Welfare Reform Bill

I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 6, 9, 12, 23 and 26 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Addington, and to the other amendments in this group. I am not sure that our amendments are probing amendments. I hope that I am wrong, but it was noticeable at Second Reading that when we asked whether people would lose out and not have their claims backdated as they do at present, the silence from the Minister was deafening. I hope that I am wrong and that he can clarify that. However, these amendments would ensure that there is no such delay and that people’s assessments are backdated to the date of their claim if their assessment is successful. These are all linked amendments with a single purpose. Again, the Disability Benefits Consortium sums it up well in saying that claimants of ESA will get the full rate after the end of the 13-week assessment period and will not get backdated payments. The consortium believes that making people wait on a low level of benefit for 13 weeks with no backdating could create severe and ongoing hardship among many people, especially those coming off sick pay. It sees no reason why it should not be possible to backdate the appropriate rate of ESA to the point of claim, as is currently possible with IB. I think that those points are very fair. With regard to the effect on young people, the Child Poverty Action Group made very similar points. It said that the Government accepted in their Green Paper consultation report that it was not their intention to penalise young people by aligning the basic rates of main phase ESA with JSA rates. However, according to the CPAG, the Government still propose to penalise young people during the assessment phase by paying the holding benefit at a rate in line with JSA, which will leave some sick and disabled people with inadequate incomes for three months simply because of their age. If an assessment is completed before the end of the 13-week assessment phase, it is unfair that people should be worse off than they are now. The full entitlement should be paid straight away rather than being backdated. In addition, why should vulnerable people suffer because of where they live and whether the level of efficiency in the assessment process varies? I hope that these are probing amendments but they may well not be.