Welfare Reform Bill

moved Amendment No. 13: 13: Clause 2, page 2, line 45, after ““condition”” insert ““(or both)”” The noble Lord said: This is a very simple group of amendments, although on the face of it they might not look simple. Following some considerable confusion as this Bill passed through another place, we have now established that the Government intend that the scores for the PCA for mental and physical limitations are to be added together. These amendments seek to put that commitment into the Bill, partly to reassure many who are worried by the possibility that that might not be the case and partly to ensure that there is no policy shift in the future. A significant number of people have both physical and mental disabilities. Unfortunately, the mental disability is often caused by the strain of the physical disability. Many illnesses have both mental and physical limitations, so the reassurance that these amendments will give will be of great value to many people who would have been severely disadvantaged under the Government’s original policy. It is also remarkably illogical to pursue separate scoring systems. If a number of moderate disabilities of a solely physical or mental nature are considered to make it more difficult to find a job than just one disability of that nature, why is that not true of disabilities of a mixed nature? I should like to hear the Government’s intentions on a related matter. Some concern has been raised over how broad the PCAs of migrating claimants will be. If a claimant who is already claiming IB for a physical disability has migrated, will he be assessed for both mental and physical disabilities or just for the physical disability that he is already known to have? It is possible that someone on long-term IB for a physical disability could have developed a mental disability that had never been identified. It would seem sensible to assess everyone fully whether they migrate or make a new claim, especially as the new assessment has significantly different criteria from the old one. I beg to move.