Welfare Reform Bill

The amendment would change the conditions of entitlement to the income-related allowance. It would remove the condition for a customer not to be receiving education in order for him to be entitled to income-related ESA. I begin by assuring noble Lords that the condition of entitlement as we intend it to apply is not a blanket exclusion on all forms of education. Education and training certainly have a place within the framework of the employment and support allowance. For many of our ESA customers, some form of education or training may be the most appropriate work-related activity in helping them to move closer to the labour market, and that is precisely the outcome that we want. However, we have an important duty to protect public funds, and one way that we must do that is by avoiding making double provision. Allowing recipients of the income-related allowance to participate freely in education would be an inappropriate use of public funds in cases where students already received appropriate funding through the education system. Income-related ESA will be aligned with other income-related benefits so that customers can study on a part-time basis without their benefit being affected. We also make specific provision for certain groups of disabled students to access income support while they are studying, and we are bringing forward that access to benefit into income-related ESA. I think that that is the point on which the noble Lord sought assurance. I appreciate the noble Lord’s interest in the important issue of access to education for disabled people. That is entirely compatible with our commitment to improve the employment prospects of people who are some distance from the labour market. But we cannot make all forms of education, full-time and part-time, freely available to all customers of the income-related allowance, which is what the amendment would do. I suggest that that would be an inappropriate use of public funds, and I therefore ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.