shift presented by the paper but warned that employers needed help too.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: 'Taking on staff with limited recent work experience and often complex personal problems is not straightforward, and support is needed both for employer and applicant.
'The scheme must deliver candidates who are ready for sustainable employment.'
But Lizzie Iron, head of welfare policy at Citizens Advice, said: 'We need to see a fundamental shift in attitudes among employers to taking on people who have a disability or history of ill-health.
'Research consistently shows that employers are still very reluctant to employ people with health problems, and [we] see many people who are dismissed from work while they are off sick.'
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