17 November 2006
Political consensus is emerging over the government's hefty welfare reform agenda, outlined in the Queen's Speech, with opposition parties claiming that planned changes are overdue rather than controversial.
Although Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman David Laws claimed that previous Labour welfare reforms had been a 'disaster', he said: 'It speaks volumes that Tony Blair's last Queen's Speech is going to include much-needed pension reform and the long overdue replacement of the Child Support Agency — measures that should have been in his first programme for government.'
The government's welfare agenda for 2006/07 can be divided into three sections: benefit and pension reforms and the overhaul of child support.
Benefit reform will be dominated by the Welfare Reform Bill, currently at the committee stage of Parliament, which will scrap incapacity benefit payments to 2.7 million recipients and replace it with two alternatives, paid according to an individual's assessed capacity to work. Housing benefit reforms and new measures to combat child poverty are also included.
However, Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, warned that the new Bill 'may increase poverty for some through the introduction of the new benefit sanctions'.
The Pension Reform Bill will, the Department for Work and Pensions confirmed, draw heavily on the recommendations of last year's Pensions Commission, and the government's response to its report. The Bill will raise the state pension age to 68 from 2046, link payments to earnings, introduce new payments for women and carers, and simplify the state second pension. A separate white paper, due next month, will outline plans for the National Pension Savings Scheme.
A white paper on child support is also 'imminent', a senior DWP source added. That will reflect Sir David Henshaw's recommendation to replace the CSA with a streamlined organisation.
The child support proposals will also detail a new mediation framework for parents in dispute.
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