Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, as we are only too aware, the Welfare Reform Bill arrives with us at a time of deepening recession when many disabled people fear losing their jobs and their homes. On top of labour market discrimination, educational inequalities and media hostility, the 2.8 million claimants of incapacity benefit must also now contend with shrinking employment opportunities and a harsher benefits regime. The Government have many sound plans in place to help this country through the recession and they are pumping money into back-to-work support. I strongly welcome the future increases planned for the Access to Work budget and the announcement that the scheme will apply to work trials of up to six weeks. It would be even more helpful if the scheme were rolled out to disabled people who choose voluntary work as a path to skills development and future paid employment, and to those with fluctuating conditions who need the security of funding to cover absences from work, among other things. Will my noble friend tell me the department’s thinking on this? I believe that we need to do more to help disabled people through the recession. The last time the UK economy was in recession, many people living with long-term health conditions or impairments became lifelong recipients of incapacity benefit. They lost confidence in their abilities and in any hope of working. The talents of hundreds of thousands of disabled people were wasted, which must not happen again. The Welfare Reform Bill is a chance to put in place a truly enabling welfare system that frees disabled people from the bureaucracy and the culture of low expectations that have held back so many for so long. We need a welfare system that addresses what are very real barriers to work and which equips disabled people with the enhanced skills, qualifications and confidence to plan for a future career. I fear that the Bill may be something of a missed opportunity in this regard. It will do nothing to remove barriers to work, such as the lack of access to portable social care support, or ridiculous benefits disincentives, such as the 16-hour rule in working tax credit. Nor is there a right to employment support, which remains at the discretion of DWP. I cannot tell what the Bill will do to support people to update skills and qualifications—a vital component of our future economic success. While large private sector providers will doubtless benefit from increased contracting-out of services, parking those deemed hardest to help, smaller voluntary sector providers are offered just a limited role. My own organisation, Hammersmith and Fulham Action on Disability, has an impressive track record of effectively supporting disabled people furthest from the labour market into sustained employment. I hope that my noble friend will recall that he kindly spoke at its event for local employers last year. HAFAD has had to cut back most of its employment project staff for lack of funding. I strongly urge the Minister to look at the funding available for user-led organisations providing back-to-work support and to ensure that people on ESA or JSA can readily access their services, which is vital. The Bill’s one potential jewel in the crown is, as we have heard, Part 2 on the right to control, but as the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell, said, that has yet to be amended to reflect the great aspirations set out in the White Paper which preceded this Bill. It needs to reflect the White Paper’s real commitment to self-directed support, to full choice of how resources are managed and to the aspiration to remove fragmentation from people’s lives. The Government might consider adding another jewel by adapting the proposal for a claimants’ charter, setting out clearly how disabled and other claimants can expect to be treated by Jobcentre Plus and external employment support providers, along with an employment services ombudsman to arbitrate when claimants are treated unfairly. This would be an inspiring addition to the Bill and would draw heavily on the draft already proposed by Citizens Advice, CPAG, Disability Alliance and Gingerbread, which is widely supported across the disability movement. Their proposed charter covers the rights of claimants to be treated with dignity and respect, provision of accessible information for claimants about the conditions of their benefits claim, as well as the consequences of failing to meet those conditions, and access to services which will improve their ability to enter good quality, sustainable work and much more. Given the ever-increasing complexity of the benefits system, we need to offer claimants the added security and clarity of such a charter. I also believe we should heed the Disability Benefits Consortium’s call for a right of appeal against work-related activity directions and for a revision of Clause 1 so that it does not allow a system of forced labour on a fraction of the minimum wage but provides an empowering opportunity to gain valuable skills doing a job of one’s own choosing. I hope that Ministers will be in listening and acting mode as the Bill proceeds through the House and that the major expertise of the disability movement will be drawn on to make this a Bill which is truly transformative for disabled people and for our economy.