STOP outside the Ministry of Defence The big news in the longawaited government Green Paper on welfare reform at the end of January was the proposal that payment of Incapacity Benefit would be 'outsourced' to private and voluntary sector bodies much to the annoyance of civil service trade unions.
is also mooted that employment advisers will be employed by some GP practices, and that health workers will be rewarded if those they see come off the benefit.
Despite the hype, the measures are little different from those feared by campaigners -essentially the implementation of a punitive regime to reduce the numbers of existing claimants and make it even harder for new people to get the benefit.
There is no secret about the fact that the government aims to save around £7 billion of
Despite the hype, the
measures are little
different from those
feared by campaigners -essentially the
implementation of a
punitive regime to
reduce the numbers
of existing claimants the £12.5 billion currently spent on Incapacity Benefit through the changes.
There are some small carrots: a miniscule increase in benefit for those still catergorised as permanently unfit to work and the fact that blind people will not automatically be put in this category for example.
Whether the extension of Toe Pathways Work scheme, so tar run in three pilot areas, is to be welcomed remains to be seen.
It does seem that many in the pilot areas have welcomed the input in looking for work that the scheme has provided so far, but its not clear that sufficient resources are being put in to make it helpful at the national level.
The fact that heavy penalties for non-compliance are also built in is definitely to be opposed, especially given the fact that one third of new claimants are people with mental health problems.
New claimants will only receive benefits at the level of Job Seekers Allowance - currently £55.20 per weekwhile waiting to be seen by a doctor.
Afterwards, while those judged permanently unfit to work will receive an income slightly higher than current Incapacity Benefit, the rest will be placed on the new Rehabilitation Support Allowance - set at JSA levels.
And despite all the government's spin there has been a mixed response from Disability organisations with the Disability Benefits Consortium branding the measures as a missed opportunity.
What is more worrying is that it seems that many of those MPs who voted against previous attacks on incapacIly benell nave currenty been conned bv Blair and Hutton into thinking the intention behind these proposals is different and benign.
Given Blair's cumenuv weak position inside and outside Parliament, this issue needs to be pushed up the political agenda by the left and trade unionists to ensure that New Labour does not get away with this pernicious attack on some of the most disadvantaged people in our SOCICLV.