Welfare Reform Bill

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Rix, for moving his amendment. It brings us to an important topic that we have touched on a little before in Committee. I entirely empathise with the sentiments behind the amendments in this group, as the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale anticipated. I assure noble Lords that we take supporting customers with learning disabilities seriously. As I noted in one of our previous Committee Sittings, however, the noble Lord, Lord Rix, identified the big gap between the employment rate of people with learning disabilities and that of pretty much every other group that we monitor. As I said then, we cannot allow this to continue. I hope that the provisions in the Bill, effectively resourced and applied, will be the route to help. To successfully help those with learning difficulties, we will have to ensure that our advisers are adequately trained to deal with customers who have a learning disability; this is a strong theme that I will come back to in a moment. We will also have to ensure that any directions to a specific work-related activity take account of a person’s individual personalised circumstances, including any learning disability that they may have. Amendments 54 and 92 seek to ensure that advisers must take into account a customer’s learning disability when issuing a direction to a specific work-related activity. I reassure noble Lords that the power to direct customers to a specific activity will be used only in a small minority of cases. Advisers will always encourage, persuade and support people into activity they genuinely feel is necessary before considering issuing someone with a direction to undertake a specific activity. As stated in Clauses 2 and 8, any direction to an activity must be reasonable and, as the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, cited, have regard to the person’s circumstances. Hence, any direction to undertake an activity by the adviser must be appropriate to the customer’s abilities and circumstances, which would include taking into account any learning disability that the customer may have. Safeguards are in place which will apply if the claimant has misunderstood a direction to a specific activity. The claimant could ask for the direction to be reconsidered as part of the action plan reconsideration process. If the claimant does not comply with the requirement to undertake an activity because they did not understand it, they will be able to raise it as good cause for failure to comply. In addition, every customer has the right to be accompanied by a carer or advocate when attending an interview. This person can help them to interpret and understand the advice and requirements being set out. Personal advisers can also recommend that the customer bring along a carer or other third party if they think that it is necessary or would be helpful. Amendment 89 aims to ensure that personal advisers are adequately trained to deal effectively with ESA customers who have learning disabilities. We recognise the central importance of the adviser role if we want customers to be able to progress positively and confidently towards a return to work. We shall focus strongly in the progression-to-work pathfinders on developing the staff who deliver this role and invest in the necessary training. We have already started talking to stakeholders about adviser skills and knowledge and will continue to do so—that is vital. However, pathways personal advisers already have considerable training in dealing with customers with a range of health conditions. It is important to point out that pathways advisers are not working in isolation. In Jobcentre Plus pathways areas, they can seek advice from, or refer customers on to, specialist disability employment advisers or work psychologists. In provider-led pathways areas, all our providers have delivered specific training to their staff to assist them in dealing with customers with health conditions. They also have links to specialist subcontractors to whom clients with specific medical conditions can be referred for additional assistance. They can also refer customers to the disability employment adviser via the jobcentre. For example, WorkDirections provides advisers with training in learning disabilities, facilitated by vocational rehabilitation specialists from the organisation Disability Matters. The training covers effective communication and providing support to clients, as well as information about agencies that can provide additional support to clients with specific conditions when in work. It specifically addresses working with clients who have Down’s syndrome, autism, Asperger's, cerebral palsy, dyspraxia or acquired brain injury. Working Links has used the National Autistic Society, which delivered a one-week training course to personal advisers on Asperger’s. All advisers working with ESA claimants also receive advice from approved healthcare professionals about the impact of the customer’s health condition from the work-focused health-related assessment, which is completed in the early stage of a customer’s claim. The report will flag up whether the customer has a learning disability and its likely impact on them.