Welfare Reform Bill

I am afraid that this amendment will take a little longer. My second amendment covers the situation in new subsection (3) where someone is not already in work. At least, that is what it seems to me. This prompts a simple question for the Minister: what are the words "or remain in" doing here? How can work-related activity be carried out at the same time as someone is working? I take the point that the Minister has just made about the split between the 30 hours and 10 hours in his illustration. None the less, I am not quite clear how this works. Why should it be necessary for this to be provided for, unless the word "work" covers part-time employment and work-related activity is intended to help the individual into full-time employment, which may or may not be what the Minister has just sought to explain to the noble Countess, Lady Mar? If so, he will tell me. Some time ago, I received some correspondence that caused me to ponder the subject of part-time work vis-à-vis the Bill. A letter I received is particularly telling and went something like this: ""I have obsessive-compulsive disorder in the form of a washing obsession. This is a disorder that affects one in 100 people and is listed among the 10 most debilitating illnesses in terms of loss of income by the World Health Organisation.""I have an illness which means that I cannot work nine to five. I am unable to work set hours and days every week, even part time. I tried and failed. My only option is to find freelance work that allows me to fit work around my washing and other obsessions.""However, the Government’s reforms involve rolling out a programme called Pathways to Work, a programme that, in practice, regardless of what they say, is only for people who can work a set amount of hours per week on a permanent basis. I have already been sent on this programme and turned away because my illness does not fit this box.""There is no help and no advice available at my Jobcentre Plus for people looking to do freelance work. There is literally zero advice available on the topic or support for coming off benefits while attempting to do freelance work. The Government says that you can get the support and advice from Pathways, but I have found that this is not the case in practice. They are paid for each person they get into employment, and as it would take several months of quite intensive support to help me, it is not worth their while, I suppose.""In addition, permitted working hours/amounts make it impossible to try to get freelance work. They state you can’t earn more than £20 a week. Actually, it took over a year to discover it’s possible to average out weekly earnings over a period of time, but nobody volunteers this information or supports you to do this work. The permitted work earnings of £92 a week do not apply unless you are doing that every week for 52 weeks, which I wouldn’t be because I would have to be finding and building up work slowly. However, if I did briefly go over the £20 limit, I would automatically fall into the £92 a week group, and so, after 52 weeks, be forced to give up all benefits or give up work.""Supported permitted work rules (that also allow £92 a week) don’t apply either because my mental health team don’t want me to do paid work, only voluntary work, and won’t support me to do freelance work. The rules don’t seem to apply to freelance work, and you have little say in recovery"." What a horrendous tale of bad operation in Pathways to Work from a person who is trying desperately to get into work through the part-time or freelance avenue and does not appear to be allowed to do so at the moment. What do the Government intend to do within the context of the Bill to help people like this? I beg to move.