Ben OsborneNew plans being drawn up by the Department for Work and Pensions, may mean that some long-term sick, and disabled claimants will be forced to undertake unpaid work for a potentially unlimited time, or face benefit cuts.
Charities are concerned that some individuals will be unfairly caught up in the changes to policy, and suffer further as a result. As reported in The Guardian last week the new policy could mean that those on employment and support allowance who currently are placed in the work-related activity group (Wrag), could be expected to undertake work experience. The Wrag group includes those who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses but have been given more than six months to live; victims of accident and stroke; as well as those with recognised mental health issues.
Ian Savage of York & District Mind, a York based mental health said of the government plans, “York Mind recognises the need for government to reform the benefits system and to remove artificial barriers that have make it uneconomic to work or prevent individuals moving on into productive, paid employment.
Whilst we recognise, and support government action against those able but unwilling to work, we are concerned that some of the people we support are being unfairly caught up in this review. We have examples of cases where an individual’s disability has not been recognised and believe that improved safeguards need to be put in place to ensure those incapable of work through genuine ill-health are properly supported to live independently with dignity and respect.”
Figures reveal there are over 300,000 claimants in the Wrag group and 8,440 of them have already incurred sanctions for offences such as missing interviews “without good cause” in the period from September 2010 to August 2011.
Ian went on to say, “We have grave concerns about the delivery of the governments ‘Work Programme’ and the model it is using to assess and engage with unemployed job seekers. We believe this model is fundamentally flawed and should instead be replaced with individually tailored support designed by experts who understand the local area and who are motivated by conscience rather than profit to help change the lives of the people they support. Only last week, the Public Accounts Committee blasted one of the largest Work Programme contractors on its performance and called into question the whole model of ‘Prime Contractor’ delivery.”
Aside from jobseekers, we have dealt with several cases where individuals claiming disability related benefits have been wrongly assessed as capable of work and forced to endure lengthy and stressful appeals in order to overturn these incorrect decisions. Again, the underlying cause of these problems is another contracted out service whose record on service delivery is being challenged by numerous organisations and disability groups.”
At York Mind we want to see a welfare state that encourages employment, reduces inappropriate dependency on benefits and properly supports the most vulnerable in society. We believe that these are all achievable goals and that if government choose to truly work in partnership with others it’s a reality we could make happen and one that would bring benefit to us all.”
What do you think of the plans for changes to benefits?
