| Blair moots reforms in incapacity benefit system |
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LONDON: Prime Minister Tony Blair is revealing his proposals to reform the welfare system, which aim at reducing benefits and getting more people into work. But, at the outset, his own partymen see the reforms as a means to save money rather than bring in efficiency.
Blair has brought out a discussion document, or Green Paper, which outlines how the government will reduce the nearly 2.7 million incapacity benefit claimants by about a million and reduce deprivation.
Blair said the government wants to set forward the proposals, which allow it to make another big step-change in moving people off benefits and into work. He pointed out that the number of people on benefit had nearly trebled between the 1970s and mid-1990s.
He added that the crux of the Green Paper is to devise means to give help to the people and empower them to identify and use their own talents and get back to work.
Work and pensions secretary John Hutton, who is initiating the government action, intends to force the benefit claimants to take steps to return to work, which is worth up to 20 pounds a week more than jobseeker's allowance. Under the plan, claimants will be split into two groups -- those deemed permanently incapable of work and those capable of work with help. The latter category will be pressed to undertake work-focused interviews and benefits could be reduced by 10.93 pounds a week if they refuse to attend an interview, and 21.86 pounds for a second refusal. But the cuts would not affect those incapable of any work. The entry into the scheme will be made stricter with central monitoring of sick notes by the doctors.
The government intends to rename the Incapacity Benefit as employment and support allowance, as Hutton says its current name implies writing people off.
The Trades Union Congress is supporting the government in the reforms -- basically its aim of getting 80 per cent of the working age population into employment. But it says the government must not implement policies like mean-testing, paying vouchers instead of cash and benefits with a time limit.
The government is facing opposition from the Labour ranks. When it tried the reforms last time in 1999, as many as 67 Labour MPs thwarted it. There is still significant opposition on the backbenches and Blair fears there will be a campaign against the bill.
Meanwhile, former welfare minister Frank Field revealed that doctors involved in overseeing the scheme believe nearly three quarters of claimants are suspect enough to be sent for review. Field says the medical service responsible for overseeing the scheme is in need of drastic overhaul.
Posted
on : Tue, 24 Jan 2006 09:10 GMT | Politics News
By : Chris Rowe
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