Welfare Reform Bill

moved Amendment No. 50: 50: Schedule 2 , page 55, line 30, at end insert— ““Holding periods (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), regulations shall provide that where a person previously had limited capability for work and where no more than a prescribed period of time has elapsed, he shall be treated as having limited capability for work for the holding period. (2) Regulations shall provide that entitlement during the holding period shall be dependent upon the receipt of written confirmation of suitability for assessment by a prescribed health care professional. (3) The holding period shall commence with a person’s application for ESA and cease at the end of the assessment period. (4) During the holding period, regulations shall provide that a condition which was satisfied in relation to the earlier period is to be treated for the purposes of this Part as satisfied in relation to the later period.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the purpose of the amendment is to clarify the procedures which would remove one of the most powerful disincentives for ESA claimants to strive to find a job. At present, the linking rules look helpful on paper but sadly do not work in practice. Under the current rules, if an IB claimant accepts a job but within a two-year period loses the job, if they wish to reclaim IB they must contact a call centre, which will forward a relatively short application form to the claimant. The form must be completed correctly—I believe, not surprisingly, that a lot of them are certainly not completed correctly—and returned to the job centre. The claimant will then be invited for interview and asked to bring with them a number of documents to prove identity and any change of circumstances. In reality, a claimant with a mental health problem who has just lost a job will not be in any kind of state of mind to organise themselves to complete the reclaim process effectively. Lots of delays and confusion can be expected before benefit is restored, if at all. The target time for completing the process for reclaiming IB, but not, I emphasise, housing benefit, is 18 working days from receipt of the completed application form. In reality, taking into account delays and errors, which may well be down to the claimant, two to three months can pass under the linking rules before benefits are restored. I mention housing benefit because until now the linking rules have not applied to that. I know from our front-line staff in East London and City Mental Health Trust that, for people with mental health problems, this often causes chaos and risk of eviction, which will be avoided only by intensive and highly time-consuming work on behalf of mental health staff. The amendment provides a solution to these problems. It would remove the fear experienced by any mentally ill person contemplating taking a job and relinquishing the safety net of benefit. Any claimant knows that they face stigma and uncertainty when taking a job, and if they then fail and lose the job, they will have intolerable uncertainty and lack of money before benefit is restored. The amendment provides for the situation where a person with a mental health problem takes a job and subsequently loses it. A letter from a responsible clinician certifying that the person was once again out of work and in need of benefits would trigger renewal of benefit payments immediately. Paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 2 states that a second period out of work within, "““a prescribed length of time is to be treated for the purposes of this Part as a continuation of the earlier period””." It is precisely that spirit that, I believe, supports the amendment. It makes clear that the usual safeguards against abuse under the linking rules should apply. However, these safeguards would be applied during an initial holding period while the new ESA is being paid. The restoration of benefit would thus not be delayed while these procedures were followed. Quite the opposite: benefit would be restored for a holding period of perhaps three months immediately. As benefit was restored a form would be sent to the claimant to satisfy the date of leaving the job, efforts would be made to ensure that the form was completed and returned, an interview would be organised, and so forth. In other words, everything could continue just as it does now, but you would not have the intolerable delay before any money is paid while the processes are pursued—and the poor old claimant makes all sorts of mistakes involving a lot of delay. This reform could be introduced to apply only to a period of perhaps six months from the date of taking a job. The linking rules apply to a two-year period. From discussion with the Minister and officials, I understand that over a two-year period you could expect some considerable change of circumstances, which could make this whole process rather complicated. This would ensure that the individual circumstances are unlikely to have changed dramatically. Changes of circumstances between the original period of claim and the subsequent holding period could perhaps be ignored on the grounds that the period out of work was treated, as it says in the schedule, "““as a continuation of the earlier period””." That would be difficult to justify if the two periods were very far apart. I know that the Minister fully appreciates the problems that the amendment is designed to deal with, and I hope very much that he will feel able to support the amendment. I beg to move.