Welfare Reform Bill

I welcome the debate on this whole clause, which gives the Committee a chance to air their worries about work-related activity, in so far as it relates to those with mental health problems. Anyone who has been close to someone suffering from any kind of mental breakdown knows just how devastating it can be. The person you thought you knew becomes someone else entirely; someone who cannot even lay the table for supper. They have become reclusive, tearful, fearful and completely dependent. It is generally the case that, thank goodness, that phase of mental breakdown will eventually pass and, with good therapy and, sometimes, medicine, a slow recovery will start. That can be a very long process, though, and any hastening of it by any appropriate intervention will do harm rather than good. That is why those of us who have had experience in this field are so concerned about the clause in relation to those with mental health problems. It puts a great burden on personal advisers to ask them to judge what a person suffering from mental health problems can and cannot do. We are particularly worried that an inappropriate work-related activity could push a vulnerable person over the edge. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, we on these Benches hope that those with mental health problems will be able to take advantage of the Pathways to Work programme, but great care must be taken in the way such people are treated. We need to talk about this as much as possible to ensure that we get it right.