Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, we support the amendment. The linking rules are extremely welcome, particularly the relatively new 104-week linking rule, which I understood was introduced after much lobbying from disability groups and the intervention of the Social Exclusion Unit. However, as the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, said, there is quite a time-lag between a person qualifying for the benefits they were on before working and the payments actually coming through. The amendment would ensure that benefit payments could be paid much more quickly so that the claimant did not get caught in a web of bureaucracy. A person who has been on ESA for quite a long time is more likely to plunge into the world of work if they know that, should their condition deteriorate, it will not take them long to return to benefits.